Blog ~ Balls and Balloons

A Tale of Three Palm Trees

“So that’s how palm trees end up looking like that?!? I’ve always wondered. Storms give them their shape!”

I responded, “Yes, they are shaped by their storm experience.”

They are shaped by the storms they experience.

And as I wrote that, I realized that this is true for us as humans, too.

We, too, are shaped by the storms we experience in life.

As the months have gone by, I’ve pondered those three palm trees, and discovered that they are symbolic of so much about life. Perhaps the symbolism means something only to me, but I’ve felt compelled to write about it…to share these thoughts I’ve had, in case they mean something to someone else, too.

Feeding Challenges

Our Feeding Story

I’m a firm believer that we should always pay attention to somebody’s story, because when we know their story, it’s so much easier to understand them and give them grace. As such, I want to share our story here – our story of E’s feeding challenges, how they’ve changed and progressed over the years, and the steps we’ve taken to try to help her learn to eat. Hopefully, reading our story will help you understand why I spend so much time thinking about, talking about, and writing about how children eat!

Sensory Processing

Simple Tips to Help A Sensory-Sensitive Child Survive Public Restrooms

Can we talk about bathrooms for a minute? Especially public restrooms? After all, we ALL have to use them… but we rarely talk about them. For most of us, it’s not something we think too much about – we just use the available bathroom wherever we are and move on with our day.

HOWEVER….for some of the population, using a public restroom can be excruciatingly difficult!

This can be true for any young child (and therefore that child’s parents!), but it is especially true for children with sensory processing disorder.

Aniridia & Low Vision

What is Aniridia?

Before writing this post, I looked up approximately 20 different websites trying to find a standard definition of Aniridia. In the process, I discovered that the “definition” of Aniridia varies greatly from website to website! As such, I am going to attempt to summarize the various different definitions here to the best of my ability, in an attempt to create a “definition”.

I’ll start with the definitions my kids give when asked, show you words that people with Aniridia associate with the term, give a definition in medical terminology, and then describe what that actually means for the rest of us.

Aniridia & Low Vision

Our Aniridia Story

E was almost 48 hours old when I heard the word “Aniridia” for the very first time. The on-call pediatrician at the hospital where she was born was completing the final head-to-toe well-baby checkup before discharging us to send us home.