Life in the Slow Lane

There's nothing better than when a child discovers something new and amazing. Those small baby book-worthy moments that you want to treasure forever. As a special needs parent, it sometimes takes longer than expected or hoped for to reach some of the tiny goals. The flip side of that is that you appreciate things you never thought important. I'm thrilled to continue to put things in my son's baby book, and he's almost 4. But it's bittersweet. A big hooray that he accomplished something, but a sad sigh that it took so long. Anyway, back to why I'm writing today. Yesterday we had one of those hooray moments. Alex is not one for coloring, so other than at school with the O/T he doesn't get too much 'writing' practice. He found a pencil somewhere in his travels and decided to sit down and draw. He made a few amazing circles, and attempted what he said was the letter A! However, my favorite part of the experience, was the moment when I showed him what an

...what do you think I would choose to be instead? Don't get me wrong, teaching is my calling in life. But there's always that teeny tiny voice in the back of my head. Some people will instantly say I'd be a cupcake-ateer, which to some degree is true, but there's one much bigger voice in my head. A voice that's humming. A voice that would like to be on a big stage, dressed in black, behind a microphone, in between two other people, bopping & swaying to the beat. Have you guessed it yet? I would choose to be a backup singer. Sure the lead vocals are super, but what is a song without the extra "oo ooh's"' and "la la's?" Not to mention the stage presence as 2 or 3 backups work together to move, groove, and harmonize. If you ever take a ride in the car with me, pay a bit more attention when the radio is on. Most of the time I don't sing along with the song, I sing backup. I'm practicing all the time. You never know when the d

Many of my friends are teachers, so I felt it necessary to give a big shout out to LL Bean today for my new bag. I had this same bag all throughout college, but lost it long ago, and really needed a functional school bag. By far it is the best bag I've had over the years! Easier to carry than a tote, little nooks and crannies for all the supplies, and very durable. So if you're ready for a change from a tote weighing down your shoulder, I highly recommend slinging a funky messenger bag on!

Before we moved to the Poconos over 10 years ago, we visited often. What I remember the most about those visits is the people in the area. We could drive down any street, in a neighborhood or through town, and people would wave. Better yet, get out of your car and they would say 'hello' or 'good morning'! Coming from a place where people would bump you out of a doorway, grumble under their breath, or give you the finger on the road, we found this behavior very very odd. It took a while to warm up to the idea that we had to participate as well in this strange tradition. If we didn't, we'd be the oddballs from 'that New York City'. Slowly we began to wave here and there. We only said hello or good morning when someone else said it first. But over time, it grew on us. Became part of a regular routine. Made us feel like a part of the community. I liked it. The other day I went to a gas station a half hour west of here. "Big city" area, where t

7pm. That's right, you heard me. 7pm is bedtime for both of my boys on any given night. Many of our friends ask us as the weather/seasons change but the answer is always the same: 7pm. Of course everyone loves to comment that it's waaay too early, that as the boys get older it should be later, that I'm not giving them enough time to play after dinner, etc etc. But the little fact that they all seem to be missing is quite simple. On most days my boys get up by 5:00am. Yup, you read it right. If I put them to bed at 9 or 10pm, up at 5am. If I take them to the pool all day, then the zoo, then somewhere else, 5am. Their internal clocks are set with such precision, it's amazing. So, getting up at 5am, spending the day at school and the late afternoon hours playing, they truly are tired by 7pm. We have our regular routine and they are both asleep within 5-10 minutes. On the flip side, I have friends that say 'oh my gosh, (name) didn't go to bed until almost 11pm l