happy being trevy

I love so much about this picture. The happy glow of the sun. The sparkle in his eyes. The cheeky in his smile. The fact that he actually posed. Like, stood still for more than two seconds and posed. The crooked pants. A subtle hint that he recently visited the potty and pulled his pants up by himself. The orange shoe laces. The Stitch shirt. A Halloween costume made by a Trevy fan. The hemiparesis curl of his right hand and arm. A reminder of all he has been through. Has overcome. The way his chin is lifted. So proud of his accomplishment. And the blocks. Stacked neatly from biggest to smallest. In a giant tower of sequencing. A tower of miracles. Trevy struggles with sequencing. It is not his thang. Has never been his thang. He’s been working at stacking these blocks since his Early Intervention days! And if I’m totally honest…there were many times I secretly thought he’d never get it. I love this picture so much because it captured ...

    I caught him…     bummin’ surf therapy off random strangers!     …danielle

  A friend recently asked me how we keep Trevy safe when he’s playing outside.   I thought maybe it might be a good idea to whip up a blog post.  Because isn’t that how everyone spends their days off?  Also, maybe our trick will help another family out in a time of desperation.   When we first bought our house…we were a little bummed that the majority of the yard is in front of the house.  The American Dream is a big back yard, after all.   Little did we know how handy it would come in.   We’ve always known we’d need a fence to create a safe place for the kids to play.  Mostly, for Trevy and the pooch.  But, frankly, in today’s day and age…having a protective barrier around ALL of my kids gives me more peace of mind when they’re enjoying the great outdoors.  Due to the flow of our yard…we fenced the WHOLE thing in.  So both front and back doors (along with every other body sized openings) exit into our fully fenced ya...

    Praying with Trevy has always been part of our nightly routine.     Except when sick, Trevy is a sweet, sappy, cuddle bug at bedtime.  Even when dripping with exhaustion, there is something really special about snuggling up, reading a book, singing a song and praying.  No matter how cranky I am, it always gets me in the heart.  It’s one of the most peaceful moments in my day.    I do naps and Daddy does night nights.      Now that Trevy is understanding so much…     I’ve had this heart tug to make prayer time mean more for him.      Once upon a time, I’d read a sweet post that shared a prayer over their children. Moving from head down to toes. It included words like “heart of a warrior – feet that run to Jesus”.   I thought I’d read it over at Sand in the Gears …one of my favorite reads which I’m shamelessly plugging. In fact, I emailed the author so convinced was I. Tony ...

      He’s almost six, you know.          He’s lost his first two teeth.     Can read a handful of sight words.     Has mad Kung Fu Fighting Just Dance Kids moves.     And I think just maybe he’s in a place now that he is able to do some self care stuff with less hands on help.  In fact, I’ve been letting him help make chicken nuggets or clean around the house or pack his own snack.  Which will include a full sleeve of Ritz crackers, of course.  Word on School Street is the teachers love when Trevy packs his snack because he has plenty to share!           He loves feeling like a big kid.   Which is so typical, right?!  It always makes me smile at how our special kiddos can be so typical too!  The biggest challenge with Trevy and helping with anything – is the incessant redirection he needs!  He does very, very little without adult (...

    I can think of just two things (okay, maybe three if you include a trip to see Mickey Mouse) that we’ve purchased for Trevy over the years in which our love for said thing has grown rather than diminished over time.     His iPad.  We are addicts now!     And his Nickel Bed Tent !       When Trevy learned how to climb out of his bed over the summer…chaos and sleepless nights ensued!     The Nickel Bed Tent swept in like a multi-colored super hero to bring peace and sweet, sweet SLEEP back to our home.  Six months later…we’re still big fans!     We haven’t bought a bed frame yet.  But Trevy doesn’t seem to mind.  His mattress is actually a super thick tempurpedic topper.  I lay in there with him to read books or play with his iPad.  It must be comfy because he’s usually shouting at me to “wake up”!     We started out using the book rings to clip the zipper ...

    Trevy perseverates .      Which is just a fancy way of  saying he often does or says the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and…you get the idea.     It’s a symptom of having a Traumatic Brain Injury .  And it’s something that he really can’t help.  His little mind gets stuck.  Like a scratched record.     This is why we try like crazy NOT to mention what may be happening tomorrow…or God forbid…in a couple weeks!     Even though I know he can’t entirely help asking the same question all the live long day.  I still go a little bonkers answering that same &$%# question over and over again!  Proof that I’m only human!      Most of his questions involve what he’s doing.  Or going to be doing.      Every morning he wakes up and asks, “Family Day today?”     Family Day to Trevy means NO school.  No work....