Happy Monday makes a special comeback. This one features my awesome girl showing her kryptonite. I’ve been sitting on this video for about a month, because I had mixed feelings about posting it because I never want to do anything that makes fun of Maddie. I decided to go with it because it shows how typical our family is. When her fellow classmates were asked to describe Maddie’s personality earlier this year, they all said she was funny. Of my 3 kids, she’s the one following in my class clown’s footsteps.
Maddie often needs movement to help her brain work more easily. It’s one of the strange elements that makes my girl who she is. She demonstrates it here. I believe this video gives a great insight into what it is like for many kids on the spectrum.
At the end of video I explain why Happy Monday with Maddie is going to just make occasional appearances. These videos are very time-consuming and I’ve had some concern about over-exposing Maddie to the public, so at this point I just haven’t seen the return I was hoping in the awareness and understanding they would bring and have decided to be a lot less active with them. I do know Maddie has loved the fans she has gained and we will continue to occasionally post and stay in touch:)
Maddie wore a swim vest in the pool until she was 9.
Maddie is in a great mood as she gets ready to play intramural basketball after school this week. We also get to see her win the first race of her life. Good Stuff.
School starts with Maddie getting up at 6:30am. Maddie is not a morning person…Daddie even less. This is 1 of the reasons we have slowed down on the Happy Monday videos. I thought I would update Maddie’s fans today, though.
The local Indy TV show, Real Scene, decided to do a profile on what it’s like to have a child on the autism spectrum. As usual, Maddie steals the show at the end:)
1st Day of School and Maddie is over the moon as she meets her new bus staff.
Maddie starts school an hour earlier now, so there isn’t much Happy in her game on Monday morning. Might need to start doing them on Sunday. In lieu of this week, here is the ALS challenge that I did–with Maddie dumping the big bucket of ice cold water on me. Maddie and I had been challenged by my buddy, WIBC’s Ray Steele. (He also challenged Governor’s Mike Pence and Mitch Daniels. So far only the former governor has stepped up.)
Sam, Maddie, Mallory and their neighbor friend Nate.
Before Maddie was born we went out to get a dog for our family. Our number 1 priority was to get a dog that was great with kids. We went to an animal shelter to look at another dog, but while we were there we met Licorice. We were told he had been there quite awhile, so time was not on his side. To be truthful he wasn’t our first choice, but while we were about to take another dog on a walk, he looked at us with his sad brown eyes and we were melted on the spot. After the shelter workers told us he was always great with kids, we knew our doggy search was over. Licorice became Angus and we could never have asked for a better dog.
Over the past 6 months Angus has started to slow down. His arthritis was causing him major problems. He began to try to make leaps from our staircase, instead of taking each step. A couple of these times we thought he had broken his leg, but after a couple of days he stopped limping and seemed to back to his normal self. After this came the appetite issues…with him not touching his dog bowl on some days and throwing up his food on others. The final decision for us to put him to sleep was caused by his aggressive barking at some kids in the neighborhood. This behavior seemed to stem from dementia that seemed to be setting in. We just couldn’t risk him hurting anyone, so the incredibly hard decision to end his life was made. The video is the story of that afternoon.
Today we meet some great camp counselors at Noble Art Camp and at the end we see a present one of the Happy Monday video watchers gave Maddie after seeing the tough times of losing your front teeth on a bicycle accident.
BE AWARE THAT THIS VIDEO HAS A CAVALCADE OF EMOTIONS FEATURED.
Maddie had gone 4 years without getting on a bike because the last one we got her she constantly struggled with and she ended up falling and hurting herself pretty badly the last time. (This included bumping her front baby teeth and making them wobbly.) She spent the past 4 years feeling jealous of typically developing kids like her brother and sister who rode their bikes with no problems. Maddie wanted to ride something so much that for xmas we got her a rip rider. (a big wheel type trike which can spin in the back) Even though she was a good foot too big for this, she still has enjoyed it for the past few months, but it was time to have her try something her own size.
So I researched all around to find a recumbent bike (adult trike type) that was sturdy, but somewhat affordable. (Around 400 bucks instead of the 1k-2k offerings that were the price tag for most of them.) We got the delivery from Amazon and Maddie was over the moon. It was the 1st thing she has ever gotten that she thought was cool. You read that right, THE 1ST PRESENT IN HER WHOLE LIFE THAT SHE WAS PROUD OF. Like her the 3 wheeler was different than anything else on the block, but was gorgeous and hard to take your eyes off of.
You will see the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat that happened over a few days period. She ends up having an accident that causes her to violently bang her mouth on the concrete, popping out her big, beautiful 2 front teeth. After reinserting them a couple hours later, the best case scenario is that she would keep for a couple of years. The pain was immense. The cost will be just as shocking to the system, as I suspect we are looking at around 10 grand when the whole process is over. Oh and who knows how she will manage false teeth when it comes time to have to put them in.
Sorry to use this post as a bitch-fest, but it’s the world our family lives in. I’m tired of how my girl never seems to catch a break. I really appreciate the kind things people have offered up after seeing the video. That does make it a little better:) Ultimately, like so many families of kids with disabilities, we will push on through the emotional and financial costs that life seems to constantly push our way. We have no choice because my girl Maddie deserves the best we can manage.
Today’s Happy Monday discusses how Maddie getting up really early because she’s excited for her new camp:( We also meet an important teacher who has meant a lot to Maddie. Bonus music clips from Chemical Bros and the Cult.
