Nothin' but trouble

Overheard today at my house:

Jack: Aaaaah! Whaaaaaaaaaa! (Insert sounds from 2 year old losing his sh#t)

Mommy: Jack? What's wrong? Kate? What's wrong with Jack?

Kate: Nothing Mommy. Jack was just sharing his snack with me.



She's tricky, but not quite tricky enough.

Kate's first "official" day of preschool

Of course, she had to strike a "dance" pose for her picture! She attends a private in-home preschool on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. She loves school and even got a special pink backback for her birthday from her best friend, Lily. She loves carrying her "papers" back and forth in it. Kate is already trying to convince me that she has to ride the big yellow school bus to Kindergarten next fall instead of having Mommy take her and pick her up. Gasp. Ummm....NO!

Offensive and disrespectful

As you all know, I work with the developmentally disabled population. My clients all have some sort of disability that causes them cognitive and/OR physical slowness in development. Some of my clients are babies, some are 95 years old. Some live in their own homes. Some live in group homes. Some live in nursing homes. Some communicate like you and I do, some do not. Some use sign language. Some have no communication skills whatsoever. Some can walk, some cannot. Some can toilet, dress, feed, and bathe themselves and some cannot. Some can manage their emotions/behaviors within a reasonable manner, and some cannot. Some of my clients can read/write and work, and some cannot.

My clients are all human beings. They all have hearts. They all have souls. As such, they all deserve respect.

Please stop using the word "retard" as an insult/comment/descriptor in your life. While you likely mean no disrespect or bigotry, it is an offensive and disrespectful term. Much like the "n" word, or using "gay" to describe something in a negative way, it originated as a descriptor to label many of my clients. It has become common slang language and used in light-hearted and "comical" ways to negatively describe a person. It is disrespectful and offensive.

We are all humans. We all need to be treated with respect. For those of you who have never stopped to think about how that word can hurt others, you no longer have the excuse of not having thought about it. You are thinking of it now. Stop using it. It hurts.

Happiness

I love my life right now. For real. Absolutely love it. :)

Wandering Indiana

My consulting job takes me on the road typically at least two days per week. I have been doing alot of working in Indianapolis lately, which has given me ample "deep thoughts" time. It has also given me a new area to learn with lots to do in my down time. Here are some random thoughts I had today...

1. ***NEWSFLASH***
To Taylor Swift's best guy friend:
She is totally in love with you. Open your eyes and see it. Either date her or tell her its never gonna happen so she can stop writing the same song over and over again.

2. "Wow! There is a mama elephant with her baby!!!"

3. "I'm not going to get lost, I'm not going to get lost, I'm not going to get lost." (as I drove downtown Indy)

4. "I can do this, let's see... the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. I need to go west. So I'll go this way. Dang. It's one way. That's okay..I'll just go around the block."

5. "Shoot. That sign says I am in the northeast quadrant....that ain't west."

6. "Did I just think "ain't?"

7. "Just keep swimming...just keep swimming...just keep swimming" (from Nemo)

8. Several hours later... "My niche should be designing clothes for four year olds. I could fill the LARGE GAPING HOLE that falls in little girl clothing between 'baby-ish and hoochy-mama'"

It's a random life I lead.