Oatie's new Wheelchair!

Here is Oatie's New Wheelchair, he was going to use it just for going on the school bus... but he likes steering it and having independence.... so I'm tempted to take it out shopping with us, so he can then go where he wants to go, (like his walker) but this way it won't damage his legs like he walker will.

We still want to follow the ABR route as much as possible and so I always pack the walker, so Oatie can see it and knows there is a "choice" but then for distance he's usually pushed in his stroller.

Wheelchair "driving" test... my older two make a variety of mini exercises for Oatie to practice this is just two of them. These are for 360o's so he can practice pushing and pulling.

There is a go down an incline and then stop... and a steering test too. All the kids had great fun :)

Binoo and Oatie are so happy together...

Binoo and Oatie have settled in very well together, Oatie is Binoo's safety blanket... as Oatie spends most of his time on the floor, if one of our elder cats makes Binoo feel intimidated, Binoo jumps straight on Oatie's lap. Oatie is feeding Binoo and spends most of his day babysitting Binoo so they are getting a really good bond.

Our other cats have pretty much left Binoo alone and if Binoo gets too close the other's either hiss and run or just run...

Binoo cries if he is apart from Oatie, so when Oatie calls him, he beeps and comes running to Oatie, it's so cute.

Niagara Falls

So the next day we went to Niagara Falls, it was out of season, and rather BRISK i'd say, but there were no queues.... quite a long walk for someone in a walker, but Oatie REFUSED to go in his wheels! The staff were all pleasant and it was all wheelchair friendly aboard the Maid of the Mist.

The last time I went on it was when I was 12/13 I think? It was my 4th Visit to the Falls as we used to visit my mums elder sister in Toronto every year or so when I was little. SO it was nice to take my kidlets on and see their faces and wonder if mine was like theirs in total AWE of something so natural and raw power and beauty.

Oatie on the Maid of the Mist... other people wanted to borrow it as we were all not very steady on our feet! He stood up for the entire thing.

The only thing is that if you're in a wheelchair it would be very hard to get up to the top deck to see anything... so you'd have to be lifted up the stairs... Luckily Oatie is not that big.... yet!

Another boat company is taking on the falls boat ride next year, i wonder if it will be more wheelchair accessible?

We have a photo of him smiling but I think it's on my husbands phone... I couldn't see when I took this photo from all the mist!

After the Boat Ride...

We then went to Boston Pizza... DO NOT GO! unless you want to spend 2 hours in there and be charged $3.15 for one soda! The service was rubbish... the only good thing was that the kids meals were good value... but $20 for a spag bol....??? hmmm! Both the Chinese and the Indian in the heart of Niagara were better value and more filling than the Boston Pizza and the service at the other two was brilliant! After Boston Pizza we headed for the Skylon...

Tomorrow I will tell you about the Skylon!!!

Beaver Camp Watch out!!! Take 2

Oatie did something cool today, look he's standing and holding his ipad, while steering his car racing game!

Oatie Standing holding his ipad

Well we had a usual Saturday, Older two had figure skating with a special surprise.  The coach who took my older two for their first experience ice skating ever, her daughter who was training to be a coach (she was a teenager) came to watch them today!  The Coaches daughter is at University and using her coaching to support herself so for a few weeks she is coaching on the other ice surface so in between another venue where she does lessons for the city in the morning the pm session is at our kids location, she came to watch them skate.  I have to say I was a bit choked, she is only 20, and she's teaching little guys how to skate, and for her other job she is respite care for a family with 3 special needs children twice a week.  Like WOW what a fine and lovely person.  (I know she is getting paid, but I saw her last week teaching and well when she taught mine 3 years ago, that she is just that type of person and it isn't about money for her.)  Her mum, is just the same... my little guy he was 6 at the time and at a skating seminar and my son was a bit shy/reserved and she was there for one of her own skaters a higher level skaters on opposite ice sessions to my son, and instead of taking her skates off and having a cup of tea.. she saw my son and asked if he wouldn't mind if she skated with him during the seminar and coached him for free and wouldn't have it any other way.  So all in all, she had her skates on for 6 hours that day.  This same woman supported Oatie's ice walker on the ice at our rec centre and when I showed her some photos of Oatie skating last week she was all choked up.


Just when you encounter unpleasantness over and over in your day to day life, to have people like that in your life, restores you faith in humanity... what a lovely family and we're really lucky to have them in our life.  I've noticed that whether you enjoy ice skating can often come from your first experience on the ice and this lady gave ours a positive one and now they have a sport/skill they can enjoy for life.


For my eldest, he came away relatively unscathed from being a premature 32weeker... but his gait and gross motor skills were his weakness, he reminded me of Maggie from the Simpsons...  I did put him in Ballet since he was two as I used to have pidgeon feet and my mum put me in ballet to correct my posture...Figure skating has been almost therapeutic for him, he is still awkward on land, like today he fell up the stairs and grazed his elbow... but on the ice he's solid and fluid and at home.  When he was 2 our doctor was concerned about his gait etc... and you can imagine what the conversation was like... well, just through ballet and figure skating he's a different kid, he's amazing he's working on his axel.


My little girl is at Beaver Scout Camp with her dad tonight.  Enjoying the company of another girl beaver, so tomorrow I'm doing the insane get your kid on the ice for the crack of dawn, but I'm taking Oatie along too.  I did swap our volunteer duties (playing music etc) so I can just sit there with Oatie... so hopefully I'll survive!

