Nathan’s developmental preschool teacher is either a much more kind and generous soul than I am, or a madwoman.

She brought in a petting zoo for the end of school party yesterday. Of course, she chose to be surrounded by preschoolers for years on end as her occupation, so I guess that first sentence could have gone without saying, right?

Things started off pretty well. Bunnies are soft and cuddly.

And lambs are pretty awesome, too.

I have to admit that the piglets were pretty adorable.

Nathan was especially taken with the piglets and studied their every move.

There was an incident involving a chicken that was rather insistent that she was not poultry but was, in fact, a lap dog and my lap was her target destination. It was a little creepy.

I tried to get Nathan interested in lap-chicken, but he was still studying the piglets.

He was able to be diverted briefly for a turn “following” the ducks.

But eventually he returned to his friends the piglets, where he cast off his inhibitions and joined them in their quest to root out the feed on the ground.

You just finished The Perils of the Petting Zoo originally posted on Bringing the Sunshine and copyrighted by Andi Sligh. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

Sarah Kate has done an admirable job over the years of integrating herself into Typical Kid Culture.

She was the one who requested to join swim team and she was the one who asked to play softball. For all of our declarations that she needs to get used to being part of the typical world, Mr. Andi and I were still wary of allowing her into some areas where we knew she’d be at an obvious disadvantage.

When I was growing up, I had only one sibling – a sister ten years younger – and we lived in the boonies so there was no one for me to play with. Although Mr. Andi’s dream is to have a big piece of land with room to roam, I have always been adamant that we MUST raise our children in a neighborhood with other kids, and he took to heart the old saying that “if Momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy” and obliged me.

Sarah Kate has friends in the neighborhood and I love that they can roam freely, meandering among each other’s yards and going in and out of each other’s houses. But one image has continually pricked at this wounded mom’s heart – the image of bicycles parked out front. Although Sarah Kate had the technical ability to ride a bike, it wasn’t a practical option for her so she rarely did, and even then only when accompanied by a parent.

Not exactly conducive to romping around the neighborhood with your peers.

As I mentioned last Thursday, she got her new three-wheel bike on Wednesday night. Knowing she’d want to ride again as soon as she got home from school, I headed to Wal-Mart on Thursday morning to look for something she could use to secure her feet to the pedals. I found some Velcro straps that looked like they’d work, and attached them to the pedals before she got home.

Sure enough, she asked to ride as soon as she got off the bus and I walked outside with her to get her set up. As she left the driveway and turned onto our street, Neighbor Girl C turned onto our street, riding her bike. She eased up next to Sarah Kate and a moment later Sarah Kate asked if she could ride over to the next street. I gave her my blessing, nervous though I was, advising her to watch for cars and be careful.

Our next door neighbor had just walked outside to check his mailbox and inquired about Sarah Kate’s new wheels. As the two of us watched the girls riding away from us, he said, “You know what that is? That’s freedom.”

The enormity of the moment crashed over me like a tidal wave.

It is freedom. But it’s so much more. That three wheel bike places her on even footing with her peers. When she is riding the bike, she looks no different than any other kid on a bike.

I chatted with my neighbor for a few more minutes, then went around to the back of the house and settled into a chair on the back porch to write this post. We live on a corner lot with a picket fence, so at regular intervals I could hear and see them ride by. After a short time, the two girls became three riders – Neighbor Boy S had joined them – and though I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, I could tell from the timbre of their voices that they were enjoying themselves.

She is not the only one who is free.

You just finished Freedom for Sarah Kate…and So Much More originally posted on Bringing the Sunshine and copyrighted by Andi Sligh. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

Sun-Beams is a collection of links to stories, articles, photos, or videos I have come across that I believe will inspire, inform, or encourage you, as well as my favorite photo posted on my other blog, Violet Film, from the past week.

Track athlete Caitlyn Morton hasn’t let cerebral palsy slow her down - Yep. Another story about a runner with cerebral palsy.

St. Louis doctor with cerebral palsy offers hope - …for kids with cerebral palsy

Splash! Boy With Cerebral Palsy A Competitive Diver - And by “competitive” they don’t just mean that he competes. He wins, too.

Fall TV Lineup Puts Focus On Characters With Disabilities - Good news…sort of. Only of them will be played by an individual who actually has the disability.

