Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Burden

I would not change Ben for the world.  But I would change the world for him.   
I made this poster quite a while ago, could not decide if I should post it or not.  
Honestly we have been lucky and have been blessed to have a wonderful caring and supportive community in our small town in Nebraska.  We have had very few incidents of inappropriate behavior or language used and most have occurred when we have traveled to one of the bigger cities around us.  I have not doubt that Ben will blaze his own trail and will show us all that individuals with 
Down syndrome can accomplish many things.
Happy Down Syndrome Awareness Month!



Thursday, October 18, 2012

Happy Fall Ya'll!

The local Down synrome support group went to a local pumpkin patch this weekend.  We did not really mind that it was muddy since the rain that fell the night before was the first we had in weeks.  The patch was fun and our group pretty much had the place to ourselves to start the day.


They have a Scary Farm at night.  I think we will pass on that for a few years.


Ben really enjoyed the big bikes of the Roca 500.  John did not enjoy them as much due to the wet ground.  At least he got a good workout from it all.


Then there was the giant slide.  I gave John strict instructions to go down with Ben, since last year I have a photo of John letting go of a terrified Ben.  However, this year Ben was able to control his speed on this very long slide, and went back multiple times. 


Unfortunately Ben's little hind end was not big enough to dry the slide off for John, so they both ended up with damp seats. 


John helped Ben dig in the corn.  Ben enjoyed making corn angels.  He was a damp, corn dust wearing mess when he got out. 


He was sad when John made him get out of the corn to go take the group photo.  


But being with Mom made it all better.  The kid can go from happy, to totally ticked off, back to happy, faster than anyone I know. 


Hope everyone is enjoying fall as much as we are!  
Next to figure out what everyone will be for Halloween.



Thursday, October 11, 2012

Guardian Angel Working Overtime.

Ben's Guardian Angel must had to have pulled double shifts recently, because he was saved not once but twice with in the last week.

The first time was when we were getting ready for school.  I was looking for socks that match in my bedroom.   I hate folding socks, and had a whole basket full of unfolded ones to go thru to try to find matches for both Ben and I.  Usually I leave the bedroom door closed so Ben can't play in there, but this time I did not.  I looked over and the little stinker was sitting on my floor, playing with a quarter.  I quickly took it away from him, which made him mad, so he ran by my dresser, reached into my coin tray and ran out.  I caught him and got the rest of the coins.  Just as he was wiggling away from me, I noticed his other little hand was clenched tight.  I started to chase him down again when he popped the object into his mouth and proceeded to choke on it.

He had another quarter.

It was now stuck in his throat.

He was scared.

He was in pain.

But he was breathing.

I calmly called the Dr and explained the situation.  The nurse said if it went to the stomach it would be fine, but since Ben's was obviously stuck in his throat, it could move and block his airway, so we needed to go to the emergency room.

Outside I was calm, but inside I was in a panic.  We live a 1/2 hour away from the hospital.  What if it shifted?

On the way to the ER,  Ben went between whimpering and crying, then he started to doze off.  Not good.  So long as he was speaking to me, whining, or crying, I could focus on driving,  I turned on his favorite song, to try to wake him up.  He did wake up, even signed a few words with the song, and even gave me half a smile.  I was wondering if the quarter was on it's way down.

My husband met us at the hospital.  We were sitting in triage and they were taking weight, pulse-ox, temp, etc. when Ben started to cough.  He turned to me and finally hacked up a big pile of frothy white goo into my hands, that luckily contained a quarter.  Randy was happy that Ben hacked it up on me instead of him, so he could go back to work with out buying new clothes.   Ben went from a boy who was scared and in pain,
 back to his happy merry self, in just a couple of seconds.  Even the nurse at the desk remarked about how he turned into a totally different kid, like we flipped on a switch.
They did ask us to stay and take x-rays, just to make sure that there were no other coins that got swallowed, but all was clear.  Ben was a champ the rest of the day and laid nice and still for the X-Ray.  He got a milk shake to sooth his throat and then took a power nap on the way home.

But that was just the first episode.

The second was just a couple days ago when we got home from school.  Uncle Russ was here working on fences for the cows, and needed Noah to help.  Since it was a nice day Ben quickly ran outside to play too.  We have a large back yard, so I followed him around for awhile until Ben found a golf club to play with.

When Ben has a golf club, you need to give the boy some space.

 So he ran over to the barn to play golf where he usually does, and I went to check to see if any pumpkins survived on the other side of the yard.

I noticed Ben heading over to one of the grain bins which was the direction Uncle Russ and Noah had gone.  I remember thinking how cute it was that he wanted to tag along.  He had just finished hitting a couple balls when he stepped forward into the space between the bins to look at something.  That something was my Brother backing his truck right at Ben.  I could tell there was no way Russ could see him in that big truck.  I took off running toward them, waving my arms,  and screaming at the top of my lungs, not even able to form a real word, as I realized I was about to see my baby killed.  I was hoping that Ben might get the idea and move based on all my screaming, but he stood there like a deer in the headlights watching the truck come toward him.  Then with just 6 inches to go the truck stopped.

My brother had heard my scream.

Ben must have decided the truck was boring once it stopped moving and toddled on his merry way to finds something else to hit with his golf club.

I scooped him up and rushed to the house.  He did not understand why Mom was acting so weird and fought me the whole way to the house.  It was still a nice day out.  He wanted to play.  Once safely inside I just collapsed with him inside the back door.  I had nightmares all night of tail lights heading for Ben.

That was way too traumatic for this old mamma to take.

I am just glad Ben's Guardian Angel decided to work overtime this week.

Here is hoping for a much quieter week this next week.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Ben's Brigade 2012

This weekend was our local awareness walk. This was my first year co-chairing the event and the day started at 6:45 am and the temperature was at 26 degrees heading for a high of 50. But that is how the weather is in Nebraska. 80 one day and freezing the next. Unfortunately we got the freezing day. But at least the sun was out and the wind was not blowing, so it did not feel that bad.
Other than the weather and some unexpected construction, the event went pretty smoothly.

 A huge thank you to everyone who donated, volunteered, or walked at the event. Ben's brigade raised over $2,000 dollars and we had around 50 walkers. It was a great day and we appreciate all the support we received from family and friends.
 We are thankful to everyone who helped make the walk a huge success !

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Times Square Video

October is Down syndrome awareness month. While many bloggers are doing a 31 for 21 blog challenge, I am already a day late and am pretty sure I would fail miserably. However, I do hope to provide more information about Down syndrome this month and will try to post as much as I can. To start I would like to share the video that played in Times Square last month featuring individuals with Down syndrome at the National Buddy Walk. Ben is near the end at the 14:36 mark if you want to fast forward. However, I encourage everyone to watch as much of the video that you can. You might just learn some facts along the way and see some amazing photos.