Winter LOL!  At least it's warm today, only -4oC  Not bad for a camp!

I posted this on Saturday night, but it appears on the web, but not in the sidebar... and then when you go to edit it online... it's BLANK! eh?

Jumping Thursday...

Today we got a really good session of ABR in, I was really pleased!  I ran 5 miles with my friend and had a skating lesson while my kids were having theirs... and I did a botched job of a Salchow but I did it and I have to say, I LOVE ice skating and I have two little coaches who skate past and give me some tips and show me how it's really done... lol!  I used to be really scared when I first started but since Oatie started to skate and I saw his sheer Bravery and sheer determination, I'm not scared anymore,... if someone who can't walk more than 30feet on land on the best day, is going to put some knifes on the feet and get on the slippery stuff, surely I can leave the air for a second or two!!!  I was jumping for an hour... (how on earth does my 8&6 year old do it for 2 hours?!?!?) they must have buns of steel!  They had a go at ice dancing today and went splat lol! but they got up and kept going.  Children are amazing they truly are!


My daughter was jumping for joy when she has a PD day (teacher training) on Tuesday as my other two get to come and See Oatie in his Ice Skating lesson.  Oatie is going to get spoiled rotten, they'll be putting on his harness and taking of his skate guards and fighting to dry his ice skates... they absolutely ADORE their baby brother and I'm really happy as they could have become indifferent to him, instead of being ashamed of him they burst with pride with his achievements... (and then they fight lol!)


Well I'm going to go and try some Scotch with honey on the rocks...

Had a Much Better Day...

Oatie at Story time with his story cape!

Today we had a much better day, I had a morning adult skate which is always great fun.  Then a friend came over for a coffee and Oatie wanted to get down off his bench (the cheeky monkey), but we did get one hour of ABR in.  Oatie really wanted to be social and got really excited showing her all his things and telling her all about everything as it was the first time she'd been over for a coffee, he enjoyed playing host, he even offered her a drink!  The choice he gave her was "Tea, Coffee or Juice... or you can share my juice, I'll share with you" I know what a sweetie, he's such a happy beautiful soul.  Although we've been friends for years, but we usually chat during the week while our kids skate on the benches and (funny enough...she is also my skating instructor and for this Sessions Oatie's Skating instructor too.)

Then my mother in law (super lady, I love her to bits) phoned and we haven't chatted for AGES so that was lovely too. 

I have put the episode yesterday behind me.   I suppose it's funny when you know you've grown up.  10-20 years ago I would have fought tooth and nail to get the person to see that they had incorrect facts and were wrong.  But Now, particularly since Oatie, I can't be bothered to argue back with someone who I can't have a rational debate etc. with and I'm happy to walk away from the conflict, as nothing you do or say will make any difference instead they just get worse!  The problem is that they want to keep at it and I don't see the point of arguing with people who demonstrate a lack of logical reasoning, I don't mind a good old fashioned healthy debate, but there is no point doing that with people who don't and refuse to see the facts as facts and get all steamed up about nothing or get the wrong end of the stick and then go on the war path.  The problem is, when you walk away from the conflict, it seems that they don't like it and keep on going! 

I remember this quote from one of my dad's desk calendars the paper ones which have a proverb or saying of the day under the date...from when I was a teen... funny enough he used to say it to me when I was a kid “Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.” by Mark Twain.

Life is way too short for all that and I can't be done with all that negative energy, what a waste of energy and for those who carry around grudges for years, how pointless is that?  What a total waste!  I actually almost pity them for being like that.

I, like Oatie, is fascinated with the Sun, I like warm, positive vibrant energy, I can't bear grudges, I never have and I don't think I ever will.

Oatie loves the Sun, he says sunshine is beautiful and I couldn't agree more.

To finish our nice day, we had a lovely pasta meal that had a slow cooked sauce and for pudding we home-made coconut milk ice cream with chocolate sauce on top.

The Best Christmas Holiday ever

WOW! What a brilliant 3 weeks! We've had the best Christmas Holidays EVER! It was 3 weeks but 3 brilliant weeks!

School finished just before Christmas, so that was nice as it gave me more time to get things organised. I shook off the Flu just before Christmas.

With the illness we went to visit Santa a bit later than we planned so it was about 4 days before Christmas day so that was nice.

Then we did some Christmas Baking, we made a cake for a friend as a gift for pudding on Christmas day. We were planning on having Christmas just ourselves but one of my best friends Oatie is best friends with her dog. My eldest is 6 months younger than her eldest and same for my middle and Oatie....

So we went there for Christmas day, we had the best day, we were with my friends family and it was really lovely and Christmassy.

Then on boxing day we cooked up our Christmas dinner.

The Gingerbread house that we made, it was delicious as it was homemade, and so much fun, we went to Bulk Barn and stocked up on candy (chocolate) to decorate it with.

Oatie playing with one of his new DS games.....

My eldest's cat. She loved Christmas, she "rearranged" the tree over and over and in the end took a sitting vigil in the tree and lay on the last remaining branch as I put the tree away....

During the week before New Years my older two had 2 play dates, so that was really nice and we entertained a few times with our super friends and their kiddlets for dinner which was really nice.

Then we had a great new years too. We had a special dinner and movies with the kids, they went to bed and then we stayed up to the early hours watching a movie with a bottle of wine which was nice. It was the Adjustment Bureau and well i was surprised as the director pulled it off well.

The kids built dens, played games, went for an ice skate, just played and we had so much fun.