Hotel bans ‘annoying’ Down syndrome kids - In Spain, not the in the US, but still…sigh.

Photo of the Week:

You just finished Sun-Beams: May 19, 2013 originally posted on Bringing the Sunshine and copyrighted by Andi Sligh. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

— 1 —

One of my pet peeves is when I see news articles that refer to Down syndrome as a “disease.” Most of the time I let it slide and just fume a little about it inside, but this week a story popped up in my reader and I couldn’t resist leaving a comment about the headline – “UC Davis to study new treatments for fatal childhood diseases”. I took a screenshot of the page (shown below) and left a comment.

Because it just wasn’t acceptable to me to let it go – Down syndrome is not fatal, not a disease, and not limited to childhood.

— 2 —

So as I was typing these snippets I decided to check the article again and see (a) if the comment I left was published, because when I submitted I got a response that it would have to be approved, and (b) if the headline had been changed based on my comment. The answers are yes and yes, but I don’t think the revision is all that stellar, either.

Oh, well.

— 3 —

As promised, I give you video of Wednesday night’s bike expedition. More on the bike next week – in short, it’s so awesome that I’ve already finished a post about it.

— 4 —

Recently, I asked my friend Sarah whether or not she drives (Do you read her yet? If you have a kid with CP, you should!). I don’t even remember why I brought it up, but she graciously answered my questions and even went a step further and wrote a full post about it.

— 5 —

I don’t want to spend too much time on the whole Abercrombie & Fitch debacle, but Kristen Lamb had another great piece this week on the dustup. Worth the read just for the entertainment value!

— 6 —

School is (almost) out for summer – do you know what that means? Time to get serious about potty training. I have been dreading this event (and procrastinating for months…) but I can’t put it off any longer. He’s had a few successes, but mostly he just likes to sit on the potty for a few minutes, give me a gigantic grin, then move on to other things.

I think it’s time to pull out the big guns – moving the potty to the living room and going pants-less in the yard. Is there a patron saint of potty training? I need some intercession. STAT.

— 7—

And just a reminder about Seven Snippets: I’m discontinuing them effective this week. The linky tool is gone, but if you want to keep on snippeting you can link them in the combox.

Have a great weekend!

This post was inspired by and is linked to Conversion Diary‘s 7 Quick Takes.

You just finished Seven Snippets: May 17, 2013 originally posted on Bringing the Sunshine and copyrighted by Andi Sligh. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

The three-wheel bike arrived at our house during dinner last night, courtesy of Emily (the kids’ fave babysitter, former CCD teacher, and physical therapy assistant), and despite the fact that we didn’t have the toe clips screwed on and no good straps to use in a pinch, Sarah Kate had to ride it Right. Then.

We strapped her on as best we could and sent her up our street in the direction of the vacant lots. It wasn’t long before we noticed something.

Sarah Kate had a shadow.

So what do you do when one kid is riding her bike while the other one chases her up and down the street on foot? Why, you put the kid without a bike in the bike’s basket, of course. And because Mr. Andi and I are both children of the ’70s in the days before bike helmets were en vogue, they were a perfect portrait of What Not to Do.

It’s gonna be a great summer.

Come back tomorrow for video.

You just finished Bikes and Buddies originally posted on Bringing the Sunshine and copyrighted by Andi Sligh. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

On Monday, a verdict was reached in the case of Kermit Gosnell: guilty of the murder of three babies, guilty of involuntary manslaughter  in the overdose death of a female patient, and guilty of a host of other lesser charges.

Did you read the grand jury report? I tried but had a difficult time with all of the wretched details. However, I can tell you with certainty – just by looking at the photos – that Gosnell was killing babies well beyond the legal limit of 24 weeks. Anyone who has spent any time in a NICU could tell you that, too.

Babies at 24 weeks gestation don’t have fat yet.

Look at the photo on page 85 of the grand jury report and compare it to this photo of Sarah Kate shortly after her birth at 30 weeks and you’ll see what I mean.

I thought I’d be relieved and pleased if the jury returned a guilty verdict – I feared that they wouldn’t, at least not in the cases of the babies. I did hope that the jury would see the answer to what seemed a simple question to me: if the babies were already dead, why would their spines need to be cut?

