bountifulplate

For the third year in a row, Dominic's school has done a "Loose Change Drive." This is something that Dominic's wonderful teacher (Mr. P.)  and I have worked on together from the beginning.  It has been awesome as a parent to watch how the teachers, administration, students and parents have all reached into their pockets and given their extra pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters to others these past three years.  The first year, we donated the money that was collected to the Habitat for Humanity, last year it was the Special Olympics. When Mr. P and I were deciding which charity to donate to this year, we knew the money should go to the Sparrow Foundation in memory of a little girl (Lacey Holsworth) who was just eight years old when she passed away of cancer back in April.  I can't even fathom what it must be like for her parents. She was younger than Dominic. When I contacted the charity to get their mailing address, they told me that they wanted us to come down ...

When you have a special needs child, it can be easy to compare your child to other "typically developing" children the same age. When Dominic was first diagnosed with Autism and for a few years after that, I went down that comparison "road" a lot. I came to the conclusion that it was truly "unfair to compare" him to kids his own age.  I decided that the better "path" to be on was to focus on his strengths, not his weaknesses. Those words from many years ago from Miss M. still ring in my head - "focus on what he can do, not on what he can't." Shortly before school got out for the summer, Dominic's teacher (Mr. P)  told me about a puzzle "game" he had been doing with him at school.  He would have Dominic put together puzzles and time how long it took him to do it. Mr. P told me that Dominic could put together a 63-piece puzzle in 5 minutes and 4 seconds. We didn't even know that Dominic could put together puzzles wit...

Twenty-three days ago, Lauren turned 18.  We have already had the "talk" about how even though she is an adult, she still lives under our roof and has to obey our house "rules."  Earlier this week, she wanted to drive up by herself and visit a friend that was a little over an hour away. She asked both the hubby and I if it was okay. My response back was, "your dad and I are okay with it, as long as you are okay with it."  We made sure she started with a full tank of gas, knew the roads to take and that she knew the AAA emergency number.  She texted me when she arrived at her destination. Yesterday, she found out who her roommate will be at college.  They have already touched base and Lauren told me, "she sounds a lot like me!"  Cool.  Yesterday afternoon, she informed me that she would be driving herself and a couple of friends to the beach on Saturday.  The only thing I helped do for her this morning was to make a few sandwiches for the r...

  Today, I am not able to spend Father's Day with my dad. Up until a few years ago, he would come and visit us at least once a year.  He now has reached a point where it has become too hard for him to travel.  He turns 80 next year.  Wow, that is hard for me to believe.  I have watched my dad kind of slow down as he gets older.  Now, when we go back to Maryland, I try to visit my dad (and my mom) as much as I can. I like to enjoy the moments that I have with him, because living 10 hours away, I don't get to see him as much as I would like. I always try and make my dad a few of his favorite dinners when we visit. His number one favorite is definitely meatloaf. That is ALWAYS on the "menu!" This morning, when I talked to my dad on the phone, I told him the next time I see him, I'll make him a five-pound meatloaf!! He said, "that would be great!" I used to call my father-in-law, "Pop-Pop." He was always nice to me and he and I definitely d...

Several years ago, on a trip back to Maryland, Dominic got carsick. We learned a very important lesson that day.  We have to ALWAYS tell him where we are going in the car. If we don't, he gets tons and tons of anxiety! We have also learned that if we tell Dominic too far in advance about an important upcoming event, car trip, etc., he will incessantly talk about it!!! Lauren came up with the perfect solution earlier in the week - a "countdown" calendar!!! Dominic is a "visual" learner. If we told him there were nine days until he gets to go to summer school or there is one day until music therapy camp, it wouldn't have made sense to him. He has been getting such a feeling of accomplishment from tearing off each sticky note. I would have never thought of this idea in a million years! She is very creative and has always liked to do arts and crafts projects. The other day, Lauren went down to our basement and found some Play-Doh . I think I put it down ...

A week ago, we took Dominic to his very first baseball practice. He is in a league for children and young adults with special needs. Each child on Dominic's team is paired up with a "buddy." This past Wednesday, Dominic had his first game. We were looking around for his "buddy" who we had met at the first practice. We didn't see her or her mom, so I told Lauren she would have to be Dominic's "buddy." As the game time got closer and closer, Dominic's buddy's mom came over to me and said her daughter was going to possibly be a few minutes late. The mom went on to tell me that her daughter was in a music concert and was scheduled to be performing during the time of the baseball game, but was going to perform sooner than she was scheduled, because she wanted to get to the field so she could be Dominic's "buddy!!"  Her mom told me her daughter was in such a rush to fulfill her "buddy" duties that she went out to the f...

Lauren and I estimated that from the time she was in elementary school to the end of her senior year, I made her approximately 2,000 lunches!!!  It's the end of a lunch making "era." She would buy hot lunch from time-to-time, but not on any kind of consistent basis. While Lauren was perfectly capable of making her own lunch, I still made it for her. Since I was already making Dominic's and the hubby's, it wasn't any more effort to make one more lunch every morning. I figured she has plenty of time to be making her own meals soon enough, since she is leaving for college in August. Since Dominic gets pizza tomorrow for hot lunch and Friday is his last day of elementary school and he is dismissed at noon, today was the last day I have to make him a lunch until Monday, when he goes to a music therapy camp :) One of the places we stopped at on our tour of the middle school for Dominic last week was the cafeteria.  He got to take a peek into the kitchen...

Now that we are into June, I thought I might get a small break from the "tissue" moments before sending Miss Lauren off to college in August. Well, the "tissue" moments just keep on coming. This Friday is Dominic's last day of elementary school. He has been at the same school since he was three years old.  I can remember his first day of special education preschool like it was yesterday. He seemed so little (he was just barely three years old). We hadn't really been separated since he was born.   When the bus pulled up and he hopped on, I will not lie, it was tough.   Now, when that school bus pulls up, he runs down our driveway, hops on and gives the bus driver a "high five." A week ago, we met Dominic and his classmates over at the new middle school that they will be attending.  There were a few other parents from his class also waiting to go on the "tour" of the school. One of the moms remarked something like, "so, h...

Last weekend, Dominic and I made some waffles. He is coming along quite nicely with his class, "Breaking an Egg Correctly into a Bowl 101." He is to the point of me just lightly tapping the middle of the egg and just barely opening it and then he does the rest.  When he put the eggs into the mixing bowl, he said, "I did it myself!" I foresee him "graduating" from that class soon and "enrolling" in my class "Pouring Ingredients into a Measuring Cup 101." As Dominic cooks and bakes alongside me more, I see his confidence and conversation increase. He was dispensing quite a bit of commentary as we were making the waffles.  Since I still pour the ingredients into the measuring cup for him, when I accidentally spilled some flour on the kitchen counter, Dominic told me, "that was too much!" and "what a mess!" I LOVED that he spontaneously told me that. Last night, since neither the hubby or Lauren were around at dinnertime...