I cooked for our upcoming ski trip as I've decided to start to save up for an adaptive ski for Oatie. The Bi-Ski is $3000US. So what we did was pick a self catering hotel-condo.

Then a few days after New Years I picked my parents up from the airport and then last weekend we left for our Family Ski trip. It's the first time I have skiied really since my daughter was born. The last time I skiied with my parents we didn't have any kids.

My dad has a milestone birthday in 2012 so I thought what a better way of celebrating it than doing what we all love.... SKI!

So we all did fit in to my Dodge Grand Caravan.... It was unbelieveable... but my dad even squashed Oatie's wheels in the car too! We had 6 pairs of skis and poles... 6 ski boots, Breakfast and Dinners for 7 for 5 days... Oatie's wheels, and all of us and it's a 7 seater.... and a SLED too! My husband did relent and buy a ski rack for the ski's...

Oatie on Skis.... first Bi-Ski experience

I know! It's quite the Winter for our Oatie.... he's now sit skiing too!

Here is Oatie's dad on his very first time trying to use the Bi-Ski with Oatie...

Oaties Instructor and my daughter with Oatie... and yes Oatie did have a wipeout with his dad...

Oaties Dad with our instructor leading

Theme Park - a Day to remember forever

I think we had the nicest family day out in absolute YEARS. We decided to surprise the kids with a trip to the only Theme park in Western Canada. We told the kids that we were going shopping to the mall in the North of Town and it wasnt' till we went through the park gates did their mouths drop open. We have lived here for 3 years but we were lucky to go to Disneyland Paris the year that we moved and then last year we combined ABR in California with an extended trip around Disneyland for a joint birthday treat.

We got there shortly after the park opened and headed straight for the washroom lol! They spotted the kids Dodgems first and Oatie was 2 inches clear of being able to go on more of the bigger rides. The rides were colour coded so you could see at a glance who could and couldn't go on which ride which was neat.

So the went on the Dogems first, and Oatie managed to drive the car a bit and then got stuck for the remainder of the ride. So I have noticed that if you revisit something that he has got stuck on a little while later then he's had time for his brain to work it out. As he had to push the pedal with his feet and was independent driving something he has never done before. We went on the log flume and yes we demonstrated our Englishness... it was a hot 25'C blue skies and there i am pulling out our waterproof jackets. Well if you have ever been around Thorpe park in England and wearing jeans, (5 huge WATER rides if not more) you never go to a theme park ever again without them! It was nice we still got wet but just not saturated. Then we went on some trains, had a lovely lunch wattched the princess show, some more car rides, spiny ones, swinging boats, my husband and my older two went on the biggest ride the roller coaster and Oatie and i went on springy cars and hot air balloon ride (mini ferris wheel) we had delicious mini donuts for snack and then we went on a few more rides before I came across BLUE, yes BLUE candy floss (cotton candy) and it was just amazing in England with the humidity it's stickier and not as fluffy, but this was just amazing. Went on a few more rides before we headed back to the dodgems and this time Oatie got the hang of it, and got stuck and managed to steer out of the jam or wall and had the most beautiful manners, he said excuse me each time he bumped someone... he did so well, that we requeued and did it one last time where he drove around just like my other two and he also rode a few rides without me or my husband as we were too big and his brother and sister had their arm around him and you could just see that he grew, during the day. For the last ride we insanely headed back to the log flume and got we one for the road.


It was so nice to be able to go to a place where by disability was by the wayside and we got to all have a fun filled day out.

ABR Oatie Comparison File March 2010 to May 2011

Here is a comparison photo of Oatie before ABR and after one year of ABR





Look at his spine and his shoulder blades and the tops of his shoulders.  On the Left photo he had to be supported or he would fall over and he was sat on a firm surface.  On the Right he is sat on a mattress... so it's squishy and less supportive.

March 2011	May2010
Before ABR, I called this the sack of potatoes look... you could push him over with a gentle shove...	Wider pelvis allowing a better sitting platform. One can also see the better definition between the right, left and central segments of the back. May 2011

Oatie and the Honey Farm.... where Pooh Bear lives....

On Friday, Oatie had a field trip, and my daughter did the Honey Farm two years back as she was in the same preschool where Oatie goes now. Two years ago, Oatie Screamed and HATED honey, he wouldn't even try to taste any, he cried and really didn't enjoy it.

Well this time, he tried all 6 different honey types, he had a go using the Smoker, he got to turn the honey centrifuge thing and he was so into seeing the Bee's looking for the Queen bee and and just loved every minute of it.

When we left, he said, "Mama, Pooh Bear lives here"

We had a quiet weekend, we bought my daughter a bunk bed, Oatie is thrilled as now he can camp in either room, he kind of breaks in and lies on their lower bunks and says "nite nite" lol!

Just 2-3 weeks left of School and wow this year has flown.

Muggy Wednesday.. and no I'm not complaining.... I wouldn't do that!!!

Well today is MUGGY and it reminds me of the UK or (Montreal!!), it was gorgeous and sunny and Muggy!!! My friend and I did a 10k (6 miles) run it could have been a bit further but the Nike GPS had "interferrence" from what I know not... as we were outside... but we did the same route as last week but added another mile and we felt it running up this crazy hill at the end.

