Apraxia Awareness

So today is Apraxia awareness day. A lot of you may not know but my daughter Gabi has apraxia. When she reached the age of 3 and 4 when she should be talking she wasn't saying much at all. Mostly she just made noises and tried to indicate what she wanted. Many people would mistake her for being autistic or mentally challenged in some form but I knew she understood everything. When school started, the teachers suggested so each therapy so we had an IEP set up and she has been doing that ever since. There didn't seem to be much progress for a few years so we took her to an ENT specialist who suggest tubes in her ears. After the surgery we noticed big changes. We thought this would cure all the issues; at this point we didn't know about the apraxia. She stay in speech therapy and kept improving but she seemed to hit a wall and was making slow progress. It was then, about 2 years ago when she was 10 that I found  out about apraxia. Had I know about apraxia earlier we would have  been able to give her more attention. That being said lately she was grown so much in her vocabulary. She has good grades and has proved she is smart kid and is capable in spite of this one drawback. I am really proud of her progress, even when he says a phrase that makes absolutely no sense I know she is still trying. I want to the thank the teachers and staff at Webber Elementary in Lake Orion, MI for doing a great job in helping Gabi progress and always pushing her succeed.

If you know some one who has Apraxia please share your story today and help people understand that just because they can't say it doesn't mean they don't know it.

Mother's Day: A Day For Moms...Not Dads.

It's that time a year again. Everyone begins to get all teary eyed and wish a happy mother's day to their stay at home dad. Wait, what? Yes this does happen. I know not that much but last year, I saw a number of people wishing happy Mother's Day to their male friends that take on the role as an at home parent. I have seen friends of mine post pictures of themselves holding cards and lovely flowers, saying they received a Mother's Day card. I try not to get upset about things like this but in this instance it really bothers me. Not because it offends me or puts me in an emasculated position (which it does) but because this is supposed to be a day for moms. Not dads. Working moms, at home moms, retired moms, moms you have lost, moms you may gain, moms to be and moms who have lost are all the people that should be honored on this day. Moms...Not dads.

Don't get me wrong here, what we, at home dads, do is pretty amazing. We cook, we clean, do laundry, take kids to school and the park; things that have always been associated with "motherhood." We handle every aspect of the house while our amazing wives do what needs to be done to ensure there is food in our mouths and clothes on our backs. But I ask this one simple question, Since when does Mother's Day mean Homemakers Day?

Exactly...It doesn't

To me, it seems that by giving an at home dad a Mother's Day gift you are just slapping both, moms and dads, in the face. You are saying, "Dads, you are not man enough and working moms you are not womanly enough because you don't stay at home." And that is just wrong. Moms deserve Mother's Day. It is their day to relax and forget about their problems while the kids serve them. It is a day to honor our mothers and just our mothers. At home dads have their own day, would you give a working mom a Father's Day card because she is doing a mans job?

I didn't think so.

Please don't wish a dad a happy Mother's Day. It really isn't necessary because we dads know we are doing more than dads have historically done; but what we also know is that we have amazing wives and they deserve Mother's Day...Not us.