My Favorite cousin

  Yesterday  we heard from   my Grandma on my  father's side so  today  we will here from my cousin (D) on my mom's side. 




 Do you know someone with Cerebral Palsy?

 

Well it just so happens that I do! And it just so happens to be my favorite cousin, 

AZ and D  Spring 2006

(pauses for a brief minute) I don’t want anyone getting jealous or nothing so…. all my cousins are my favorite, but she is very dear and special to me. If you have ever judged someone by them having a disability then I believe I have simple cure to your ignorance, meet her. She is a very smart, determined, and loving young lady. When we were both younger she spanked me in video games on a consistent basis and no one could touch her when it came to Harry Potter. If having a Cerebral Palsy means you can’t do as much as the next person and that you will have limitations, then someone definitely didn’t tell her that. She defined the word fun and overcoming obstacles, and I’m very proud of her. Family is an important thing, and nothing brings family together like the holidays; but to me the excitement to see your favorite cousin (yep I said it) and hang out with no limits attached to our fun meter, it is always going to be a highlight that I will remember.

 

Cheers

thanks D I love you 

 

Thoughts on CP Month

 This post comes from my Grandma on my dad's side.  She is  my Facebook buddy.   Note she used my real name  so  I changed it to  AZ but  all the rest  are her words,

  Grandma C and  AZ  Summer 2011

 I make this attempt to organize my thoughts and perceptions on electronic paper regarding my grand daughter, AZ Chapman,  who has had to work hard to accomplish some things that so many of us take for granted.

When AZ was born with CP it was unexpected;  it has also been a learning experience for the family as well as for her,  during these years of her babyhood,  then childhood, then becoming a young woman.  

One thing this remarkable young lady has shown us is how perseverance in the face of difficulty can accomplish a whole lot in life.  Though not confined to a wheelchair like many people with CP,  AZ  does have to deal with some difficulty in physical coordination.  Her determination and perseverance have given her the freedom / independence of being able to walk to a small shopping center near home,  to take the bus and to successfully attend college.  

I know it has often been frustrating for AZ when her body resists cooperating with her mind,  and I am grateful for the helpful therapy made available to her.   Mind over matter is not the easiest thing in the world, especially as a battle prolonged over your entire life!   The wonderful improvement in her speech shows how hard she has worked.  

Awareness:  being conscious or perceptive.  Being conscious of the difficulties and hardships of cerebral palsy can demand a lot of focus.  It could be easy to make it the whole focus of your life and develop a real pity party attitude or use it to manipulate others around you.  Happily for AZ,  her parents and her siblings and even Zoe  ( the family dog )  remind her daily that she has her own chores and responsibilities like everyone else in the family.   The empathy and compassion that AZ  has grown to have for others with a handicap are shown in her work with Special Olympics and in her postings on FB.  

We all have difficulties and hardships;  we all have our perceptions and feelings,  we all have our ups and downs in life.  We are all human and have our individual things to deal with.  I find it admirable that those with some of the harder problems develop such determination and perseverance and empathy for others.

 Thanks Grandma   I  love you

 Have a story its not to late  for more information click here 

Today is my Cousin sixth b day

  happy b day  R  hope    all  is  well  give your mom and sis a hug for me 


  AZ 


  in honor  of  R  b day  here are six things that would make  my  life easier


 Free  Speech Therapy


 Friends and  Parties


  Being able to  handle  my OCD 


   Help   when   I need  it 
    More Comments on the  blog 
     Being  Able  to drive  


    Happy  b day   R 


  To see what    would make  special need  mom  happy  click here

Summer Recap

Hay guys so just a quick note to tell you that tomarrow i go back to collage. I will be around however I am going to try to concentrate on my studies (you know not leaving homework til midnight) so my blog and FB may be negeted we will just have to see.

The summer camp job did not work out this summer but as you will see below I still had a fantastic summer.