I'm thinking of being crazy, and running a half marathon in 8 days time with no more than 10km of the 23km under my belt. But saying that I ran 4 halfs in 12 weeks (no injury) with 2 weeks training (the first was on a dare) the next three one good friend moved 4 hours away so we decided that we could chinwag for 2-3 hours, while we ran ... (and we did, we have a classic photo of a lapped half marathon when the photographer shouted at us, you girls still chatting and we're like YEAH! and he snapped a photo of us laughing, it's still on my piano today, and I love it!) and ran this same one that I'm contemplating on running 3 days after landing in Canada, when we moved country! I'm on the mindset, and I don't care if I come last and I don't care if I have to pull out half way round... I just fancy doing it.

Oatie Climbed in to the CAR today, he needed a little bit of help... but not much. We were just about to start getting our Bench organised for our new exercises when..... The FedEx girl arrived. (OMG have you seen their uniform.... her socks were very special!!! it was like something out of St Trinians.... or Halloween... well that aside, Oatie opened our front door, I'm not sure what she thought of our little man opening the door, especially with his cheerful greeting and gorgeous manners...

Well inside, was his OTTERBOX cover!!! He saw it and shouted " my IPAD YEAH!!!! My Magic Pad YEAH!!! My Ipad is HERE!!!! YEAH!!! I waiting for Ipad YEAH" it was spontaneous and priceless and more to the point, I LOVED how he just saw the OtterBox Brand or the yellow or whatever visual cue it was and he knew that he was waiting for the otterbox to use his ipad....

Well he was straight on there playing with the Xylophone, and then he was spelling words with a match the letter game and my favourite was 24 card memory... (12 pairs) he did that and I have to say I made him do it again thinking it was some weird fluke... what I think I'm going to gain from the ipad is, I know he's very very bright... but I think I'm going to see how actually bright he is.... Well in someways it's almost a "crime" someone that bright being 'trapped' in a body that won't comply with his heart... and then you have some thug, who has perfect bio-mechanics... and (well to me that's wasted...) I'm sure what I've said is totally politically incorrect.. but hey ho... this time 8 years ago I was battling people who claimed that I was't giving birth and 10 seconds later my eldest was born! But if you look at the upside... it's people like Oatie who with that level of drive, push the boundaries and push for advancements and it's those people who can and have the potential to make a difference, I suppose I see my role as facilitating/letting him reach the full potential that he can be...

So tonight is Birthday Eve,... in the UK it would have already been the time of my eldest's birth... so we sang him an early happy birthday.. which he loved as it was to the minute... (don't get me started on leap years and the quarter day!). So my son who was born at 32 weeks, will be officially 8 in Canadian time in a few hours... 8! 8! 8!, I'm going to be cliché but it has flown, I remember holding this 3lb14oz premmie in my hand literally... and taking so so so long to change his diaper/nappy that i'd either get soaked or have to change it again, as he was so fragile and delicate and with all the monitors on him, it was like a puzzle to change him...

Oatie climbed into his seat...

Well we are still waiting on the Otterbox covers, no news on the delivery of them yet..

However I have paired the keyboard to my ipad, the wireless one so it's a rather novel experience to have a super lightweight keyboard on my lap, rather than a heavy-hot laptop!

Usually I tap away on my phone as I tend to use blogbooster, as the photos I take are usually on my phone and so it's easier more seam-free to send them directly to the blog. For luxury I'd type on my desktop and then add the photos... but now my hands finally have the freedom of a keyboard... full size to touch type from....

Well today we got in 3hours and one minute. Don't forget the one minute... lol!

Sorry we haven't been about as much... The last month as been so busy... well with all the competitions and then school projects and cakes that I've iced... My daughter got 3 cakes in the end... and baking of more cakes... (ok ok really enjoy baking and decorating them)... we have back to back birthdays in our home from April to July...

The Snow has FINALLY stopped...the district have sent trucks round to sweep the stone chipping... this Winter has been a long long long one...and just think in 4.5 months it (Winter) could be back!

Today Oatie and I have been working more on his separation anxiety... well it's actually Mummy's late syndrome...

His preschool sometimes are early but more often late... so on the odd occasion that they open the door 3 minutes early and I happen to arrive a minute before time but not late, Oatie has a meltdown... So when possible I arrive early, but wait around the corner, so hopefully he'll know it's ok if I'm not there immediately.... at pick up.

I also stupidly forgot the wheels, so I had to carry him 400m back to the car it could have been a greater distance but.... whatever it was, it wasn't my arms that were buckling.... it was my throat.

It "pops" is the way I describe it... and today as he refused to hold on... it went "pop" anything that's upper body physically straining makes it pop! So I'm having heaps of soothing things...

A person I see at the pool was saying how they don't use any anesthetic for the investigative proceedure to look at your vocal chords... as it doesn't hurt, apart from freak you out having a tube going under your eyesocket... that to me was like, give me childbirth anyday, but my throat is annoying me so much, that as squeamish as I am about eyes... I don't care... I just want it sorted and move on.

On Saturday, I couldn't even sing Happy Birthday at my daughters party... or on Wed at school we stood for the national anthem and I have even started to learn it in French (I love the anthem in French) but I had to stand there like a lemon as I can't Sing... (not tone deaf, no sound comes out...). It's the little things like rejigging story time, I have one of my two fluent readers reading to everyone rather than me...

Anyway, Oatie has finally got rid of his pox... from the vaccine... well, once I got back to the car with him... he said "Mama tired..." and he for the first time climbed into his carseat!!! and then when we got home,... he climbed into his booster seat... and he even tried to put on a sock!!! he was sooooooo close, I put it around his toes and he put the rest on...

