happy being trevy

Yesterday,  a FB girlfriend posted a beautiful, spontaneous picture of her child playing and asked if anyone else ever feels their heart squeeze with the blessing and gift of being their child's mother.  Her question wiggled its way right into my mommy marrow. It's oh so easy to get caught up in the mundane and the difficult. To let the exhaustion filter out the beauty and in the cranky. She reminded me that it's essential to really let my heart marinate in the beautiful, blessed moments.  Today, I had that moment with Trevy while working on his All About Reading lesson. He was peaceful and joyous in the fresh air and sunshine. THIS is what school should look like for him, I thought. And my heart squeezed with the blessing of my gift. I had that moment with his big sister, when she leaned into me while reading Little Pilgrim's Progress aloud for our morning meeting. I love the feels of her cuddles. She's been b...

Our day started at 4:15 am in an attempt to beat the Boston crazy commuters. It was non-successful (don't you people sleep!?) but at least we made it to our appointment on time.  The MRI was rough. We'd attempted an unsedated MRI a couple months ago, which was a big fat fail. The terror memories were lingering in Trevy's mind and it didn't take long before he was begging us to "go home now" and telling us "I hate this so much!" There is no balm to make this process easier for him or us. It never gets easier to sedate him. Even for simple procedures like MRIs. I know the staff are trying to be helpful when they say things like, "Well, that went pretty well compared to last time." I know the intent is to be helpful, but it misses the mark. There is not a singular moment that doesn't suck about this. Kids aren't supposed to be in hospitals. They're certainly not supposed to be scared out of their mind...

Trevor's health has been in the toilet since December-ish.  We're trying to figure out what's going on but if you know anything about neurology... there are no easy or quick answers. This has played a pivotal role in our decision to bring Trevor home with his brother and sister. I've already been doing what I call homeschooling lite with him in preparation for this day. I've also been stock piling materials that I felt would be a good fit for him.  Before Five in a Row being one of those choices. Five in a Row is a literature rich curriculum. The philosophy is to spend an entire week in one book and explore the various applications (Bible, language, poetry, art, movement, science, etc) through that one book. All of the books are chosen for their meaningful text and beautiful imagery. The teacher's manual is wonderfully laid out and simple to use. Simple is a MUST for me. The pictures are my evidence tha...