When the verdict was announced, I was relieved…a little. But Kermit Gosnell is only one man, and because there’s little new under the sun, it’s hard to believe that he’s the only person out there, preying on desperation, making millions on the slaughter of innocents. Remember, too, that he wasn’t able to do it alone. His clinic hadn’t been inspected in over fifteen years.

Years of heads turning the other way enabled him to continue on.

————

Meanwhile, over in the UK, there’s a monster in government, and the Cornwall electorate doesn’t seem to mind.

Cornwall councillor Colin Brewer resigned earlier this year following intense pressure for suggesting that ’disabled children cost the council too much money and should be put down.’ Brewer was initially defiant, but eventually (after 18 months…) apologized and stepped down.

But guess what? He’s back.

Brewer was re-elected earlier this month and, lest anyone think he misspoke or had a temporary lapse the first time, he’s got more to say on the subject of children with disabilities. From the Mirror:

He launched his latest rant in a chat with Disability News Service where he said farmers deal with deformed lambs by “smashing them against a wall”.

He added: “If they have a misshapen lamb, they get rid of it. Bang.”

Mr Brewer discussed his views with a farmer from his Wadebridge East ward in Cornwall.

The councillor added: “He didn’t see a lot wrong with what I said, because it is something they do every day.

“We are just animals. He has a point, you can’t have lambs running around with five legs and two heads.”

When asked if he could seriously compare a disabled child to a deformed lamb, independent Mr Brewer said: “The cost has to be evaluated.

“It is not something I would like to do but there’s only so much in the bucket.”

Asked whether there was an argument for killing disabled children with high support needs to save cash, he replied: “Yes.”

If Brewer had resigned and disappeared from public life, it would be easy to say (as some people are saying about Gosnell) that he was a horrible aberration. It would be easy to dismiss his views as extreme. But he admitted to saying that disabled children should be put down and resigned, and then was re-elected just a few months later.

What does that say about the people of Cornwall?

————

I’m currently reading, on the recommendation of Mr. Andi, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Although we (should) all know the basic framework of the story of Hitler’s rise to power, it’s hard to wrap our minds around how he achieved it. He was a brilliant, ruthless, and devious mad man, to be sure, but he was also clear from early on what his ideals were – he spelled them out in Mein Kampf, which was first published in 1925 – several years before he became chancellor. Among them, he stated that the destruction of the weak and sick was far more humane than their protection.

Yet few challenged him. Most ignored, excused, or even embraced his ideals.

————

I don’t really have a point to today’s blog post. In fact, I almost didn’t post today because my outlook is dark and gloomy – not a great frame of mind for writing about “Bringing the Sunshine.” But these three things – the book I started on Sunday, the Kermit Gosnell verdict, and the news story that popped up in my reader about Colin Brewer – spoke to me, reminding me that there is evil in the world. Knowing that and feeling it so forcefully on this Tuesday morning, I felt the need to remind you.

Be ever vigilant, my friends.

You just finished A Triad of Evil…Delivered On My iPad originally posted on Bringing the Sunshine and copyrighted by Andi Sligh. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

Sun-Beams is a collection of links to stories, articles, photos, or videos I have come across that I believe will inspire, inform, or encourage you, as well as my favorite photo posted on my other blog, Violet Film, from the past week.

Cerebral palsy can’t stop Gregori runner – I’m always a sucker for a story about a runner with cerebral palsy.

Lehighton woman was inspired to teach by hard lessons of bullying - But the headline only tells a tiny sliver of her story…

Some Swedes Made a Special Brand of Cerebral-Palsy Beer – Well, now. That’s interesting.

Should people who steal handicap parking spots be shamed on Facebook? – What do you think?

The Real Problem with Abercrombie & Fitch—How Jeffries’ Message Hurts Us ALL – I have to admit that I had no idea anything was up with A&F, but now that I do I can promise that my skinny daughter will never wear their clothing (of course, they’re probably fine with that).

Photo of the Week:

You just finished Sun-Beams: May 12, 2013 originally posted on Bringing the Sunshine and copyrighted by Andi Sligh. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

— 1 —

Apparently, fathers are for setting poor examples. After grilling our dinner the other night, Mr. Andi brought a leaf in with him and was blowing on it, trying to make some kind of noise (I’m not sure what…I’m not up on my leaf noise making skills). I gently suggested that maybe putting a strange leaf in his mouth was not setting the best example for the children (one child in particular). Reluctantly, he set the leaf down.