I love what we take for granted, is HUGE to him. They said he had a great day at school with being highly social... I have to say his Aide, is just the best AIDE EVER!!! WOW he's so nice, and so patient and well, wow!



Tomorrow I'm volunteering at my eldest's school with Lego Club and then they have the Mother's day tea...which they put 1.5 hours later after the finish of the lunchtime club... at school, the campus is the middle of nowhere... I love it how they think these things through..., it's not about the tea, although I do love a cup myself... All the grades have a little part each... and I need to pick my daughter up from school, so I said that we could come after but will have missed the performance...

After that, My eldest and I are going to the end of year Scout district Camp. He's with the Beavers and I'm with the Scouts...so he'll be sharing a tent with me, for 2 nights... which should be fun... I had to get him some proper kit as even-though it's May, it get's quite cold at night still... and there is nothing worse than being cold at Camp... So I won't be back till Mother's day on Sunday...

Oaties feeling better... Will he make a whole week of school?

Well his iPad arrived, but the Otterbox case to protect it, isn't ready for sale yet.

This is Oatie during our Egg hunt.

Oatie playing with his new playdoh

Well today he managed to pull up his own trousers for the first time, he stood up in open space and pulled them up all by himself... Look...

Today we got on 2:10 as me eldest had a choral concert ... It was lovely.

Oatie - In limbo, a disabled fraud or where?

On Friday we did manage 2:39, of Manual ABR and has his Machine every night but two, since we got  his ABR Machine.

Well while I went swimming and had the "mean swimmer" swimming in the next lane as my muse... (joking about him being my muse, just relieved not to swim with him),... I was wondering about the "F" word, (Future), for Oatie.  Sunday night we did his flashcards with him, and he will always orientate them correctly and he got all correct apart from his newest word that he hadn't seen for 2 weeks, he is so obviously very very bright... and even though it's  2.5 years till he starts Grade 1, that's only 30months...   Why was my head swimming when I was swimming.... well apart from the best place for me to think;

• My eldest school is also having a re-vamp and well there was no mention of adding any disabled facilities to the school, it's not even an old building and had a huge overhaul 8 years ago and even then when they added an upstairs library still no disabled method of conquering the stairs.  We would like Oatie to go there when it's time... but that is a battle to come, for another day...

• The the other recent experience of the whole speech thing at his school, "oh sorry our budget is exhausted..." and I was like with whom?  Oatie is your most severe disabled child, and you've spent NOTHING on him... so who took the WHOLE budget?"  "Sorry our OT is pregnant.... so nothing this year..."

• Parking in a disabled bay WITH our badge WITH Oatie in the car, the scathing looks of the elderly like WHO is disabled in your car....!  (Yep they can push their cart and walk unaided to their car, not saying they don't' deserve their badge, but... what makes them think that they have any right to judge whether Oatie qualifies for his badge)

Well, who needs Google, from swimming regularly, and at the same time as the adult swim-club (I don't swim with them...) but I know quire a few people who do.  I am finding out a wealth of info on disabled services and the best way of accessing them.  Only, there was a disabled swimming group, which isn't open to the public it's organised via a Dr's referral... granted it was for adults... but only because I swam much later today did I ever see or hear of this group.

Everyone says he will walk, and for him, I really hope he does, it would open up the world to him, but if he doesn't walk, he doesn't walk, people can lead a super life without walking too.  But at the same time, no one thought he was "disabled"/ had CP.

So I kind of feel that Oatie/we are in limbo, it's taken a huge effort to keep our disabled and our able bodied worlds both open, and sometimes I'm thinking.... why did I fight for this, to be in both?  (But it is for our family good to be in both, it just is painful from time to time, but that's ok).  It's good for my elder two to have a 'normal life' and embrace their brother's and it's so so so good for the "normal" people to have a reality check with seeing a disabled person in their face, and for their kids, to see that it is perfectly normal for disabled and able kids to mix, and in my opinion, how it should be.  Another blog I follow of a girl called  Ashley, her mum has been campaigning to get Ashley into a mainstream school.


I can now TOTALLY see why we don't see many families with a young disabled member, being in the able world, as it's fairly painful actually...  being in a fairly small town, if you're a sporty family, you tend to see the same people/families around town all the time.

From the able world, you get the uncouth remarks, then they go oops... or they arrange an able bodied activity/social for the kids and ohhh sorry I forgot... or a play-date with the kids the same age... but not Oatie... and they turn and say, "Well he can't do X..." and like I had at the volunteer commitment / no one wanting to babysit.

Where as in the "physically less able world", although we all have our different plights and each of our children all have unique "conditions", we all stand together and that's so nice.

Recently one of the blogs I follow,  of a gorgeous young man called Adam, Sharon put a post about WHY, why don't people look closer to home...

The blanket definition of CP, each child who has CP, it affect them all in a different way.  From love that Max


Oatie is 'lucky' as I don't know if that the right word, but he has the "normal" life just out of his fingertips... always..., he's blipping between the two worlds, his speech, walking improved day by day, but will it be 'enough' in 30 months time?, I wonder where his life will lie, in which sphere able or less abled?  Some day's I wonder if we're a fraud in the disabled world as there are so many kids/adults who have much bigger challenges to climb than Oatie... and then, we don't fit in the "able" world either.  I have to say I feel more at home here in the the "physically less able"  that's why I sometimes feel that we're in limbo,... and more so as we're out of the "medical system" as we do ABR which is out of the medical system.

