Drink #recipe from #Pinterest

With it being a crazy hot day today, and the kids and I spending most of the day outside on our first day of their summer vacation, I thought I would try making one of the “Homemade Vitamin Drinks” on Zain Saraswati Jamal’s website, which I found through Pinterest.

I had strawberries and watermelon in the fridge and, although I didn’t make it as “fancy” as on Jamal’s website, it’s a really nice, light flavour.  All I did was cut up the watermelon and strawberries, put them in the bottom of a juice container, pour Brita filtered water on them, and put the container in the fridge.  A few hours later, came home and had a lovely glass of “fruit water” as my kids called it with my lunch. Have put fresh rosemary on the grocery list too, as I think that would be a great addition to the taste.

Simple, easy, flavourful and a great alternative to juice.  Hopefully I’ll be able to find a combination that the kids like too as I would much rather give them fruit water to drink over sugary juice.

What They Didn’t Tell Me About My Child’s #Autism

Borrowed from Single Mothers Who Have Children With Autism’s 

 Facebook Page

Here are some things you will not find in your research on autism:

You will not learn how this diagnosis will affect your marriage or other members of your family. You will not be told how it may fundamentally alter your perceptions of what is “normal,” how it may change your view of human beings, how it can force you to question small talk and why we behave the way we do, how it will transform your outlook on life, how it will change you, how your life and everything you assumed to be true, is no longer what you thought.

Having a child with autism may cause you to feel things you never dreamed possible. You may know moments of joy and moments of despair you could not have imagined. You may find yourself going to untold lengths in the hope of helping your child. You may feel distracted, unable to concentrate. Your work and career may suffer. You may learn what it is to be sleep deprived. You will come to know what it means to feel desperation. You will know sorrow in a way no one can prepare you for. You will know happiness in a way no one can prepare you for. Sometimes you may feel both sorrow and happiness within the same day, within the same hour, within the same minute.

You may spend money you do not have on yet another treatment, yet another doctor, yet another specialist, yet another therapy, yet another intervention, all the while rationalizing that if it helps, it will all be worth it. You may contemplate doing things you would have scoffed at before your child was diagnosed. You may find yourself trying things that defy logic and have no medical basis. You may listen to implausible, anecdotal stories and think — we will try that next. You may dream your child is speaking to you in full, complex, beautifully self aware and revealing sentences. You may wake from those dreams believing for a few seconds they were real and not a dream. You will pray that you might dream again. You will welcome sleep, as you never believed possible. You may ache with sadness because your child is crying and in pain and your presence brings them no solace. That ache may become unbearable when your child hits themselves in the face, bites their own arm or hand, punches their own legs or stomach. You may question every maternal instinct you have.

You may feel ecstasy from being hugged, unprompted. You may feel the exquisite joy from having your child reach for you, ask for you or look at you. You may know the joy that comes from seeing your child work so hard at something that does not come easily to them. You may celebrate when they use the bathroom unaided, drink from a cup, sleep for more than a few hours without waking you, try a new food or simply acknowledge your presence. You may feel a gratitude you would not have believed possible. You may cry from happiness when they say a word, any word, even if you are the only person who can understand what the word is. You will know what it is to appreciate commonplace things — eye contact, the correct use of the word “me,” “you” and “I,” physical contact initiated by your child, a word, any word spoken or a smile.

You will feel a fierce love for your child that seems to come from a place that is not of this world. You will know what it is to love unconditionally and you will understand what that really means.

My Guest Post: #SupportGroups Needs, from a Parent’s Perspective

Posted today on SpecialNeeds.com:

Because I’m an extrovert to the core, I’m naturally a “joiner”. I’m part of Parents’ Council for both of my kids’ schools, Autism-related support groups, special needs-related support groups, moms groups, etc. As a result, my schedule can get pretty filled between those groups, appointments for my son, field trip chaperoning for my daughter, being taxi-driver to ensure my son gets to IBI, etc.  

I’ve seen groups that are well managed, others that are still growing, and others that have it so down pat that they are amazing! So, I thought I would compile a list of things I really like that groups put in place to help their members.

To communicate with your group:

• have a Facebook group 
• keep a current membership list (this will look different for any group as some have fee-based memberships, others are just attendance-related)
• have an email distribution list…

Click here to view the entire post.

 

Motivational Monday – Unconditional Love

 

Without my cell, I wouldn’t…

I don’t even know my man’s cell or home numbers because they are programmed into my cell. So pathetic!

List of #Summer Activities

 

Happy first day of summer!

 

Summer has hit us hard here. We’re currently in day 3 of a heat advisory. Today’s forecast is 33 degrees Celsius (92 degrees Fahrenheit) with a humidex that will make it feel closer to 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit). Needless to say, all our Canadian igloos melted days ago…ha!

