James had such a busy (and awesome) month at school that I felt it deserved its own post. After I publish this post with all the amazing things James has done at school over the past month, I’ll start working on a second post with all the other events that have happened in James’ life.
Have I said how much we love his teachers, therapists and one-on-one nurse? They have him involved in so many different things, don’t let his disabilities stop him from trying new things, and develop ways to help him do things he would normally be unable to do.
Let’s start with that last point. James has quadriplegic cerebral palsy, which leaves him unable to consciously move his legs or arms. Many people would think that someone who is unable to move their arms and legs wouldn’t be able to do much of anything. I’ll be honest; I’ve had these same thoughts. But James has had some amazing teachers and therapists throughout elementary school, and now in high school, that have worked extremely hard to come up with ways to get him to do some amazing things with his limited amount of movement.
Art is a prime example of this. I would have never imagined James being an artist, but they somehow figured out a way to get him to draw and paint. You may recall from my February post that James drew this at school:
The assignment was to draw a person. That is his drawing of his one-on-one nurse. Last month it was up on display at our public library alongside the artwork of fellow high school students:
I don’t know how they got him to draw that, but I imagine it was similar to this:
That video was taken on their field trip to the Art Institute of Chicago last month. Here are a couple of pics from that trip:
In addition to drawing, they’ve also been working with him on painting. So how does someone with minimal hand and arm movement paint? They created a contraption with PVC pipe to help him with that. In the video below he was tasked with painting a sculpture. We were told that right before this video was filmed James flung a paintbrush at his one-on-one nurse. It was probably because of his uncontrollable twitches, and not because he was upset at something. Or maybe he was just trying to be silly.
After seeing James’ drawing of his nurse on display at the library, and then the way they taught him to paint, it got me thinking. If we recreate the contraptions they use at school to help him draw and paint, and have him do some artwork at home, would people buy them? I asked Stacy this question and she thought I was joking. I wasn’t. I’m totally serious. I may be biased, but I think the kid has a real talent here. Much more than I do. About the only thing I can draw are stick figures. If people were willing to buy his art, that would be a little extra money to put towards a new(er) van and help us get it quicker.
Stacy is working as much as she can while James is in school, knowing that once he is home for summer break, she won’t be able to work as much. A chunk of that extra money she is bringing home is being put into savings for the van. Maybe when James is on summer break, he can work on some art to sell to make up for the money that mommy is losing out on by staying home to take care of him. It’s just a thought. I don’t even know if anyone would be interested in buying his art.
I’m going to insert a shameless plug here for our van fundraiser. We’re trying to save as much as we can, but we’re still so far away from having a big enough down payment to bring the car payment down to a level that I would feel comfortable with. I would really like to have that car payment be $500 a month at the most if at all possible. For a van that costs between $80,000 and $90,000, we would need to put down around $60,000 to make that work. Between what we’ve raised so far in the fundraiser and what we’ve saved, we are just over halfway there, but still have a ways to go. If you are able to help us out, we would sincerely appreciate it. We may even send you some of James’ artwork if the donation is big enough.
Okay, plug over. Let’s get back to James and some of the other cool things he’s done at school this past month.
If James doesn’t make it as an artist, maybe he has a future as a backup dancer. In the February monthly post, I shared a couple of dance videos that he was in. A few weeks ago, they did a short little dance performance.
It may seem like James’ school experience is all fun and games, but I assure you that there are academics involved. We haven’t really had any pictures to share of him doing any ‘real’ schoolwork…until now.
They did an owl pellet as a science project. I had never done one of these and had no idea what they were until I looked it up. According to Science World, “Owls are predators and usually swallow eat their prey whole, or a least in large chunks complete with bones, fur, and feathers. Prey species can include rodents, insects, lizards, rabbits, bats, snakes & birds, to name a few. In the owl’s stomach, the soft matter is digested, but the fur and bones are regurgitated back out through the mouth in a little package, or pellet.” By dissecting these pellets, we can learn what animal the owl had eaten. Of course, you first have to pull the bones out of the fur, lay them out, and then arrange them in order to figure out what kind of animal it was. I admit that I have no idea what animal this is:
For another project, they had to create the phases of the moon using Oreo cookies. I’m surprised that Stacy didn’t attempt to eat them. Oreos are her favorite.
On the 8th James got to see a total solar eclipse. The next total solar eclipse that we’ll be able to see in our area won’t happen until September 14th, 2099. If James lives past 90, he’ll be able to see that one, too, but Stacy and I will not be around for that one. That’s kind of a scary thought, isn’t it? James at 90 years old.
I have one last school related item to share. They had a field day this past week and James decided to wear these silly glasses.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of our monthly adventures with James…and Maggie. I’ll try to have it posted in the next couple of days.
