Good Things Jar

Thanks to an idea I got from Mom's Clean Air Force on Facebook through a shared post, a year ago I began a "Good Stuff Jar." The idea was to jot down any surprise gifts, accomplishments, beauty of nature noticed, LOL moments, good memories, etc. Then we would read them at the end of the year.

Any project is difficult to maintain for a full year and this one didn't require a lot of attention, so it was often forgotten. Still, I did wind up with a handful and reading them with my husband on the first of this year gave us a chuckle and a reminder of some things we appreciate. I'd like to share them with you, since there aren't too many. Some of them were funny to us because they seemed great at the time, but didn't really pan out in the end...

• Frying chicken + pork chops was a lot easier than I was making it out to be.
  
• Bonus plants from Patrick (for my garden - we laughed because my garden was a bit of a failure)
  
• Elmo cleaned the ENTIRE kitchen... for $25. HAHAHA (he felt underpaid)
  
• Gardening + catching worms with Sasha
  
• Daddy brought an OK Brown [tarantula] home from [work].
  
• Found Little Leafers (a local nature explorers group that died out before it even began, when the leader suddenly had to move out of state)
  
• Taste of Summer, Horse Awareness Day and Zoo - all in 1 weekend with Samantha (my stepdaughter, shortly after we gained visitation)
  
• Spencer choosing the [ASL] "monkey" sign to mean "Marcus" (his Speech Therapist).
  
• Cathulhu (the cat... that we immediately had to re-home when it was found that Samantha was allergic)
  
• Neighbor, Brent, brought wood + tools - spent 5 hours on coop!
  
• Carnival Epsilon performing in our own back yard for Ronni's Sweet 16.
  
  
• Awesome garden tools from Angie.
  
• Got to sleep with Elmo all weekend! (This would have been before the move, when I usually slept on a different floor.)
  
• Horse Awareness Day (apparently warranted being mentioned twice)
  
• Singing Disney songs in the van together
  
• I learned how to make paper seedling pots.
  
• Discovered the wonder that is spinach in scrambled eggs - new favorite! (I still eat this almost daily!)
  
• Spencer learned to give hugs & made a hugging game. (Taking turns hugging people)
  
• New-to-us stove deal - approved out of rent
  
• Last $325 [owed] to [last place of residence] written off
  
• Made Tubby Custard - Kids loved it! Sasha asked me to make it again the next day.
  
• Angela chose our family to receive her free [weekly] "Meal Maker" eggs. (She later sold me our 6 hens at a great deal!)
  
• [new home address] (We have been very happy to live in a house!)
  
• Courtney & mom [last name] - furniture including full size bed! (They gave us furniture they had in storage.)
  
• Got to be Dulce's guests to Taste of Summer (an event that includes free ice cream!)
  
• Elmo figured out how to safely install new-to-us stove.

Considering how many times we forgot about the jar, that's pretty good! I'd like to continue the jar into 2015, but I think I'll add one detail - a date. I think it will be cool to be able to put them in order, remember when things happened and maybe even match them up with pictures at the end of the year! This was a really fun thankfulness project and I would definitely recommend it.

Mamatography 2013 - Week 42

Day 286 - October 13

Just another typical Sunday of Geocaching.

Mamatography 2013 - Week 38

Day 258 - September 15

We may have a new tradition here!
The family all gathered 'round to watch Sasha decorate her own cake.

Adjusted Expectations

Everyone has always been so impressed with my attitude toward Spencer and his diagnosis. I've insisted that I expect typical milestones from him, and that we'd adjust and work as necessary. I'd been told that the first year was much like any other baby. We were working toward the usual milestones. Spencer had very few hurdles during that first year, considering he has Down syndrome.

Lennon (16mo) standing next to Spencer (15mo)

I recently saw Spencer next to typical babies at 14 & 16mo. One of them (not pictured) was, admittedly, larger than average. Still... it was a bit of a shock to see these big babies up and walking next to him. I mean, I know Sasha walked at 10 months and Ronni at about 13, but I don't really compare. I just watch Spencer working on his milestones and am proud. It was almost a slap to the face, a wake up slap. A couple days later we were at a meeting with just babies that have DS and everything just seemed so much more "normal." These babies are all close to Spencer in age and they are all hitting their milestones in their own time. We all support each other and celebrate each other's kids' milestones, even the ones that our own babies haven't reached yet. Just having them all be smaller, though, was a big thing. They're all good sized (healthy)... based on the Down syndrome growth chart.

Lily is 3 weeks older than Spencer.

So I've had to adjust my expectations. Spencer is still catching up with talking after having fluid in his ears. He is going to Speech Therapy once per week and it is going great! He is going to Physical Therapy once per month to just watch his development. He needs a little work due to his hyper-flexibility. His knees and feet point out. He often stands from a squat. Its impressive, but they want him to kneel then stand, in a healthier way. We're going soon for an Occupational Therapy evaluation to see if he could benefit from help there, too. In case you aren't familiar with OT, it helps the client / patient with daily life skills, even adjusting the environment if that is what is needed.