Almost as if on cue, Nathan followed the poor example of his father figure and took a bite out of the leaf.

— 2 —

Sarah Kate is getting a new bike! Well, technically it’s a trike and it looks something like this one. It’s a hand-me-down from a former patient at her physical therapists’ office and she is SO excited. She loves to ride her bike, but she’s outgrowing it AND she’s never been confident enough to ride it without supervision because of fearing she might turn it over (which has happened and it’s not good because she has to use toe clips and she can’t get her legs out quick enough to catch herself). It does have training wheels, but they are extended as far as they’ll go and don’t provide much support anymore.

So a three wheel bike it is and other than the fact that it has an enormous storage footprint, I think it’s awesome. I can’t wait to see her riding it around the neighborhood all by herself. And yes, it does have an awesome basket in the back.

— 3 —

An addendum to yesterday’s softball final game post: I think the opposing coach may have stacked the deck in Sarah Kate’s favor. I’m not saying that she did, but she did move her first baseman to shortstop midway through the game for no obvious reason. Did she do it in an attempt to give Sarah Kate a fighting chance? Maybe. Do I care? Not really. She still had to hit the ball and run the bases. It was no gimme.

For the record, I brought it up to Mr. Andi and he said “no way.”

— 4 —

Speaking of softball, will Sarah Kate play again? It’s a definite…maybe. I don’t want her to and neither does Mr. Andi, but we felt that way about swim team and about 8U softball and we were wrong about both. It’s easy to believe that 10U is “different,” but is it really? I’m not sure. I’m confident that it won’t be as much fun as 8U has been (mostly because that’s what I’ve heard from other moms whose girls moved up already), but that’s a “want to” issue, not a “can do” one.

— 5 —

One more reason to love Publix: their new Mother’s Day commercial.

— 6 —

We can add one more thing to the list of How Mr. Andi and his family are like the Robertsons of Duck Dynasty. He took Nathan frog hunting last night. More pictures to come over on Violet Film.

— 7—

And finally, a major announcement about Seven Snippets: I’m discontinuing them after this week. Okay, not exactly. What I am doing is discontinuing the linkup, because the feedback I’ve received is that a lot of you guys like to read the snippets but not all that many of you like to write them. The snippets will live on, however, and I’ll continue to link them over at Jen’s place. And of course…if you want to keep on snippeting you can always link them in the combox.

Have a great weekend!

Link up your own Seven Snippets below! Be sure to link to your post, not the main page of your blog.

Looking for a Seven Snippets template or graphic? Go here for some quick tools to create your own Seven Snippets post. This post was inspired by and is linked to Conversion Diary‘s 7 Quick Takes.

You just finished Seven Snippets: May 10, 2013 originally posted on Bringing the Sunshine and copyrighted by Andi Sligh. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

It’s been a tough softball season.

Sarah Kate’s team wasn’t very good, combining 8U with 6U wasn’t ideal, and despite being better at hitting the balls this season, Sarah Kate seemed to always hit them in the fielding “sweet spot,” giving her little chance to get a single, much less score. She had lots of RBIs early in the season, but those dropped off as the season wore on because the opposing teams got better at fielding. It didn’t help that for the last few games she was placed at the bottom of the batting order – often there was no one on base when she got up to bat, and therefore no one for her to advance and no one for the opposing team to focus on getting out other than her.

The last game of the season was scheduled for Tuesday night.

The morning started out badly and didn’t improve much as the day wore on. I’ll spare you my whining. In addition, our day was jam packed with activities. Tuesday afternoon is her regular therapy day, so I picked her up at 2:00 for a 3:00 PT appointment, finished just after 4:00, arrived home around 5:00, threw food at the kids, changed Nathan’s clothes, and rushed up to his preschool for the year-end program. It lasted until 6:30, just in time to arrive at 6:45 – 30 minutes before her 7:15 game. I told several of the moms that I was just ready for the day to end.

I brought my camera as I (almost) always do, but my heart wasn’t much into taking photos, and it didn’t help that I brought the wrong lens. Sarah Kate has played catcher almost exclusively this season, which she likes because it gives her a chance to keep moving, but the odds of her fielding a live ball in that position are small. I hoped that she’d get a chance to play in the outfield, because last Friday night she did and fielded two balls – one time narrowly missing getting a runner out at second (from the dugout it looked like she had her!) At first, I thought I was going to get my wish, but when she was halfway out onto the field, the coach called to her and she went back for her helmet.

