The Coldest Night

Last Friday, I took J in for an head MRI..which the developmental pediatrician ordered(can at least tell if the brain anatomy is normal and rule out that as a cause of his delays). It was a bitterly cold morning,-20 is so not my cup of tea to have to deal with early in the morning but J was fine with being woken up at 4:30 in the morning.(what can I say..he's his Daddy's son) We got there about 6:30,registered,and went back to the Children's Dept. There were two nurses getting him checked in,etc.,and then the nurse practitioner arrived to explain things,have me sign a consent form,etc. Being a 3 year old with sensory issues meant that nobody was going to touch him until he was sedated,& since Benadryl makes him extra hyper he couldn't drink juice with that in it. So all four of us adults had to hold him down while the NP put in an IV,& wait ten minutes for it to work. It was very harrowing. Procedure took about 45 minutes,and he slept for about 45 minutes in recovery. He did great. The nurse said he definatly made their list of The Top Five (Energetic,Wild) kids ever and it was a wonder if I got anything done. I told her that I didn't,unless he was at school. (To put things in perspective,they've done thousands of procedures) I've long suspected that

my child has the energy of five other young children but to hear someone else confirming said fact made me feel like not 

an overreacting mother. Of course I love him no matter what he's like but it feels

rather isolating (playgroups and church Sunday School are just straight up unmitigated disasters, I don't take him anymore because they aren't fun little events where mothers talk and babies play..mine would rather run into the street,parking lot,etc.) because no one in my circle has a child even close to what mine is and they don't get it. YOU GET IT is what I wanted to say,but didn't. They also told me I looked fabulous and I can count on one hand the number of times anyone other then my hubby has told me that,ever. Nurses rock,ya'll.(Everyone needs to be told they look fabulous at some point in their lives,even us ugly people) Anyway,it was empowering to me during a stressful situation. My boy woke up,asked for some juice,and fell asleep with his mouth open holding his graham cracker on the way out to the SUV.(it was cute and funny) By the time we got home,the sedative had nearly worn off.(it was fortunate that just one sedative had done the job,& he was back to normal the rest of the day.) Now we just have to wait on the results.

In Defense of Kids(Everywhere)

Something happened this week. Something that ruffled all my Mama-Bear feathers, and got me out on the warpath. Something that hurt like the dickens and yet is just a small something in the whole parenting a child,probably not even a blip on the radar of a parent of a CWD. But it was a something to me.

Monday, J got in the bus in front of our house, and at 11:30 the bus brought him back. And as the aide was unbuckling him from his seat and he was excitedly running/squirming all over the back of the bus,the aide said the words "come here,you sweet demon" and laughing,like it was a joke. Quite frankly I don't think on my feet that well and loathe conflict,I was hoping it was a slip of the tongue. Well I got J from the bus,and Tuesday was a non-school day so I couldn't talk to the aide about it,but Wed I let her know what I'd heard and that it was not appropriate to be calling my child and I would appreciate it if she didn't,in the future. That went over about as badly as cussing her out would have.("I didn't do it! You heard that on another bus! I would never do that! I've been doing this for twenty years!") No,it was the after school bus,and yes,you were working that day and was the only aide on the bus? Ok. I know what I heard,have a nice day,bye. People do not react well when they think they will get in trouble. Clearly having a shoutout match on the street isn't going to solve any problems. I am going to go further up the chain of command (I think they should put a recorder in there or something) to make sure employees DO get that talking to about appropriate speech. Probably nothing else I can do.(clearly,an apology is never going to happen. And even if I talk to the bus company everyone will just deny it and make me out to be the over-reacting parent.)Mainly it's just 

drives home the fact that some people are going to take advantage of your kid,special needs or not,he can't understand what you said nor can he tell Mommy so you get off Scott-Free.(He has a speech and cognitive delay,for which he is getting school services.) Everyone I have dealt with with EI and the school have been great so far,and very helpful in working with J but I guess there's always going to be that one and that's what makes me scared,does other abuse happen and never get reported? I sure don't trust that aide anymore. Or the bus driver,who has very selective hearing.)

(no happy resolution to this one..except maybe if the aide could win the Powerball and go into permanent retirement. But there are others out there who have no business working with kids. The school system makes a big deal about safety and yet doesn't implement the things that kids need to stay safe. That's what terrifies me.)