Spring has finally arrived! Although it was the year of the El Nino, and mother nature blessed California with much needed rain to end the drought, it was not as cold as I had hoped it to be. I feel winters were much colder about 20 years ago when I was growing up. But, nonetheless, I love Spring with its warmer weather and beautiful flowers. Yesterday, I saw a pink and white bougainvillea for the first time and thought it was the most beautiful bougainvillea I have ever seen! It almost seemed to glow in the sunlight and I had to get a clipping of it! It reminds me of my favorite flower, sweet peas (without the fragrance) which I have in my planter right now and am looking forward to seeing its blooms in a couple of months! Gardening has helped me relax and somehow feel loved. I have been able to grow almost anything and have found joy in rehabilitating dying plants I buy for sale. It sounds odd but I feel they really respond to my thoughts. It is calming, meditative and spiritual. One time, I had hoped the roses in the planter would grow a certain way but did not prune it at all. Next thing I know, it is growing exactly as I wished. I remember a similar thing happen with a squash the neighbors had planted in my previous apartment. I wished it would climb the wall and grow a few squash on our patio and in a few weeks, there was one vine that kept growing and growing until it finally started growing a squash right on our back patio table! It was amazing and I have had a fascination with caring for plants ever since!
Mr. L is finally over is flu and is his happy leprechaun self (although, in this picture you wouldn't know it). Here he is twurling his favorite toy framed by his school artwork. As the saying goes, "Keep Calm and Leprechaun"! I love discovering all the artwork he brings home from school and I proudly have them displayed in the living room. I get excited to open his backpack every Friday to see what he has made. It's like I am receiving a present every week!
Today is the first day of Spring Break and L and I were just hanging out doing some shopping. We were so happy to find the Caroline's Cart for special needs children at our local Target Store! There is only one on the floor currently but the manager said they are in plans to get more in. It was so easy to just strap him in the seat instead of trying to fit him into the basket of the conventional carts which he is fast outgrowing. He also wiggles himself out the the seat belt and stands on the top of the cart and many store clerks has warned me that he needs to sit down. Unfortunately, I rarely shop at Target. I have written a letter to Ralphs, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and Vons stores via their comment section online and requested they get them in their stores, too.
I think he really liked the cart because a few minutes later, I found him fast asleep! I spent an hour at Target just waiting for him to wake up.
Last Saturday, Gabe attended an all day symposium at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa about the care and legal aspects of raising a special needs child. Lawyers, social workers, therapists, law students receive continuing education credit for attending and so are charged a few hundred dollars but they make it available for free to the parents, with lunch included to boot. Gabe said he learned a lot about conservatorship and setting up special needs trusts. They even reviewed details about what forms to file with the courts and even how many copies to make! Most law schools have "special needs clinics" where law students under the auspices of an attorney help parents with IEP meetings, guardianship and other legal matters all for FREE! It is definitely an underutilized resource for many parents who may not be able to afford costly attorneys' fees. Here is the agenda for the symposium and the topics they covered:
Someone video recorded all the sessions. Here are links to the syposium:
below are the links to videos of all of the panels from our recent symposium, "The Special Needs Child From A to Z: Assessment to Zealous Advocacy." The videos are password protected; the password (for all) is: special1password for all : special1
panel 1: Assessment: https://vimeo.com/160284755
panel 2: Advocacy: https://vimeo.com/159645906
keynote: https://vimeo.com/159645905
panel 3: Guardianships/Adoptions: https://vimeo.com/160291069
panel 4: Financial Planning: https://vimeo.com/160369239
No comments:
Post a Comment