This is the latest post in the This Is How I Do It series, which features bloggers who have kids with special needs and their best tips for juggling parenthood, special needs and life in general.
Blogger: Meriah Nichols of With A Little Moxie
Her kids: Moxie, 3, who has Down syndrome; Micah, 5; and MacQuinn, 7 months
My biggest secrets to sanity are…
Yoga, running, painting and lithium.
I keep track of my child’s therapy and medical appointments by…
I use the calendar that comes on my iPhone—that way I just tap at the time/date confirmation email and it will add it to the calendar. I also have everything sent to me via email (I’m deaf).
One way I relax (actually really, really relax) is…
I think the only way I relax is with yoga. I think the combination of meditation and burn-my-mind-out exercise and focus is the only thing that actually gets my brain to STOP and let me just BE. And it’s only when that happens can I actually relax on a deep, inner level.
When I get bummed out about something related to my child, one thing that gives me a lift is…
I think my grief over Moxie having Down syndrome was very intense and lasted for well over a year. But when it was over, it was OVER, you know what I mean? I truly don’t get bummed out about anything to do with her anymore (other than the usual, gosh, I wish she’d learn how to do the dishes already!).
But what did help me when I was bummed was the “ Children” poem by Khalil Gibran in The Prophet:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
I needed to know this, on a gut level. That my experience growing up deaf, with disability, would not be hers. That she is on her own path, has a rich and interesting life ahead of her that is not mine.
If it weren’t for [fill in the blank], I am not sure I would be able to get through the day
My iPhone.
The way my husband and I split up responsibilities for caring for our child is…
We just kind of dive in and do what needs doing. I think the piece we struggle with is caring for ourselves and our relationship—we tend to put the kids first and ourselves last.
The way I deal if strangers stare at my kid or say things is…
People do stare at Moxie and they stare at her a LOT. I think it’s probably because she’s so darn cute and tiny. She is the size of a typically developing 18 month old and yet she’s 3—so people’s eyes tend to pop when they see her climbing up to the HIGHEST slide, yelping with joy as it whips her down and rapidly spits her out onto the wood chips of the playground.
I just shrug for the most part. A lot of the time I can’t hear people when they say something to me, so I do the nod-smile thing (you know, like you do in another country and a bunch of people are saying something to you in another language —you don’t have a clue what they are saying but they seem to have a friendly tone, so you just nod…and smile).
One great therapy technique I recently learned for my child from her therapist is…
Running or walking on sand. It helps strengthen her ankles, legs and walking.
One site I’ve found lots of good ideas on is...
Lifehacker. I love, love, love it!!! It has something for everyone and is chock full of good information.
My favorite recent post is...
Child Safety: 5 Things That Will Help Keep Your Child Safe. I wrote this after Moxie figured out how to unlock and open the back door, slipped down the flight of stairs, under the foot or so at the base of the main gate and was found by strangers trying to cross the large street outside.
I rock because…
I roll!
