Justin's Blog

 Posts Tagged ‘Siraya’

We are the very excited recipients of an accessible van for Siraya to cruise around town in.  No more will we have to take her (equally groovy) stroller apart and lug it into the back of the car.  Now she can really ride in style!

You can click on the pictures for bigger versions (the second two are actually videos)

The van came from Jason and Christian and the very fine folks at Advanced Wheels in East Granby, Connecticut. They were tremendous to deal with and to prove how cool they are even sponsor one of their local FIRST Robotics teams!

:: Justin ::

Firstly, if you haven’t had an email or phone call returned by me in the last few days, please accept my apologies, it’s been rather nuts around here.  Remember, any time you need help, you can can the office or check out Live Help.

It’s been an interesting week in the Brockie household, most of it based around Siraya (though Michele has been doing here best to add to the fun).  We’ve spent most of our time since Thursday in doctor’s offices, emergency rooms, and for the last two days, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.  We have dealt with a whole bunch of truly wonderful people including our pediatrician, hospital staff, the mobile crisis team,  folks from DCF, and our support staff from IPP (Siraya has a whole lot of people looking out for her!).

There have though been some technical problems.  Firstly, because Siraya is a foster-kid, a lot of what she gets done for her has to be approved by DCF (makes sense).  Also, she’s a kid with a whole lot of very complicated stuff going on.  This makes it really hard for someone who doesn’t know her to be able to review a plan and determine whether or not it is the right one.  It also means the Michele and I have recounted Siraya’s history more times that we care to remember.

Wouldn’t it all make much more sense if folks could log in and know the right, current information and well as all the history they need.

Within each of the agencies we have dealt with this week (at least 6) they have their own systems, but none of them seem to talk to each other.

Hopefully in the not too distant future this is going to change, and hopefully we here at Therap will be leading the way.

In the meantime, I am just grateful that there are so many tremendous people out there supporting my family.

:: Justin ::

As many of you may know, I am a lover of toys and gadgets.  I am now working hard to give Siraya the same obsession.  She’s a huge music fan and extremely fussy about what she listens to.  Interestingly, her favorites change over time and there’s no telling when The Singing Kettle just won’t cut it any more and you have to move onto Joseph or an Australian singing about kangaroos on Old MacDonald’s Farm!

Given this obvious display of choice making (and the fact that she never goes anywhere without her Ipod – just like any other self-respecting 2 year old!) we thought this would be a great time to start playing with switches.  After a bit of searching, I found just what I was looking for, an adaptive iPod remote from RJ Cooper.  What is especially nice about the remote is that we can plug a switch (like the Big Red Switch in the picture) into the back to act as any one of the buttons so Siraya can learn by just concentrating on one button.

Once we’ve worked this one out, we’ll move on to Guitar Hero!

:: Justin ::

Yesterday was always going to be and exciting day.  We were finally getting Iona back and we going to have the opportunity to hear all about her amazing 3+ week adventure with Outward Bound in the wilds of Oregon.

The DCF (the Connecticut Department of Children and Families) stepping in to really make it all interesting.  They called in the afternoon to see if we would be able to help with an emergency placement for a little girl with seemingly similar needs to Siraya.  We said, “Sure, but we’re not goign to be here, you’ll have to talk to Nicole”.  And that is exactly what happened, while we were on our way down to New York to pick up Iona, DCF came around and Nicole (who is, without doubt, one of the most wonderful people in the world) welcomed the latest addition to our family and go her settled in.  She’s absolutely adorable, though in typical fashion I’m going AWOL.  I was in Delaware when Siraya arrived and this time I’ll be gallivanting around New York and Indiana which Michele works her miracles.

Then to add to it all, Iona’s flight was late so we weren’t home until about 2am and I had to be up at 4!

It was all worth it though, Iona’s stories and photos were even more amazing than I thought they would be.

:: Justin ::

This weekend will see assorted members of the Brockie clan depart for three of the four corners of the country (sorry South West, next time – as I said to Greg the other day, it really is way too long since I have been in Tucson).

So, Michele and I are heading off on our first childless vacation in  17 years!  We’re spending a week or so doing a little as possible in Myrtle Beach, SC.  We will of course be phoning, emailing, Facebooking, Tweeting, and blogging!

Following in the tradition of many other Brockie’s (and countless others afflicted with the addiction that is Heart of Midlothian Football Club), Siraya has now joined in with her own Hearts stip!

I doesn’t get much cuter than that does it?

As a reminder, here are a few more of us in similar attire (though probably not as cute!)

:: Justin ::