 

Recently, I blogged about trying to get organized to get crafty and have activity ideas readily accessible (so I don’t have to think), so I thought I would share our list, compiled by Googling “summer activities” and asking on Facebook mom groups what everyone is up to over the summer. Here are some of the things the kids and I will be doing this summer:

• Make homemade ice cream in a bag
• Make homemade popsicles
• Ride bikes outside
• Make a “Park Passport” and check each park off as we visit new ones
• Wrap a piece a duct tape around wrist with sticky side up. Take a walk around the neighborhood and stick leaves, small pebbles, sticks, and other treasures onto duct tape bracelet
• Paint the sidewalk with water
• Washand detail the car (get ready for a water fight!)
• Make a bird feeder
• Go to the splashpad
• Go on an “Alphabet tour”: go for a walk with camera & notebook, and beginning with the letter “a”, find something that starts with that letter (i.e.Adams Street). Take a picture & write it in your notebook. Continue with each letter. Each child has a personal and creative alphabet memory book for the summer.
• Go to a local pond and record items, animals and plants you see
• Go to a Farmer’s Market
• Play with a Hula-Hoop
• Go on a picnic
• Collect rocks and paint them; make them into Rock People
• Go to the library
• Go to the beach
• Pick some flowers
• Draw with chalk on the sidewalk
• Blow bubbles
• Go swimming
• Water balloon fight
• Play Frisbee
• Play soccer
• Play baseball
• Build a sandcastle
• Lie down on the grass and find shapes in the clouds

 

I have printed these activities on a label template, and put them in our Summer Box.

 

What are you going to do with the kids this summer?

 

Wordless Wednesday – #BBQ

‘Nuff said! (Sorry vegetarians…)

#SpecialNeeds Moms

 

Had to share it!

Motivational Monday – #Parenting

Thought this would be a good reminder as we move into the summer holidays:

 

Superhero and Villain Party on a Budget (Guest Post)

So your kids want to be superheroes and villains.  Why not let them with the ultimate do it yourself superhero vs. villains birthday party theme.  Not only is this fun for everyone, but your kids will get a great workout and learn to play as a team.  Here are some ideas that you can use to throw your own Superheroes Vs. Villains birthday party without breaking your budget.  

Costuming

Superheroes and villains need capes.  Fortunately you can go to a fabric store and find cheap white or solid colored fabric on sale.  Buy enough to be able to create a 2 or 3 foot long cape for each of the kids.  You’ll just need a rectangle for each.  While you’re there, pick up Velcro and decorating supplies like markers, glitter and glue.  

When you get home, take a paper plate or something circular and cut out a semi circle from the top of each piece of fabric.  Now take a piece of Velcro and attach it to the corners of the top of the cape where you cut out the semi circle.  Now you have your very own decorate your cape favors for the kids to take home with them.  

When the party begins, have each kid create their own superhero or villain identity and create a logo or emblem on the back of their cape.  You’ll also want each of them to write down what their special super power or ability is and keep track of it for later on in the party.  If there is enough time, you may want to let them make paper plate masks with the remaining markers and you can use elastic on each end to go around the back of their head and hold the mask in place.  

Games

Superhero and Villain Training Academy: Every hero and villain needs to be in shape.  Villains need to be able to jump and leap as well as sneak around buildings and cities while superheroes need to be able to catch the bad guys.  Relay races are a great way to get everyone’s heart rates up and energy levels moving.  Set up a relay race where the first kids have to run a few laps around the yard then pass a baton onto the next two kids.   

The next two kids will have to roll sideways across the yard and back to pass the baton off to the next kids.  The third round will have to crab walk to one end of the yard and then spin walk back to pass it to the fourth.  Set up as many types of walking and running or crawling that you need to make sure each kid gets a turn.  The team who finished the relay race first wins the game.  

Superpower Charades or Pictionary: While the kids were picking their superhero and villain identity, you asked each what their power was.  Now it’s time for them to play charades or Pictionary as a team to guess what those powers are.  It is important to make sure that they don’t tell the kids on their own team so that the game will be an even match.   Heroes vs.

Villains Flashlight Tag: One thing that is always fun when it starts to get dark is to play Superhero vs. Villain flashlight tag.  The way it works is that you have two people who are it.  One hero and one villain.  The hero and villain each have a flashlight and are trying to catch the people on the other team before they can make it safely to their hideouts.  The two people that are it have to shine their flashlight on any of the people playing they see and yell out their hero or villain name.  If they get the name right than that person is out.  If the hero accidently shines their flashlight on another hero, that hero is out of the game.  If the villain who is it shines the flashlight on another villain, then that villain is out of the game as well.  This makes it tricky.  The last person to get caught or kicked out of the game becomes the next person whose it for the heroes and the villains.  

Superhero vs. Villains birthday parties are fun for everyone.  The kids get to use their imaginations, learn about team work and develop their social skills.  Parents love them because their kids are worn out and ready for bed when they get home.  Having a superhero and villain party can also help to make getting kids pajamas  or superhero pajamas , a gift that they will enjoy, instead of throwing over their shoulders. 

This is a guest post from Adam Reimer with FunKidsPajamas.com.

I received no compensation for this post, but I found the information fun and useful, and I hope you do too!