Boys will be what?
Picture me in front of you with my hand about 12 inches above my head and I am saying in my best, angry, fed up, frustrated voice:
"I HAVE HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH ALL OF THIS!"
Granted, in today's world and in my life in general, that particular gesture and thought could apply to a large variety of things, but the one issue that is really bothering me lately is the "controversy" surrounding the Dalhousie Dentistry students. The group of future professionals who posted misogynistic, sexist comments in a private Facebook group, ironically called "The DDS Class of 2015 Gentlemen".
“In one post, members were polled and asked, “Who would you hate f—k?” They were given two names to vote on.
Another post shows a woman wearing a bikini. The caption says, “Bang until stress is relieved or unconscious (girl).””
The students, who are all grown men, have been suspended from clinical activities and so far only one of the 13, the one who showed the group's posts to a fellow female student, has come forward to reveal his name. These "gentlemen" may now not be able to graduate and the University is under extreme pressure from various provincial dentistry associations to release all of their names. Consequences I feel that are fitting to their appallingly sexist behaviour and lack of personal good judgment.
But here is the part where I get REALLY fed up.
If you ask at least three well-known female columnists from across Canada, we are all over-reacting to these "stupid", "dopey", and "crude" jokes made by young men in what was perceived as a private group. The narrative that we are being presented with from these journalists is one that insists that "boys will be boys" and that they shouldn't have their futures ruined over what is seen as a victimless offence and a mere thoughtcrime. One of these journalists, has even gone so far as to give young women some advice for how to "deal with" these kinds of situations.
“Here’s some advice for young women: Practise manning up. Like it or not, the world beyond the cloistered halls of academia is teeming with guys who take up too much space and occasionally act like total jerks. Sooner or later, you will have to learn to deal with them. Fear not. You can.”
I am pretty sure I went into some kind of feminist coma after reading that last one from Wente and it has taken me this long to gather all my thoughts together enough to express myself coherently.
I don't want to teach my daughter how to "man-up" in this world. Heck, I don't want to teach that concept to my son. Especially if that means teaching him to think that he is above all others, that he can say and do whatever the hell he wants and not have to answer for his actions and/or words, whether they are online or IRL and that he is forever going to be held up to a standard of masculinity that degrades others in order to stand out.
Time after time we see this kind of cultural bias for our poor, stupid, boys, making poor, stupid mistakes and it HAS TO CHANGE. In 2013, as CNN reported on the Steubenville rape case verdict, the reporter lamented how the "two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students, literally watched as they believed their lives fell apart...". We've seen this in the narratives surrounding the sexual assault allegations against Jian Ghomeshi and Bill Cosby when people talk about legacies being tarnished and careers ruined. And here is the part that REALLY bugs me and that scares me too. Stupid boys, making stupid, crude, "jokes" that people continually brush off as just that, have the potential to turn into predatory men who feel no remorse for the terrible, awful ways that they view and treat women.
In her response to Wente's ridiculous articles last week about how women need to figure out how to deal with a world teeming with total jerks, Anne Kingston addresses these issues brilliantly.
Photo source: Macleans/Rogers Digital media
And why should we? I'd like to challenge the people of this world who continue to use the "boys will be boys" excuse as a catch all for bad behaviour. I say to them that boys will be THOSE kinds of boys only so long as we keep letting them. Women and girls are constantly being told to lean-in, man-up, grow a pair and on and on to "make it" in this world, but what about our boys? What are we telling them? Can we please stop worrying about our girls "manning up" and start worrying more about what kind of men we want our boys to be?
Movies, video games, magazines and all kinds of media are at their fingertips and it is chock full of images of violence towards women, their sports and media heroes doing awful things, and still we do nothing. Our kids' heroes are not convicted of their crimes, the women they victimize are belittled and blamed, the athletes get a few weeks suspension from playing the game that pays them millions of dollars and we quickly brush these "scandals" under the rug as soon as the media latches on to the next one (and there is always a next one). Our boys are growing up in a world that glorifies a specific version of masculinity, to the point of toxicity both to them and to the female population around them as well. But as Kingston points out, times, they are a-changing, and so are the consequences for these sexist and hateful attitudes and actions from boys and men. While some people would be happy to just let those patterns of behaviour continue and demand that girls and women just learn to deal with it, more and more, others are demanding that there be real change and accountability for it and are making efforts to change the culture of masculinity for our future generations.
