The NICU from the Perspective of a Neonatal Therapist

A another mom of a micropreemie posted this article, written by a neonatal therapist, and I thought it was worth sharing.

10 Life Lessons from the NICU

The Artist in Training. Ocean Life.

For Eliza's birthday I got her a series of Canvas Creations, which are actually pretty neat!  There is a basic outline of various scenes, ocean life, dinosaurs and hummingbirds.  They are somewhat similar to the old paint-by-numbers, but without the numbers, so you can be a bit more creative.  Eliza loves them!    She likes that she can mix her own paint colors to branch out from the basic color pallet and can start to use textures by laying her paints.  I've ordered some bank canvases and can put my own outlines on those so she has a diverse series of scenes to paint.

Eliza is pretty serious about her painting, as you can see.

And she is pretty pleased with her results.

Eliza has about 30 different brushes and is learning to use different brushes to obtain different effects and textures.

And the end result is suitable for framing!

Party Anyone?

Eliza had another fun filled birthday party in honor of her 6th birthday.  This year's theme was a combination Pokemon and Kirby characters.

The birthday girl woke up early to make sure the festivities got off to a proper start.

Eliza and I (and about 25 other children) had our faces painted with Kirby, Waddle Dee and Pikachu courtesy of Aunt Bonnie and Otto's mom, Jennifer.

Nana declined the face painting, but did take her place in the Queen Bee chair.

We had lots of arts and crafts, including custom coloring books and t-shirts to paint (a bold move with 25 Kindergartners and Preschoolers) and an assortment of Pokemons.

There were tasty treats for both young and old.

James served once again in the role of "brave Pinata holder" and for a second year in a row walked away unscathed.

The expected mayhem ensued when the Pinata was successfully broken.

And thanks to cousin Peter we had a beautiful and tasty Kirby cake and an equally delicious Pokemon cake thanks to Aunt Bonnie.

Eliza waited patiently for her cake, until once again cousin Adriana volunteered to hold Eliza over the cake so she could blow out her candles.

I think a good time was had by all, especially Eliza, my beautiful little girl.

The R-Word

Please think twice the next time you think it is funny to use the word "retard" or "retarded" to describe someone.

You probably don't even realize how often you do it.

It is not funny.  

It is not "slang."  

It is demeaning to millions of people with cognitive impairments.  

People like Max.

   


Just don't do it.

OK?