Trouble

It has been busy around here for the last few days especially. Daniel is becoming a typical two year old and this has been both exciting and dangerous.

Daniel, for a long time, really didn't find much interest in exploring the world around him. He would be perfectly fine sitting still and sort of "playing" with things that were presented to him. But no more!

Daniel is now a very inquisitive toddler, wanting to go wherever you are and see whatever it is you are doing. He is finding out that the kitchen is a pretty cool place with one particular cabinet that has different bottles of interesting looking fluid. Another fun place is in the hall upstairs very close to the stairs going down! Even more interesting is in the playroom where he can almost pull an entire shelving unit upon himself! Or maybe the best part is in the laundry room? Really all of it is just great fun for him and for us too.

Even though this has come upon us being fully unprepared, it is very exciting to have this little 2 year old in our house. It has been a while (not since Alison was two) that we've had to keep a diligent eye on a child's exploration. Yes, we need to invest in some child proofing but really I don't care about that right now. All I care about is that my little boy is becoming Trouble with a capital "T" and that is just alright with me.

Mother Calling

I have read on other blogs and in some articles, where mothers of special needs children have a much more difficult job. That for some reason we are stronger than a mother of a "normal" child. I have both and I tend to disagree.

I think that any mother is a mother of a "special needs" child. What child out there doesn't have "special needs?"

In today's world, there is so much that a child needs to survive that any mother who can guide her child though it with very little harm done, is a good mother.

When I was pregnant with Alison, the Iraq war started. I remember thinking that it was going to be very difficult to raise her in this world today. She has so many obstacles to overcome. Daniel does too but in a way, hers are even more dangerous because I cannot predict them. With Daniel, I sorta know what is ahead of me. He has his needs and delays and I know what we need to do to tackle them. For Alison, her needs are not so transparent. Her difficulties lie in the day to day navigation of this world which some days, I can't even navigate. I don't know how to shield her, protect her, guide her through and I haven't yet met one mother who really does.

Special needs or not, it is all a hard part of motherhood. For my children to be successful in life (and I don't mean make a lot of money or be famous), for any child to be successful, they must have a mother who is loving, and caring unconditionally. That is the task of any mother. That is the task of every mother.

Daniel's classroom

Today, Lara and I visited the elementary-school classroom where Daniel will attend summer camp for a few weeks and, in the fall, be enrolled as a preschooler.

While I had anticipated feeling uneasy about the visit, I actually became very excited by what I saw. We sat in on circle time, where the teacher led the class in songs and reading and used lots of visual aids -- really not much different from what we've observed in Alison's preschool classrooms.

What was different, of course, were the kids. Some had mobility issues, some behavioral or communicative. But there was no mistaking that these children were happy, responsive and having a great time. I immediately visualized my boy alongside his classmates, pointing to pictures, talking to the teacher, trying his sign language and "rocking out." (See 'Daniel dances' post.)

While I fully expect him to be apprehensive at first, I know that before long Daniel will be having a great time in his new class. And I am confident that he will excel from being in this new and wonderful environment.