In the new film from The Representation Project, "The Mask you Live In", the concept of toxic masculinity and it's consequences in our societies are explored in depth.
This follow up film to the project's previous hit, Miss Representation, that looked at how women and girls are represented in the media, is premiering this week at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah and will be coming to a theatre and/or screening near you soon.
It is high time we stop telling our girls and women to start acting more like men. It is time we stop letting boys and men off the hook when they treat other human beings with such disregard and disrespect. And it is definitely time we start teaching our boys a better way to BE a man.
N~
**Disclosure: I am a Kickstarter backer for The Mask You Live In production. I have not received compensation for this post and all opinions are mine alone.**
Feminist Fare Friday: The Consent is Cute Edition
As a campaign about consent, I think this one may just be THE winner. Because no matter what age you are (3 years old or 23 or 43), consent is important and vital in all relationships. It is also something that can and should be taught at an early age.
Poet and activist Staceyann Chin and her adorable 3-year old daughter Zuri are here with their latest Living Room Protest video to explain further:
Kids, having agency over their own bodies. YES, please!
Thank you Zuri and Staceyann for showing us all how easy this is to understand.
N~
It's not pizza.
*This post is brought to you by Spud.ca*
I don't usually write about food.
But when I do, it's because I think I am a genius and I figured out how to make something that looks like a *real* chef made it.
I have been ordering fresh organic fennel in our Spud grocery delivery for the past few weeks. I like the idea of fennel. I like that it smells and tastes like licorice, which is my all time favourite food on the planet (but the REAL kind, salty and Dutch). Tonight I finally figured out a simple, easy and delicious way for us to enjoy it.
And when I say "figured out", I definitely mean I googled 'roasted fennel' and found this recipe on Epicurious.
I'll break it down for you:
Step 1: Chop up your fennel bulb into wedges.
Step 2: Toss the fennel wedges and some baby carrots with a bit of water, olive oil, salt, pepper and fennel seeds and then lay out on a shallow baking pan.
like this
Step 3: Bake at 450. Covered with foil for 10 minutes, uncovered for another 10 minutes (toss them around a bit) and then on the top rack for the last 10 minutes.
Step 4: Enjoy the yumminess that is Roasted Fennel.
Mmmmmmm!
My kids kept asking me if we were having pizza for dinner, because apparently that is what roasting fennel and baby carrots makes your house smell like. The dish was a definite hit with 3/4 of us, with the fourth one not digging the "burnt" fennel parts so much. Even with Mr. Picky-pants' feedback, I am still going to include more fennel bulbs on our weekly Spud orders, because easy and delicious is totally how I roll around here.
Like I said, I am a kitchen genius (of the Googling kind)!
n~
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the best birthday gifts are the geekiest and awesomely feminist ones
I own one complete television series.
It is, of course, Buffy, The Vampire Slayer.
Buffy is my TV spirit character. (A thing I just made up, but you totally get what I mean right?).
So, when my husband showed me his most recent messenger convo with the dude who made his replica Captain America shield and whom he refers to as "The Tardis Guy" (because he makes those too), I couldn't help but SQUEEEE with joy!
Because, my man, he GETS ME so very, very much!
*jisy* = JUST
A newly 43-year old Slayer (of various evils and general ickyness in our world) with her very own scythe MADE JUST FOR HER! This is undoubtedly going to be the best birthday gift The Consort has ever gotten me! (And mind you, he's done quite well in the past... read: Coach purse.)
Now, my fellow Slayers....
20th Century Fox
Because, while the Scythe was technically intended for only ONE slayer, Buffy changed the rules, so that all the potential slayers would have that power. That strength to defend and defeat and stand up and fight. And with feminism, isn't that kind of what we are all trying to do too?
“Every girl who could have the power…will have the power…can stand up, will stand up. …every one of us. Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong? ”
N~
A confession and a shared mid-life crisis
I don't know how to say this?
It's not like I WANT to admit it.
But (deep breath),
Okay,
Here goes nothing....
I think Chad Kroeger and I are having the exact same kind of existential mid-life crisis/happening/occurrence type thingy.
I KNOW!!!!
Please don't hate me.
