Taylor last summer. A time out chair big enough for her *laughs*
Since Taylor’s sister got married and had to move, we’ve been without respite care. It’s hard to find someone you trust completely to keep your child overnight.
Luckily, we were able to find those people. One of the nurses at the infusion center Taylor has been going to since 2007 offered to do it. She loves Taylor & Taylor loves her. She thought it would be good for her kids to be exposed to someone like Taylor.
So, for the past several months, Taylor has been stuck at home day in and day out. Since we run a 9 to 5 business from our home, it’s hard for me to get out and do things with her. So she has been bored and boy can you tell.
She would just meander through the house with her bucket of tub toys…trying to decide if she wanted to go throw them over the shower curtain and into the tub ( a favorite loud past time) or take her mp3 player out and lay on the swing. Another loud past time if you have ever heard Taylor sing. Think 100 cats being run over by a car simultaneously.
She would also make 500 trips to the bathroom every night to make sure nothing fun was going on in the evening without her. Anyway, last week, all the respite paperwork was done and the family came to pick Taylor up for 3days/2 nights. I wanted to run around the house yelling “free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, I’m free at last!!!!” (Didn’t…but wanted to. Taylor probably would have done that if she could talk)
Apparently she had a blast. She attached herself to their 10 year old daughter Ally, who enjoyed the attention and gave one of their dogs more love than it probably ever wanted. She came back a whole new girl. She walked in the door, had a snack, then took a 3 hour nap. Got up to eat dinner and then went back to bed until 10am the next morning.
She has been happy and good every day since then. No getting up a thousand times a night either. That little break from home did that child wonders. People should never underestimate the awesomeness of respite…for both the parents & the child.
2 comments:
I love the picture of Taylor in the huge chair. Even though she is still a little girl at heart, she looks every bit the little girl in comparison to the chair. **smiles**
Respite is a phenomenal gift for the parents of a special needs child and as you pointed out for the child as well. Sounds like Taylor had a great time.
((HUGS))
"Think 100 cats being run over by a car simultaneously." hahahaha, what a description!! I love that photo, too. And better yet, I have a HUGE grin on my face, so happy that her visit away was so wonderful for all of you! I'm so glad she had that opportunity. Funny, we tend to think of respite as being a break for the parents, and forget the rejuvinating power for the children as well. :-)
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