Other people's Blogs

I know I am constantly linking to articles and other blogs but this one is a must-read. Ellen at Love That Max has a guest post by Jane Schulz, a pioneer in inclusion and an advocate for children with special needs. Her son Billy, who has Down Syndrome, was born in 1956. They brought him home and because there were no services available, became his early intervention team, teachers, etc. Eventually she went back to school for a doctorate in education. She chronicles her experiences in a book called Grown Man Now (which I now want to buy!) and describes just a little bit in this post. Fascinating to see what she achieved and how far special education has come. Go read it and then check out her blog, titled Grown Man Now like her book. Just the fact that this woman is in her 70s (if not 80s) and she has a blog makes her cool in my eyes.
I admit that I spend way too much time reading other people's blogs but I do think some of it is worthwhile. I get lots of useful information that way about special needs, parenting and birth. I get to read perspectives and ideas I may not have been exposed to otherwise. Most importantly, I get to read about others going through similar things as I am. A few people commented to me how they loved the post I linked to about taking your kids to the park. They said they had not laughed so hard in a while and also "those are your kids!" I said: "I know!" That is exactly the point, to feel that you are not alone, that everyone's kids are a little nutty sometimes, everyone has good days and bad days and that it's good to laugh and not take ourselves too seriously.
In that vein, I'll share with you a funny quote from little M. that proves that I probably do spend too much time on the computer. We were at the library today and M sat himself down at a computer terminal and proceeded to bang around on the keys. I told him it was time to go and he said, "Wait, I'm checking my email. Just two more minutes!"