Although, for the record, I don't really get the intense hate-on that people have for Chad and Nickelback. Is my musical palate that bad? Nickelback does have some catchy tunes and lately, I am diggin' the lyrics they have been writing. I mean, I know that they are not particularly complex lyrics, but they are speaking to me and moving me, and is that not what music is supposed to do?
A few months ago, I wrote about the first single released from their new album and how I TOO felt as if the world was standing on the "Edge of a Revolution". And I still feel that way and I see it starting to happen in small ways all around me. People everywhere are feeling it too.
Nickelback has just released the follow up single from their No Fixed Address album and again, I find myself saying YES! (and then singing along - alone, in the car, so no one pelts me with tomatoes or snowballs).
The release date of this song was probably not a coincidence. It's the beginning of a new year. The time to commit to doing all those things that we say we are going to do and then we don't because the timing isn't right, the planets aren't aligned properly, or whatever excuse is most convincing at the moment.
So... What are you waiting for?
Chad and I need to know!
No really, we do.
What are you going to do this year that you've been putting off and/or waiting for the "perfect" timing?
N~
The simple truth about changing the world.
Yes, yes, I know. It's the new year. Time for those posts all about what I did on my birthday, my "word(s) of the year", and my goals for 2015 and blah, blah, blah...
I promise, I will get to those in a bit.
But first, I have a little (okay, a LONG) bit of a soapbox-y rant busting to get out of me.
We all want to change the world for the better in some way, shape, or form, right?
OK, well, most of us do (or at least I hope so).
The problem is that we often think that in order to do this we have to think BIG, and do big things, and think OUTSIDE of ourselves. I am here to tell you that this may work for some people (who have very large bank accounts and/or celebrity UN ambassadorships and such), but for most of us regular type folks, those kind of large scale "change the world" activities are just not feasible.
Yesterday, I read four different articles all about different issues and in all of them, I saw a common thread. When we refuse to question the way things are, or the way things have always been, and we continue to function within the status quo, CHANGE is never going to happen. And we will only have ourselves to blame.
In light of the upcoming awards season, ELLE magazine posted this article about interviewing actors on the red carpet. The authors wondered how male actors would respond to the inane, superficial, beauty-focused questions that 90% of the time, are directed primarily at female actors.
Scott Speedman answered their flipped questions at a recent red carpet event and made an interesting point:
“Is there a question that journalists ask you that you think they don’t ask women?
Nah. They’ve got it way harder.
Women have it harder than men?
Yeah! Who wants to know this stuff about men? Honestly, when you asked beauty stuff it feels invasive. ‘What’s in your pockets?’ That’s invasive. But I know [women] get asked that all the time.”
You want to know the colour of Julianne Moore's lipstick? Sure, no problem. Who made the amazing dress Viola Davis is wearing? Again, no biggie. Sharing that kind of info is great and shines a light on great designers and a good lip colour for redheads. But what someone brings with them in their purse to an awards show? Why is that red carpet "newsworthy"? How long it took to get ready? REALLY? Just once, I'd love an actress to say something like, "I have my Diva Cup in here, because I think my period is about to start and Vera would KILL me if I got blood on this gown!"
I love that ELLE wants to change the conversation on the red carpet. I just hope that this includes questions that go beyond appearances and beauty regimes and invasive "what's in your tiny bejewelled clutch/pockets" ones and also focuses on the artists - of all genders - and the work that they are doing. A small change like that, with an audience of 43 million viewers (last years Oscar stats), might cause a few people to actually THINK about the ridiculous and completely sexist way that women, even the highest paid, most talented ones, are still treated like superficial, dress-up dolls in Hollywood.
The next article I read made my blood pressure skyrocket and brought out the angry feminist in me. I swore A LOT (alone, in my car) and I really should have known better. It was one written by Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente, she of the rape-culture nay-saying. I am using a donotlink.com link here, because I don't think she deserves more visits recorded on the article for her employees to keep justifying keeping her vile column in their paper. Her op-ed is about the Dalhousie dentistry students who have been suspended because of the "jokes" they posted to a Facebook page regarding violent sexual behaviour towards women.
This is what Ms. Wente had to say about the students Facebook posts:
“Stupid, juvenile and way out of line? Undoubtedly. Should there be serious consequences? Yes. But let’s get a grip. Such coarse talk is not atypical of young male group behaviour. It does not mean that they actually wanted to assault chloroformed women.
It’s too bad they didn’t get a sharp smack across the chops from a respected elder. Alas, that didn’t happen. So now they are the latest villains in the “rape culture” witch hunt that has gripped universities across North America. Their identities will probably not remain secret. Poor saps.”
You want to change with world? Let's ALL start by changing our "Oh, they didn't MEAN anything by it. They are just boys being boys." attitude about this kind of behaviour. Do we not want a world where this kind of course talk IS atypical for our young men? Where violence towards women is not seen as a "joke"? A world where "hate" sex is not actually a thing or a goal to be achieved like some kind of level-up in a video game?
There is no rape culture "witch hunt" going on in our universities (see what I did there?). What there is, is people starting to stand up to all kinds of previously accepted (or swept under the proverbial rug) campus behaviour and saying, enough is enough! If we continue to chalk this up as TYPICAL male behaviour and give these men a little slap on the wrists and get them to give a heart felt apology, what does anyone learn from this? NOTHING! Rape culture is not a men versus women issue, it is a societal one. We need to look at it from all angles, not just from the perspective of violence against women, but also the side that demands that men behave with some kind of super macho, hyper-masculinity complex in order to be seen as a "real" man.
This is very much something that we can all change in our lives. These kinds of behaviours are learned ones. Again, let's reconsider what we think of and accept as typical male group behaviour. And by the way, that shit starts at home and at school, when boys and girls are young and impressionable and watch and listen to everything YOU say and do!
So, as Gandhi kinda said, Be the Change, folks! Model that change for all the young people (and the old ones too) in your life.
Article number three takes a complete 180 from the one above and was about, of all things, tobogganing. Written by my friend Jennifer at Today's Parent magazine, it looks at the growing trend of municipalities in the snowy parts of North America BANNING tobogganing on city-owned parks and hills.
On the one hand, I get it. A few years ago, I took my then 6-year old out to the big hill in our neighbourhood for a bit of sledding. At that time, he still wanted me to go down the hill with him and so being the cool mom that I am, I complied. Said hill had melted and then frozen overnight and on our first foray down, our combined weight, plus the super slick conditions, gave us enough momentum and speed to travel WAY farther than we had on previous rides. At the last minute, I had to perform a stunt-woman like manoeuvre to simultaneously turn the sled, protect my child with my own body and take the brunt of us slamming into a chain link fence with the side of my body. He of course thought the whole thing was EPIC! and immediately wanted to do it again. My bruised hip and palpitating heart said otherwise. We still go sledding, but we do so at the small hill or in very open areas with little to no obstacles. And ALWAYS with a helmet.
Jennifer makes a strong argument for not banning this beloved winter activity;
“that’s the main problem with the toboggan ban debate: By banning a winter activity like sledding, it takes away from a parent‘s ability to teach kids to assess and manage potential safety risks. The hill in our backyard is short and tree-free, but I’d absolutely put helmets on my kids on a steeper slope, and hills with obstacles are out of the question. In my opinion, bans like these are a slippery slope to an already risk-averse generation of kids—and that could also be catastrophic.”
Instead of removing all things that could potentially be safety risks for our kids, we need to be teaching our kids to actually THINK for themselves. We are already seeing the results of the helicoptering, over-protective parents in our millennial generation. At the far end of the spectrum are parents calling in sick for their grown children, emailing college professors about late assignments or bad marks and even accompanying some to job interviews. And while I do question some of the fashion choices that today's younger generation make, I really don't want to see bubble wrapping our kids become an actual thing!
As a parent, your number one thought is always, are my kids safe? The guilt that can consume you when something does happen, be it your baby rolling off your bed because you turned away for two seconds, or your kid getting a bloody lip or broken bone from jumping off a playground structure, is all encompassing. My point here is this, if you want to raise self-sufficient kids who can make decisions on their own and in turn become self-sufficient adults, then show them how to assess all kinds of situations and how to make smart decisions. Banning words, books, activities, and whatever else in the name of "BUT WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN" is not going to move us forward as a human race. Critical thinking is a valuable skill for everyone to have!
“You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable. ”
The fourth article that I read comes with a trigger warning about suicide.
It was written by my friend, Kathleen Smith, whose son killed himself just days after Christmas, and before his 19th birthday. It is at once a heart-wrenching tribute to her beautiful boy and also a searing op-ed on the stigma that surrounds suicide and the appalling state of services within our health care system for those with mental illnesses.
My friend is speaking out and very openly about her son's death and the stigma that surrounds mental illness and suicide (especially in young men).
I have to admit that even within myself, my initial thoughts on Kathleen's sharing all of this information was: "Why talk about this? Why plaster his (very handsome) face all over the internet?"
And then it hit me. The VERY reason that she is being so vocal about his suicide is so more people who are thinking these very same thoughts will realize what I have. That THOSE are the feelings and thoughts that we must fight against. The nagging thoughts that this is a private matter, that we SHOULDN'T be talking about it, that if we privately send our condolences and an anonymous donation, then we have done what we can for the family and we can leave it at that.
This is one of those times when we must all step into the uncomfortable spaces in our own minds and examine why we feel these things? Do we really want change to happen within our health care systems? Within ourselves? How can we do this, if we are all avoiding eye contact, shushing our voices and tip-toeing around the topics and thus the people who need us the most?
Yes, our governments and health care systems needs to step up and STOP further cuts to mental health programs, but even more importantly, WE all need to step up too. Step up to the stigma that forces people suffering to feel like they have to do so alone. Step up to the "suck it up" attitudes and advice given far too often to people with depression and mental illness. We all need to do this, so that no mother or father or brother or sister or any loved one needs to wonder for the rest of their lives...Why? Why did this happen? What did I miss? How can this be? Questions that will never get answered.
Depression lies people. We need to shine the light of truth and vulnerability and LOVE back at it and that starts by TALKING about it. Openly, in every medium possible, to reach as many people as possible.
Only then will we see change. Change that will not come soon enough for Kathleen's son, but as she so courageously said to me today;
“ if our speaking out in the darkest hour of our collective grief, if our refusing to be shamed by the silence that accompanies suicide saves one person, encourages one person to reach out to someone, anyone, then we’ve put good in to the world out of our grief. ”
These have been the thoughts that have filled my brain for the past 24 hours.
Changing the world. Making it a better place. Starting with ourselves. Looking within.
If the status quo isn't working for you, then "mutatis quae opus est mutare". I used Google Translate to come up with that one. It means change whatever needs changing. And for most of us, what needs changing is more often than not found within ourselves. We have to switch our own mind sets so that we can start to see things differently. We have to go to those places in our own minds and ask ourselves the hard questions, be honest about our answers and then truly be the change we want.
Artwork Courtesy of Marissa Loewen
One by one, we can do this. I know we can.
Who is with me?
(Or should I say still with me, I know that this was a long read, and I thank you all so very much for sticking it out all the way to the very end!)
N~
Memory Lane
Christmas is over for another year.
It was a crazy, loud, lovely, family (and turkey) filled couple of days. The kids were thrilled with their gifts from Santa and sad to see their little Elf pal leave until next year (yes, we have one too). And as per the family tradition that my mother tells me I started as a child, my children woke up promptly at 6:00 AM to inform us of the big guy's annual break and entry!
I've got to say though, Christmas felt a bit weird to me this year. If felt like it snuck up on me very, very quickly and just as fast, it was gone. All that is left are the two dozen gingerbread cookies that SOMEONE is going to have to eat and half of the turkey begging to be made into who-knows-what kind of leftover dish.
I've done a lot of reflecting for the past few weeks (and little else apparently). And I keep coming back to the thought that the magic that we associate with Christmas, that we remember from our own childhoods, just can't be recreated. Or maybe it can, but we, as grown-ups, just don't see it the same way anymore.
As kids, my mom used to take us to Candy Cane Lane every year. As I remember it, this yearly tradition was always a spectacular highlight to the season! So many lights, so many little Christmas montages on everyone's front yards, and practically every single house on that eight block stretch lit up like an multi-coloured airport runway of Christmas kitsch for Santa to land his sleigh on!
Last week my sister and I took our little ones to the lane as we have done almost every year, but for some reason, this year, I just wasn't feeling it. And upon debriefing with my children afterwards, it seems I was not the only one. Oh sure, there are still the few houses that really do make the effort and try to capture all the awesomeness that I remember from long ago, but the gaps of three or four houses in a row with no lights at all, or the one who put out a string of lights and a sign that reads, "No Time, NO money!", really kind of puts a damper on the whole Christmas spirit thing, especially when your kids can now read and ask you why someone would put up a sign like that.
At one point on our trek down this literal memory lane, I looked over and saw a packed horse-drawn sleigh ride going by and on it an over-tired and over-stimulated toddler losing his ever-loving mind and screaming his head off while his mother just held him on her lap and stared ahead with a look of utter defeat. That sleigh ride is 45 minutes long people. FORTY-FIVE minutes.
Mediocre effort IMO, but we do love paris around these parts.
It makes me wonder about my mother taking us there all those years ago. She was a single mom, with four kids to keep an eye on. There HAD to be some whining and crying and yelling and not-so-much-with-the-Christmas-spiriting at some point. She MUST have been that mom with at least one kid losing his or her shit on one of those occasions. The thing is, I just don't remember it that way. I remember the magic. I remember the wonder. I remember the way that a tree full of twinkly lights, a Santa being pulled by reindeers attached to someone's roof, and a full-sized manger scene with a real, live donkey makes my heart feel. I remember getting home after and having hot chocolate with all the marshmallows we wanted and telling each other which house was our favourite. (Mine was always the house with the GIANT star way on top of it with strings of light "falling" to the top of the elaborate manger scene - did I mention we were a very Catholic family?)
I keep going back to Candy Cane Lane every year because I want to believe that this tradition will somehow evoke those magical feelings that I used to have in my own children. This year was the first year that I realized that this may not be the case and that it may be time for a new tradition. That my memories of something the way it was, just don't add up to the way it is NOW.
In some ways, this realization makes me profoundly sad. It is one that I am making about a few things in my life right now and this is a major breakthrough (struggle?) for me. It is hard to let go of the habits or traditions or thought patterns that take us back to who and/or how we think we are supposed to be. Regardless of what Elsa sings on that mountain top, letting go is not as easy as conjuring up a giant ice castle with your bare hands in a matter of minutes!
I believe that part of what I have been feeling this year was this need to tick off a list of all the "must do" Christmas activities and then feeling disappointed in myself when we didn't do them or no one wanted to do them. And I know this may sound silly, but I think that in those few seconds that I looked over at him, that screaming toddler, on what I can only assume was a very long, ear-splitting sleigh ride, may have taught me the most valuable life lesson this Christmas season. Family traditions should be fun. For everyone. And if it they are not, then it's time to pull the pin on it and find a new one (or perhaps try again later).
The fortunate thing is that my wonderful city is full of great winter and holiday season activities and we won't have to look far to find that special family tradition that will be OURS. That we can all truly enjoy and that my children will one day look back on and only remember the magic, the joy and the special heart-feels that they got from doing these things as a family.
And then they will very likely wonder all of these exact same thoughts that I just have and move on with their own families and traditions.
Freaking circle of life...
N~
six months ago : today
Six months ago, this day seemed so very, very, far away.
Six months ago, he was fighting for his life, with machines breathing for him, pumping his heart for him and cleaning his blood for him.
Six months ago, for the most terrifying five minutes of my life, I was thinking I'd have to plan a different kind of celebration of life.
Six months ago, he was my tiny baby boy and all I could do was hold his hand and hope that my love and strength flowed into him like the cocktail of medicines did via his intravenous lines.
infusing love and strength
Six months ago, he had to learn to walk again. And then run. And then climb.
Six months seems like forever, and somehow also not that long ago. We have daily reminders of what was and the challenges ahead, but they are getting smaller and smaller as we get further and further away from that time.
TODAY, he is 8 years old!
Today, he is wearing the new T-Rex shirt that I got him for his birthday. He made Holiday Rice Krispie treats to share with all his classmates. He ran and jumped in the snow this morning as we took the dog for a walk before school.
Today, he will swim at his swimming lessons like the fish-boy he is and as usual, he'll outpace most of the other kids in his class.
Today, I am getting everything ready for his birthday party tomorrow and have never been happier to make this many cupcakes in all my life!
Today, I am grateful for so much. For the immense and wonderful health care team that brought him back to us. For so many friends and family who held us up and provided us the needed strength and support to make it through the past six months. For his teachers and coaches and friends who don't see a kid with a disability and who continue to challenge him to grow and learn and be his very best self every day.
Today, I am the proud, thankful, and overjoyed mother of this KID!
Birthday Cuddles
Happy Birthday Beautiful Boy!
{I love you ONE}
Natasha~