We didn't do any ABR over the weekend as he really wasn't very well, a parting souvenir from preschool before spring break.  But today he didn't want to eat his lunch, he said, "Mama I'm tired" something he's only said to his dad before and then I said well "eat your lunch and you can have a Nap then?",  he said... "NON!! in his French accent and said " I want BED", so I sat him down for lunch, and he drank his drink and said, "Tired... Tired.... Tired.... Tired... Mama... Tired..." etc so he took himself off to his bed for the whole afternoon, and didn't want to get out of it, he reluctantly came down for dinner and we said he could play for a bit as he'd been in bed, and said, nope! I Tired, I want Buzz Bench (ABR Machine), I sleep!

So as my bench companion (Oatie) went to bed...., I made two pairs of figure skating pants this afternoon for my eldest,  I was hemming them as he went out the door...they compete in the weekend after next for three weekends in a row....

Hoping to get some ABR in tomorrow,

Love Oatie's Mum
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My Favourite Apps... for the caregivers...

Well, I did promise Eric, that I would put my favourite apps, I am partial to Apple products, you might have guessed when Oatie says "look at the apple mama" when he takes photos of me pretend or real... Luckily for you, he hasn't worked out how to upload the photos he has taken of me to his blog... PHEW! shhhh don't tell him!

Well, with all the faffing of the red tape and otherwise, we have decided just to buy him an Ipad2 and just get the ball rolling as he to me, is at a crucial point in his speech development, he's parroting everything and is trying so hard to communicate and be understood... and if you work out what he's saying, it just gives him a huge confidence boost.

A lot of them do have FREE versions, so you can trial it, but some free ones have all the features as paid ones, the informant you can upgrade by migrating it so you don't have to re-enter your data... well it was like that...

So here are my favourite Apps for the Caregivers! Apps for the kids I'll leave to the experts...

Just right click on the link and open in a new tab, so you don't have to go back and forth...

My first one is
1password:

This is so fantastic for me, I store our health card details, membership, credit card, library card, any sort of online activity here, you put in your extra password and can lock it down further to a master password and, once you're in, you press to log in to say the library or eBay or amazon it's fantastic... so if you hate looking around for your card or can't remember it's a great app, you can have auto lock so no chance of someone being able to see your sensitive info and you can also have auto wipe or remote erase I believe...

Timelogger:
I have just gone for the free version as I actually weirdly like the adverts. It's what I time my ABR with, and it's fantastic. I put all Oatie's exercises in and press start stop, and there is also a pause and it logs all the time and at the end of the session I just email it as a CSV excel sheet to my desktop voila! easy...


Blogbooster, you may have seen photos uploaded with blogbooster, annoying as they have really upped their selfbragging, but it's so easy, quick to use, you can pixel size the photos and sync it to your Picassa web album and it's totally easy and brainless... so often if I'm at home I might type on my desktop, and then go to blogbooster and upload the photo as it can be uploaded and done in 10 seconds. The only disadvantage is that the photos don't show up in the margin of other's blogs.... but for a huge time saving app, I love it and like it says you can blog on the go.

Iflow, I really like this one, it was under a different name but they have re-branded it... it's the classics but it's cheap or free... and you can have hands free reading, you can customise the speed, colour etc,... it's great if you can't watch Dora the explorer for the millionth time or just want to treat your child and get a read in too.

Informant, well I have to say I love it, I have my desktop synced with google docs which then syncs with my phone. no probs or hassle, and I ensured I had the auto sync at totally different times of the day. So super I can change an appointment on my desktop, shake my phone with the app open and it's all synced... or vice versa... (I'll let you know how 3 way syncing with the ipad goes... people have said it's been fine...) Informant has my calendar and to do list, and one one of the organised methods, I have set up my contexts which is the different type of shops, so as I need things, I put them in under the correct shop so when I go out with my limited time budget, I can just go, Costco... and all the things I'd like to buy are there in a list. or Fabricland, and all listed, it's saved so much time and got rid of the feeling arghghgh I forgot X.

Obvioulsy, Shazam, Shazam is better than soundhound, I've been trying both out simultaneously and Shazam is more accurate. What is a better way than having your ipod playing great tunes to help you treat your kid more easily...

Home Routine, this is based on the "Sink Reflections" woman, but I love it and you can customise it and I like the morning evening routine very much, love checking off those stars...

if you have other kids and need them to "comply" well irewardchat is fantastic, you can even calculate how many stars till they qualify for X.

Lifeplanner, this is the one that I said most other would find it useless, but I really like it, it's kept separate from my schedule and keeps me on track, like it bings 5 or how many minutes you want, to tell you that you have free time or you should be doing your chores... I often get carried away doing something else and I has made me more time savvy... I like it a lot.

If you have a home gym or go to one, Ultratimer is your app. You can put your very own work out in it and group workouts, so you can just chill and do your reps and it tells you (from what you programmed) what you're doing next, and you can play music from your library at the same time.

Spelling, if you have younger kids who all have spelling homework, well this app is fab as you put your list in, and say the word or they can, and then they can practise the spellings and it emails you how they did, so you can see which words need some work....

Grocery Gadget, I love it! you can just scan the items you want to add to your list and you can email it or sync it with someone else and they can whilst they are out go shopping for you with photos and everything.

Ohhhh and if you want to see how much time you WASTE!!!! well this app is for you, you start and stop the time of your chosen list Eat dinner and you can see how much time you spend doing what. The worst bit is that it can't lie or fudge it so it is what it is... It's called Timerific

Well these are my favourite apps for being organised with a special needs kid...