I will try and do my best to post around here and read blogs. If I get comments that will motivate me to post hint hint hint :)

Princess started senior year but I did not get anything out of her as far as teachers go. I am not giving up I hope to document her senior year on this blog as the year goes on

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today is CP Awainess day

     no it was not  the last post but it is today  March 25 2011.

  What  is it CP?   A disability that impacts movement   it is kinda like a stroke.   got any other questions  post them  here and  i will answer them    next week thanks  guys  happy  CP  Day,

  Me  C (in red ) and R February 2011

 

  mini me  2001 in Mexico

 ps  if  u could  keep  me in your thoughts tomorrow because i have surgery  (dental work   for cavistes  thanks   in advance will update u  tomorrow with hopefully good news :)

Sunday Grains of Gratiude

 Another  week  has   come and  gone so  now  is the time for grains of   Graditude.

1    That i had a mini vacation from school as my  teacher  was  sick  and in collage there is no  such thing as a subsitute  teacher.

2   that  i had a good  dentist appoment.  I have a new favorite person  who  cleans my teeth  who has  the same birthday as  me. I have to go in for surgery though so that is  not   good. (note  it is not surgery  but I have to go  to sleep  so  to me it is surgery)

3  My cousins  came  down  the  last weekend in febuary.  C and  R    I  have  not seen them for a while    C  is a gymnast   now at  seven and   R  is   five  year old  who will go to kindergaten   in the  summer(serously they  start school in  July   man that is  early).

4    I  enjoyed  reading    a book for  English  class.  It was  A gathering of  old men it  was a perfect book to  read  because it  is  about African American men  and  we read it during February,

5 For  Film  class  I like  the  teacher and  I get to learn more than   Mr T  taught me.  I get to handle the  camera.   Yes they have  let  me rent the  thing from the  collage.    I am  working on shot projects  and  I   am almost done with shooting.

6 Princess and  book  gal   did great in the v ball tournament so they are now in  Bronze insted of colors

Christmas Recap

the tree  before presents on X mas morning

  Hi  blog readers   I am so behind in blogging   so  I will  try to catch up starting with Chrismas recap.

 New this  year I  bought presents for everyone so I had   a try at wrapping  presents.  They did not turn out so well  wrapping  wise  but  that is a whole  other post i will  try to put up in the next three days

  On Christmas eve  my  parents and i  went to Christmas eve  mass  and    looked at Christmas lights. When we got  home  my mom told me that  we did not have Christmas pj's   It was  disappointing  but then she surprised me  (thanks  mom)\

    I got some video games closes   movies   on Christmas morning  I then proceed to play   one of my video games, Donkey Kong Country Returns, until we went to our friends house for dinner. 

Christmass Card 2010  i

 

  Like I said  I have lots to blog about so stay with me  I hope everyone had a happy holiday and a great new year.

Randome in the moment quotes from AZ

Mom :Ouch AZ you hurt =me what do you say

AZ; I love you ( I know she was looking for sorry)

Scenario two
AZ; I am not ready

mom I am ready I am ready

AZ: I am ready I am ready to tune you out.

will post more soon

happy birtdays

I say birthdays because there are two special men that are turning a year older (or celebrating it today

and Uncle L my uncle who is my mom youngest brother turns a year older today

Lm My friend with DS. His birthday was yesterday but his party is tonight at a local bowling ally

I wrote the fallowing a few years ago about LM.

Spending time with LM is like opening a Christmas present and being pleasantly surprised because it was not on your list, but you enjoy it all the same. L M is a year my junior. He has blonde hair and blue eyes. His name might be L but he prefers to be called Michael Jordan. Needless to say, he is a huge basketball fanatic. Surprisingly, L and I did not meet on a basketball court. We met at Judo class where he is now an orange belt. L an easy-going kid, but that does not mean to say he is always happy. He gets grumpy and angry and he doesn't like to admit his defeat. L lives near my school, but unfortunately for all the students and staff will merely be a name without a face. L will live through the stories and the essay I am about to tell you. But chances are, you will never meet the Michael Jordan of San Mateo. The reason being is that L has to go to our rival school because he has Down Syndrome and attends a special program there.

