Normally when I post something to my blog, it is all about something I'm doing, or that I've done. Yeah, well, I haven't posted in a while, and my net was down for 12 days and I finally moved into my new home....yada yada yada. I'll talk about all that on another day. Today I wanna talk about my friend Binny (Christine/SCS ID: seamoonmommy)
Christine is one of the most dedicated and wonderful moms I know. I don't think she could ever possibly guess how much I love and respect her! She is a tireless fighter for anything related to her family, and I have massive admiration for all she does - especially for her children.
Christine's son Nicholas (my future son-in-law ...so no getting any funny matchmaking ideas!!) has Apraxia. This motor speech disorder robs him of the ability to speak clearly and ask for what he needs and wants. It is not just a simple speech delay, and Nicky is not just another child who will be a 'late talker'. Rather Nicholas has a difficult time planning and making his mouth, tongue, lips, and jaws move in the appropriet way to form the words to communicate. Make no mistake! Nicholas is an incredibly smart boy, and he knows exactly what he wants and needs as do most 3 year olds! He unfortunately has the utterly frustrating inability to convey this to others.
Christine has the daunting and frustrating task of trying to get him help from speech language pathologists (of which there is a nationwide shortage), and other medical and educational professionals. She must coordinate all of this whilst repeatedly explaining all of this to her unsympathetic health insurance company in an effort to get them to pay for his therapies. Oh, and let us not forget she also has herself, her own home to care for, a husband and her daughter who is 5 and, thus has her own needs as well.
Christine is a champion to all mothers and someday I hope I can be half the mother she is to her children. She is constantly on the go looking for more things she can do to help her children. Besides the doctors, and therapists and school related things, she strives to create a fun childhood that they will be able to look back on a fondly remember. She takes them to parks, and playdates, as well as apple/strawberry/peach/pumpkin picking. She finds time to take them to the beach to playgyms too. She even enrolled her daughter in swim lessons this past summer, juggling with her husband as she dropped one child home and/or picked up the other to rush off to another therapy, appointment, or playdate. It is an incredibly difficult schedule they are on as her husband works full time and commutes quite far to work everyday as well!
I look over my shoulder and see my daughter asleep in my bed and thank God for my own blessings and that I don't have to have all of the hurdles to jump that Binny does. She is quick to point out that she is really only the 'driver' and that her kids do all of the 'real work' in therapy. And while I agree the kids MUST be commended for all of their efforts, today I need to commend her for what she has done and continues to do too!
Today, while her kids are playing at grandmas, she and her husband are doing a Walk for Childhood Apraxia in Mountain Lakes, NY. They are there trying to raise money and awareness for children with Apraxia, a disorder few people have heard of or know anything about. I encourage you to go to the following website to read more about it, and then look above at Nicky's smiling little face and put a face to this disorder. Thanks! Scrappy
PS: Sorry I didn't ask if I could post about this first Binny, but I know that you are too shy to toot your own horn, so I brought out a brass band and did it for you! ;)
But those of you who know me, know that I'm not someone who gives up that easily! I created this card using a Dustin Pike digi image late last night, slept a few hours. Then I got up to get everyone off to work and school, ran my library books into the library and saw the perfect setting to take the picture to submit of the card if by some miracle I made it! I grabbed my camera from my bag and the card, ran into the bushes near the flagpole at the library. I laid on the ground and took a few quick pix! I love the rustic contrast of the pine straw against the slightly distressed but still cuddly looking teddy bear!
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