Love Oatie's Mum
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Oh and we got 3:05 of ABR in on Monday and 2:32 today.

T-shirts, tumble turns, magic, walk, tan, ABR, 3-turns and meringue

Well today was what would be a Typical Winter/Spring day in Sunny Alberta. A beautiful Chinook arch in the sky, blue skies, sunshine, 3oC and you want to be in a T-shirt, I'm sure I got a tan. (I'll explain the tan in a bit).

Oatie holding my hand walking look at his feet, look at our hands  WOW!

If you ever fancy some free "sport" (meaning a laugh), just invite me along and make sure you get a front row seat. No I'm not joking, I have posted how I end up going against the grain of life, and I've posted how it really used to bother me, and used to wonder WHY? but now I have a few grey hairs, I just shrug my shoulders and well you just have to LAUGH and not fight it! It's so much funnier when you just laugh...

A Friend who doesn't have any brain injured children all the same ages as ours and does have her household like the "Waltons", says how I "look" for these thing. But I seriously don't, it just happens, look at last week with my "so annoyed post". I dotted all the 'i''s and crossed all the 't's and still. BOOM BOOM POW! I was proactive in ensuring it would go without a hitch and it should have... but nope of all the 50+ families... it happened to me!


After dropping my 3 gorgeous kids off at their schools I went for a Swim. I was in a lane with a lady whom we've swum with a once or twice but never really chatted. Well even though I swim as fast as a snail, she was complimenting my swimming and told me how she couldn't Breathe for front crawl... well being a person who didn't get proper stroke technique till they were 12 and became a swimming instructor... I gave her a few tips. And then out of the blue, she started to Tumble turn. She stopped and said how she felt like she wanted to pay me, as she was in Swim Club as a kid, she couldn't compete as she couldn't "Breathe" and well she gave up swimming as a result, and now is obese... So I jestingly said, she could egg me on to do a Tumble Turn as "payment", as I haven't done one for 18 years... (since I injured my back when I was a teen), and have been reluctant to do so since, so I did 4 tumble turns today, they weren't pretty, but I sooo enjoyed them, we had an absolute SCREAM together it was hilarious...

My Oatie, was full of surprises... and know how I was took him shopping, well I was still thinking about how nice it was... and why was it nice this time, what was different? I don't see it but my friends do, Oatie is very subtly improving. That's why, his back's not in pain how it used to be, today he stood up and put on his OWN hat. as it was a T'shirt day we walked back to the car. Yes I'd say it was a walk. Usually we'd do the WADDLE... but today he held one hand, my hand was by my side rather than high up taking his weight. It took 20 minutes to go the 200 metres but we Walked, it was pleasurable, it was a slow stroll, he chattered, it was the first "normal" experience of physical activity we've ever done, it was just like MAGIC, so magical that it was one of those moments like on a Startrek film, where time was frozen and I'll remember the moment FOREVER. Well that's how I got my Tan!

We did 2:25 of ABR,.... Thank you ABR so much!

The 3-turns, well I'm still short of one of my inside ones, (skating speak), buy my figure skating kids did beautiful 3 turns, they had a great skate today.

The Meringue, well we had some egg whites from making the peppermint creams at Scouts last week, so I made some English meringue's actually a strawberry pavlova, I can't eat the cream but we bought some and whisked it up and voilà! Which my lovely hubby took round to my two fellow Scouter's homes. I won't be at camp next weekend due to the 32 hours. They are always so nice, and so supportive of Oatie, me and my family, never complain if I can't be there or go to camp, and it's an honour to Scout (Scout Association) with them.

Not a great photo but you get the idea, two layers of meringue, sandwiched with whipped cream, whipped cream on top decorated with Strawberries,  We use dairy free ice cream instead...

March and Friday AGAIN!!!

Oatie with the hardest push-along we have, the one behind is the harder cart and in the by the door is his sturdy tikes cart.

Here's Oatie taking Crystal my other son's cat for a walk in my daughter's Barbie Pram. You can just see the paw and tail.

Yesterday was a rather hectic day with one school skiing with their dad, Oatie at preschool, my other son at home for a teacher training day.  We made some paper aeroplanes together then picked up Oatie, had lunch, cleaned up did some ABR then had to go to the volunteer meeting which I actually (I'm surprised) got an apology for the whole "annoyed" thing.  So I was like oh OK, and well then the kids had skating followed by off ice followed by me leading our Scout meeting we were making peppermint creams.

It's really quite tricky trying to lead something when you just can't speak up, not because I'm shy (I'm about as far from shy as one can be.  Well that's not strictly true as the introvert side on occasion I can be but I don't mind public speaking or making a speech those thing just don't phase.  So it was like Galaxy Quest when I say something and then my fellow Scouter would repeat it for me.

So anyway, today I've declared that on Teacher Training days' I'm just not going to roll Oatie, I will take the day off, my eldest is going to be 8 this year and my daughter 6 next month and Oatie 4 in July... so seeing the actual Numbers, I'm like YIKES, and so I'd really like to enjoy those days with them.

So we've done 3 hours in the last two days and tomorrow & Sunday I should get our full hours in.

Quiet Saturday's are nice...

My oven is busy making all these dishes.

