mlag724 - God is so good!

Ladies, how do your other children feel about their special sibling?
I didn't tell my other boys anything until we were coming home from the hospital. They were very excepting from the begining. My husband and I don't make a big deal so they don't either. They love their brother so much. They really love that they can get on the front of the lines at Disneyland because of him. I even bought them these shirts that read:

My brother got an extra chromosome and all I got was this t-shirt.

I strongly believe the boys will always look after him. At least that's my prayer.

mammabyrdie- You are a wonderful mother. You can be my adopted mother. Your children are really blessed to have you as their mother. I love love love your outlook. My other children are wonderful. They love their brother as well. I believe that because there are 4 other children my son has done so well. I think that my other children have learned to be tolerant of others. They've learned that just because a person is differnt does not mean that they are less than. We are different and better people than what we would have been had we not known Trevor(my son). They promise that when dad and I are no longer around they will take care of their brother. I'm sure your boys will as well. Isn't having a large family wonderful?

Originally Posted by mlag724

mammabyrdie- You are a wonderful mother. You can be my adopted mother. Your children are really blessed to have you as their mother. I love love love your outlook. My other children are wonderful. They love their brother as well. I believe that because there are 4 other children my son has done so well. I think that my other children have learned to be tolerant of others. They've learned that just because a person is differnt does not mean that they are less than. We are different and better people than what we would have been had we not known Trevor(my son). They promise that when dad and I are no longer around they will take care of their brother. I'm sure your boys will as well. Isn't having a large family wonderful?

Mlag724 you are the TOPS! I love having a large family. We are so similar in the way we think! I'd love to adopt you. I would love to have a lot of grandbabies

mammabydie-I was an only child until I was 12 years old. It was very lonely. So I said one day I'm going to have lots of kids. I had planned to have more but changed my mind. I changed my mind of #4 which turned out to be 4&5. I changed my mind before knew of my son's autism. I'm also looking forward to lots of grandchildren. The larger my family gets the better. How old are your other boys. From whom did they inherit all that beautiful red hair? Because you have other boys your son will thrive. Boys never stop wrestling and messing around. They'll make him a part of whatever they're doing. That way he will learn so much. You will not believe how having the other boys around will make such a bigdifference. Some of the thing I was told about my son's life just never happened. He did so much better than anyone would have believed. I owe all to his siblings. I'll try not to make my post so long in the future.

Your post is just perfect. I see what you are saying about having the others around helping the baby. He wants so much to keep up with his big brothers. My other boys are 10, 8, 6 and 4. The baby is almost 16 months. LoverButter (my nickname for the baby) is in the perfect position being the baby. He can't help but thrive.

Oh yeah, the red hair comes from my side. Everyone assumes it is from my DH because he is white and I'm black. My grandfather was Irish and we get red heads every generation, including me and my sister. Mine is more of a darker almost brown red. LoverButter is a strawberry blonde and my 8 year old has Bozo the Clown red. It doesn't even look real, but I think it is beautiful!

what a wonderful thread , I don't have any kids yet but I have a cousin with Down Syndrome. I am very close to her as I only have her and her brother as cousins. She's 18 and an absolute joy!

Where is eveyone? Was I going on and on too much? I was beginning to form a bond with you guys. I hope you return soon and tell us your experiences with your children special needs.

Originally Posted by mlag724

Where is eveyone? Was I going on and on too much? I was beginning to form a bond with you guys. I hope you return soon and tell us your experiences with your children special needs.

Hehe! No...you weren't going on too much! Just busy with the school week - this therapy and that therapy, etc. You know the drill!! So, I will share this bit of news. We are going to the Ringling Brothers Circus tonight because of a special needs connection. I help out with a group in Atlanta (I host a share group for special needs parents at my house once a month.) and was given free tickets to the circus for my family. We get to go early for the Magical Journey Pre-Show experience which I hope will get us more up close and personal to the performers/animals. Then there is the circus. We'll see how Zach lasts through the event.....he LOVES animals and balloons and hopefully there will be lots of both there. We are very excited to see Zach's reaction! I'll be sure to take pics!

We had parent/teacher conferences last night and the kids are off school today, so I don't have much extra time! No one has "gone on" too much! We love hearing your stories!

I'm still here too! Crazy week at school for us!

Kathrynch - Have a great time!

I've been checking in when I can, but I haven't had any great stories this week. I have had many times of being utterly frustrated with each and every one of my teenagers, but that seems to have become the norm lately. I think I need a support group for moms of teens!! I think they are more difficult than preschoolers.

Anyway, I had a intersting conversation with my son last week. He is a senior and we are trying to decide on the next step for him. I am trying to steer him towards a program that focuses on one subject instead of encouraging a well-rounded curriculum. This is when he told me that he was sick and tired of having a disability and didn't want there to be anything wrong with him.

I can't really make it better but I am in the process of finding a counselor for him to talk some of his feelings out with. I know he will eventually be ok, but the whole graduating thing seems to have thrown him for a loop.

Thanks for letting me share.

Give him a huge hug for me!

lvshopping90-does your state have vocational programs for special needs? These programs are for kids who might not be able to go to college but are able to do other things. Please don't mention teenagers. They like beings form another planet. One day you'll look back with fond memories and wonder how you survived. Trust me you will survive.

Hey everyone!

The baby has his pt appointments scheduled. They start on March 14th I'm so excited!

He had his evaluation he receives every 3 months. He's still doing very well. There are a few things we'll be working on, but overall he's great. Later this month he'll be going on a ton of checkups. I'll be praying for great news then too.

How are your sweeties?

^^^ Congrats on getting the PT scheduled! I hope the rest of your appointments go well. We seem to be having lots of appointments too these days - we have both an MRI and an ambulatory EEG on the calendar for March, plus the regular therapy stuff. Whew! Tired already!

I wanted to share a few pictures from our adventure at the circus last week. It was fun but EXHAUSTING! We got there early for all the "pre-circus" stuff which was really great. But we had been there so long when intermission came, we decided to go home then. Zach didn't know the difference and he had experienced lots of new things so all was good! The only challenge that we had is that Zach thought all the workers carrying the Cotton Candy "trees" (I'll call them that) were actually carrying bunches of balloons - his FAVORITE thing in the whole wide world. We had to keep telling him "those aren't balloons...those aren't balloons" when he wanted to run from one worker to the other saying "boon....boon" It was kind of funny after a while. We'll have to go again if we have the chance. He LOVED it!