Catcher again. Sigh.

I was proud of the way Sarah Kate was hustling. I’m not sure if she was fired up about her last game, energized from her therapy session, or wired from the mocha cookie crumble frappucino she got at Starbucks earlier that afternoon, but she was moving a lot quicker than is typical. So quickly, in fact, that I was afraid she was going to wear herself out and not have enough juice to finish the game.

The team they were playing has only lost twice all season – they’re good at batting and excellent at fielding – so I fully expected our team to not win. In fact, I’ll go ahead and tell you now that they lost – in fact, in the last inning, it wasn’t statistically possible for them to come back. The way things looked in the beginning, I wasn’t even sure Sarah Kate would get more than one at bat. When she did get up to bat (at the bottom of the order again), she hit a nice one and was only narrowly thrown out at first base.

No base hit; no RBI.

With just a few minutes left in regulation, a new inning started and Sarah Kate was on deck. I lined up behind the plate with my camera and fought back the tears. As much as I sometimes often usually hate softball, I love that she loves it, and I love that she has been able to do something that I never dreamed was possible just a couple of years ago. It was hard to imagine that it was about to be over. I wanted so badly for her to at least make a base hit in what was likely going to be her last chance – ever. I had hoped at the beginning of the season that she’d have a few opportunities to score this year, but I’d long since given up on that dream.

Just a base hit. That’s all I wanted.

I saw her swing, heard the crack of the bat, and watched her run down the first base line. I didn’t look to see where the ball went; I didn’t want to know.

I just wanted my baby to reach that base and not hear the umpire call her out.

She made it.

I didn’t bother choking back the tears at that point. She had finished strong, like I always tell her to do, and I was proud.

Safe at first, she was poised and ready, struggling to keep a tiny part of her foot on the bag while waiting to see if she’d get a chance to advance. For a typical player, keeping a heel on the bag is easy; for Sarah Kate it’s a challenge to her already iffy balance. Finally, her time came. A base hit, and when the opposing team tried to throw the batter out at first, they overthrew it. Sarah Kate made it to second and it looked like she’d have time to get to third, too, but she tripped at second and the coach didn’t wave her on.

At least I don’t think he did. I wasn’t looking at him. In fact, I let an expletive fly (sorry, everybody).

Another batter to the plate. Another single.

The runner behind her was thrown out at second, but Sarah Kate advanced to third.

I began to believe that scoring was possible. I watched our team slugger trot up to the plate, and I hoped against hope that she’d knock it out of the park. She can smack a ball, but like lots of sluggers, she’s not consistent. This time, though, she smacked it.

Sarah Kate headed for home…and made it. She crossed the plate, turned to get a fist/glove bump from her pitching coach, and the umpire called, “TIME!”

Final Game. Final at Bat. Crossed the plate.

Finished strong.

You just finished Final Game. Final at Bat. Would She Finish Strong? originally posted on Bringing the Sunshine and copyrighted by Andi Sligh. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

Tonight is the last softball game of the season, and more than likely the last of Sarah Kate’s short but notable softball career. It’s been a lot of fun, a little pain, and a good learning experience for all of us.

Including Nathan.

I’ve never been under any delusions that either of my kids will be stellar athletes. Just having Sarah Kate attempt things like swim team and softball exceeds the expectations I had for her once she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. I’d like for Nathan to play team sports, too, if only for the opportunity to be physically active and to interact with his peers outside of a classroom.

But the thing is…he’s still two years away from being old enough to play tee ball, and he’s surprisingly good.

He knows how to hold the bat and he knows how to set up the tee. As I said yesterday over at Sarah’s, he’d hit off the tee for hours if we would let him.

He loves it.

He loves to swing the bat. He loves to hit the ball. He especially loves to do both of those things and to check and make sure you’re watching him do it.

He even taps the bat on the ground like a “real” player before he steps up to the plate.

And he doesn’t just tap the ball enough for it to fall off the tee, knocking the tee over in the process. He hits it hard and it goes a decent distance.

Out of curiosity, Mr. Andi decided to try pitching to him in the yard one day. And you know what?

He could hit those, too.

You just finished Future Slugger? Maybe. originally posted on Bringing the Sunshine and copyrighted by Andi Sligh. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter.