I was part of the Every day, care™ project from Whirlpool® as part of a sponsored post for Socialstars. #EveryDayCare
The mornings around our house can come pretty early, and you may know this if you have a couple of kids running around. The sounds of giggling, playing, and running (if you have a two story home) throughout the house can either be welcoming or a head-pounding sound.
My name is Colby, and I have a total of five lovely kids ranging from the ages of five to nineteen. They are full of personality and spunk. Each one is different in their own way and has something special about them.
Joeli, my 5-year-old daughter -the youngest of the bunch – holds a special place in my heart. She tries to live life to the fullest, the best way she can. Joeli can be a firecracker at times, but also be the biggest of teddy bears to hold on to.
From the early age of three, Joeli was recognized to have a form of expressive speech and a sensory processing disorder. This makes it harder for her to express what she is trying to say or need. She struggles with initial consonant deletion, so the majority of her words are unrecognizable. With sensory processing disorder, Joeli likes deep tissue touches, dislikes loud noises, loves extremely hot/cold foods, hates having clothes on.
So, back to the beginning — early mornings. With Joeli, we can have those “heavenly awaking” good mornings or equally bad ones. About two years ago, when she was three years of age, she was very edgy when communicating. But one thing she didn’t have a problem saying was food. She knew when she was hungry. That was a definite. She liked to eat every 30 minutes, which became frustrating for her, and us as parents. So we found ourselves preparing a meal or snack every time we turned around. which wasn’t a problem, I knew why, it was just a challenge filling her needs with out feeding her constantly.
Now, I am lucky to see her grow in more ways than I can explain. I wake up every morning and lay in bed knowing Joeli is okay, and to an extent, self-sufficient. Together, Joeli and I make her breakfast, and she doesn’t get upset when I disagree with what she is doing. Her communication level has increased over the past year and have to give thanks to twice a week speech therapy.
I am so thankful for Joeli’s progression with her struggles, which don’t even seem like setbacks for her. She tries harder all the time, and for that I will be here with her to provide the love and support she needs.