Raising Special Kids Picnic

Back in March, we were invited to an outstanding event.  I say it was outstanding for several reasons, but the top among which was because the hosts somehow managed to make us (along with hundreds of other families) feel special.  I don’t mean “special” in the PC way that it’s used today, but really good and welcome and valuable.  I rarely blog anymore about what it’s like to be a parent of a child with special needs.  Maybe I should, because I know that I constantly think about this issue – just about every waking moment of my day.  But the fact of the matter is, it’s an entirely different game than being a parent of typically developing children.  I know, because I have a couple of those too.  And at the risk of sounding a bit snarky, it isn’t all that difficult to imagine what a play date at the park might be like if all of my kids could run off and climb the playground and chatter with their friends… how different that would feel for me (not to mention, her) mentally, emotionally, and physically.  But this supersized play date at the park was different from all the others.  This one was full of other children like Ari (and I’m told, like Bella too – but we didn’t get to meet them).  It was full of other families just like ours, with parents just like us.  In other words, we felt like we were in a different society, in which our family was regular, we didn’t need to have any special accommodations, or to have to try to keep up or fit in with the others.

Now, I consider my family to be pretty adventurous and spontaneous and generally fun-loving, especially considering our circumstances. We don’t like to let physical limitations or anything else get in the way of us having a good time. In fact, I can’t remember a time when we declined an invitation, limited our social interactions, or restricted ourselves from doing something fun and exciting because of the things we have going on. That said, it was still a breath of fresh air to be around people who “got it” and to see just about everyone else moving at the same pace we were.  It was nice even just to know that I wasn’t the only one who felt this way – I heard this very same sentiment echoed all day as we passed the other families.

The next biggest reason the event was such a hit was because we felt celebrated!  Raising Special Kids and the other sponsors and volunteers were so amazingly generous that we could hardly believe it.  There were bounce houses and bouncy slides, carnival games and prizes, pony rides, carousel rides, and train rides.  Everyone got lunch and drinks and ice cream, and all my kids had the faces painted and were inked with temporary tattoos.  Everything was free and basically unlimited.  Every one of the volunteers were so wonderful and friendly and seemed so happy to be there – we just felt at home.

   

Ari loved this little pup, although she was very timid about petting him.

Both of my girls wanted butterflies painted on them.  Ari only goes for hand painting, but of course, Bella had to have her entire face done.

I swear, I don’t know where she learns to pose like she does… or dance or sing like she does either.  But she sure is fun to watch.

 

Gabe took this photo.  Budding photographer, perhaps?

It’s like a dream come true for my kids every time they get to ride a pony.  This time was especially gratifying since they’ve been watching Ari go riding every week at Hoofbeats with Heart for therapy. 

   

Such Daddy’s girls that I have.

     

Thank you, Raising Special Kids!

Soccer Stud

Gabe’s T-ball season came to an end about a month ago, so we decided to let him try soccer since one of his school buddies wanted to do it with him.  He claims to love it so far, even though I can see that it sometimes gets to be a lot of running for him.  Gabe asked me the other day if he could score a goal during play (they all take turns scoring at half-time), and I replied perhaps a little enthusiastically, “Of course!  You just need to get in there and take the ball away from the other kids with your feet!”  Gabe was a little taken aback by my answer, and instructed me that swiping the ball away isn’t nice!  We haven’t made it to a weekday practice yet, since they’ve all been on Thursday afternoons during my class time, and while he could probably use the extra skill building, we will just let him do his thing (and that thing seems to be just to have fun) for now :).

  

Backyard Amusement Park

Although we live in the in central Suburbia, we sometimes do get a few cool festivals and such that come to our side of town.  Last month, the Ostrich Festival come around, bringing with it hundreds of rides and amusements and, of course, ostriches.  The festival planted itself a mile down the road from us, right before our freeway access, advertising itself multiples times a day to my kids with its bright ferris wheel lights and grass parking lot packed full of cars.  Naturally, we had to go.  I have to admit that we didn’t go visit the ostriches, because I’m kind of really allergic, but we did pretend that we were in Disneyland and spend the entire morning on the kid-friendly rides.  You know I’d do just about anything to see them smile.

Even the Dumbo ride was there :).

The fun house mirrors were about the silliest thing they’d ever seen!

 

This was the first time that I’d seen Ari a little nervous on a ride.  I think she had a hard time catching her balance and, since I wasn’t there to brace her, she had a little worried look on her face at first.  It was still adorable and totally worth it… worried look and all.  Bella knows her limits like her Mama, and opted to stay off this one altogether despite my encouragement to give it a shot.

 

Walk-a-Thon Kick-off Luncheon

Ari is one of the ambassadors for the Walk With Me walk-a-thon benefitting Southwest Human Development this year.  She has been an ambassador for various good causes since she was a baby, because we like to support and give back to the community that helps Ari out in whatever way that we can.  The kids and I attended the kick-off luncheon, which is an opportunity for potential pledgers and walkers and fundraisers to get jazzed about the good cause they are supporting, and meeting the sweetest ambassador ever (in my humble opinion) is the best way to do that!  Gabe and Bella were such good helpers the whole time!  They kept asking me if they were being “mature” and they even ate all their salad without complaint, clapped at all the right times, and introduced themselves to whomever came up to meet us.  I was so proud of them!  Ari was her usual sweet self when it was just us, but got really shy with all the attention focused on her.

  

FOX 10 News anchorman Jude LaCava, who did the promotional video (see below) with us, wanted nothing more than to get a smile out of little Ari to show how buddy-buddy they were, but little Ari just wouldn’t oblige him!  Oh well :).  It was a fun afternoon, and I’m glad that we are able to make some small difference for this great cause!