Today we had a quiet day at home.   It wasn't as quiet as I thought, as I did a bit of spring cleaning, I know I've mentioned my oven a few times, but I really do love it, how many ovens can you clean while your cooking?  My oven was grilling sausages, had a casserole, frying onions, a huge rice pudding, and cooking rice and had the contents of my quiche filling, oh and making me a cup of tea too!  (Yes that is a giant sized mug, it's my ABR mug).  I can make a nice cup of tea it stays hot and is great especially for $0.50cents!

We took today off from ABR, and Oatie played with his less sturdier cart, this morning he stood up and went to walk with it and lost his balance and fell on his bottom, he was about to crawl away and cry, when I told him that he was able to play with it, but he couldn't lean on it as it won't take his weight,and he'd need to put a few of his cuddlies/stuffies back inside the cart to help, so he said "OK Mama" and stood up in open space and had another go.

What's ironic is that having the combination of "able" and less "able" children in our house, at times, I'm not sure who's the less able one, as Oatie rarely spills anything, gets any food around his mouth, where as my 7 year old.....!  So it's quite funny, even though they have differences physically to Oatie, they all 'struggle' with similar goals just in different ways,  my older two are trying to perfect their "sweet-spot" on their figure skates whereas Oatie is trying to find his "Sweet-spot" on his feet too.  When he stood up, with his cart after he fell, he rocked back on his feet and forward, looked like he found his balance (same look as my older son on his hockey skates last week) and then was off...  It's called his "speed cart" and it's full of all his stuffies/cuddlies.

Meanwhile, Crystal was hunting the sausages...

I can smell Sausages...

A change... a good change but a change...

I'm perplexed, doesn't happen often but, I'm had a few moments of actually looking, not believing my eyes and looking again! I suppose it was subtle, but just a good few 'subtles' today which was eyebrow raising for me.


If I could ever have multiple me's like Multiplicity (with Michael Keaton), I would kind of love. The rest of the world wouldn't as there would never be any peace for a start and if they could chat half as much as I can... then it would be "God save the world", as I am a Gemini too, but 50-50 extrovert-Introvert straight down the line.

Well I have decided what "jobs" they would all have. I'm sure you who read my blog can guess what, one for ABR, one for running the house... But ultimately I don't think I could as they would be like Slaves and I just couldn't stomach that. I wouldn't mind employing someone to help, but they would have to treated "tiptop" for sure.

The reason I think of Multiplicity.... is the balance, my plate spinning goes awry at times, I hear a few chinks of of Stoneware hitting the floor. I would say China, but I only like my cup of tea in China. Good old Stoneware is so durable.

My "old life" was predictabley boringly balanced, too balanced, I like running things to perfection, (OK i'll admit it) it was a tad dull,... there is never a dull moment now! Be careful what you wish for!!!

Today my younger two had teacher training days, (I can hear you shouting WHAT ANOTHER ONE!!!) like I said between Oatie picking up every illness at school... and the Teacher Training days of 3 different school calendars... I have job some days working out who is meant to be in the car and who isn't!

Well, I decided to take my daughter to the public figure skate, not because she was lacking in ice time but just to spend some one on one with her. She skated this evening for another 1.5 hours but we went for a giggle together, we held hands, she looked at my 3 turns, and we really enjoyed it too. The trade off was Oaties ABR so I did manage 1 hour and I thought one hour is better than no hours and well it has a knock on to the dishwasher not being run and then adds a few chinks to my well oiled machine. Oatie is still having everyday 10-14 hours of ABR Machine a night. I suppose I wish I could be there for everyone whenever they need me (highly unrealistic) but it was what my "old life" before his diagnosis was like and I did really enjoy the freedom of the past, I don't want it to sound bad as I love Oatie just as much as my other two, and in some ways he's the least trouble as he always does his best and listens most of the time and doesn't have strops. What I mean is, I liked being able to "waste an afternoon chatting to a friend about nothing", or not multitasking EVERYTHING, all the time, and as long as the basics were done, laundry, dinner sorted, school run and clean kids, didn't really have a care in the world, I suppose the simplicity. Hence the thought of multiplicity.

I thought this was going to be a short post! Well I wished I could roll (ABR) Oatie more, not because anyone is making me do it, or out of guilt as I don't feel guilty about what happened to him. But on days like today, for a fleeting moment I do wish I got our "usual" hours in, especially when you see him progressing.

Here's why I was gobsmacked...today, he spontaneously asked for food, when offered lunch he said no, later!, and then told me which pudding he'd like, when I said it wasn't available (he hmmmmmmed and then said something else), he stoutly was opinionated, used words I had never heard him use before and, pushed his other cart that he couldn't hold even if I was holding it he'd fall over (I felt bad for buying it as it seemed cruel that he had this toy and couldn't use it, so I hid it in a corner behind the door in the playroom for the past 2 years)..., today he got it out, did squats with it and pushed it along and I was like, OMG!!!! and said to my husband "did you see that?" he looked up and just said yes (automatically) thinking Oatie was with his usual more sturdier cart, when he looked up again and went OH! He found two stuffies from this cart, decided they were friends, and gave them names and told me what they liked!?!?!? (OMG!) Watching Skating this evening he sat on the bench watching his DVD holding his dad's hand (usually he'll stand up) and he walked to get his bedtime water and opened the underbed-drawer to get his ABR machine out, and well he was just "different" like a good change had happened again, nothing major, but all the little bits really added up to "WOW" for me, and that's why I couldn't believe my eyes.

Well it's our Friday night Date Nite, our Takeout/Takeaway is arriving soon, so I'll leave you in peace... for now! Hope you all have a great weekend too.


Love Oatie's Mum (Mel xxx)