The summer before the eighth grade I was invited to the M's house to spend time with L. Although the intention of my visit was to have fun on a summer's day I learned a lot by going to his house. He gave me a quick tour of his house before leading me down to his room that he shared with his brother who is a year my senior. Stacked up along his wall were video boxes. The video boxes took me back to when I was young because there were Disney movies. L had a wide range of selection which ranged from Mulan to Aladin. It looked to me that he had all the collection. "Lets watch Mulan two." L said bring out the DVD box. I was not so sure about that . I mean I did not want to tell L that my personal collection was gathering dust because I had grown out of them. L did not want to take no for an answer so after playing outside L played the video. As the movie was playing L pointed to Mulan and said " That is my sister. " He proceed to do this and it hit me that L was using his imagination to put himself and his friends inside the movie. At the time I did not think much of the move. I do not remember much of it except Lu sat entranced by the story and sang along with the songs.

L has taught me that it's ok to do whatever it is that makes you happy. Even if it goes against the trends and thoughts of society. L has taught me that it's ok to be different and that everybody matures differently. Some people might mature faster than others but in the end they do. L has taught me that a childhood hobby can carry on into teenage years even if it is only for kids. The most important thing that L has taught me is to not assume that a person is incapable of doing anything.

L was thirteen at the time of our play date but yet he still loved watching Disney movies. Some people might just write him off as less capable but mankind can learn a thing or two from him. Mankind's favorite saying is the grass is greener on the other side, whether it is adulthood or a different job or classroom. Humans can learn to enjoy their side of the grass and if you happened to get on the other side it would merely by an unexpected Christmas gift instead of a dream. Adults are always telling little kids that " they are such a big kid" we should not say this because it's impression is that being little is not okay. Instead of growing up being like the 50 meter dash man should slow down to enjoy the sights and sounds of childhood. It is surprising what someone with an intellectual disability can teach you about life.

Battle of the bay

Today I went to the cal Stanford women's basketball game. The game was called battle of the bay because they are both located in the SF bay area. My family met up with a family friend at the Maples pavillonwho have four girls who are younger then princess and one who is my brother's age. (I think the girl has a crush on laid back athlete) I was rooting for Stanford because my dad went there for med school and my siblings and I have been to a lot of camps there. Standford beat Cal 79-58. I thought I saw ms A but I never got close enough to tell.

After the game we went to Star bucks with the family we went to the game with I had a fun day even if the youngest beat me in war.

Science and Special Olympics

So the week before Thanksgiving( sorry I did not post I have been busy working on collage apps and other stuff) My dad's mom was out with us for the weekend so on satuday we went to the San Francisco Academy of Science Museumum in Golden Gate park. I did not stay that long because I had a bowling tournament which I placed first in. Here are some pictures from the day.

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Table for 12

  I know everyone heard of John and Kate plus 8 ether  from tabloids or  television and with that  ending    there is nothing  worth  watching  on TLC about a family     who has a lot of kids  age 13 and younger .. or  is there.

Meet The  Hayes   Betty and  Eric who have  ten kids  and  although they do not go  out that often,when they do they  get  a table for 12,  The  Hayes have   two set of twins and sextuplets  one of them  has  severe cerebral   palsy. If you are wondering why that sounds  familiar I have CP  as well.   You can  learn  more about the  hayes  by   watching this  clip  below.  

  watch  every tuesday  night   cheak  local listings

Happy B day laid back athlete

Special Olympics basketball 2007 [Me, laid back athlete, grandma and grandpa ( from my mom's side .)[

surfing in cabo summer 02




I love u so much

top ten memories of my bro and me

1 videogames thanks for all the time u used to let me play on the sega.

2 playing b ball y let me win as a good big brother dose

3 watching him graduate from high school

4 watching him graduate from collage

5 playing golf with GO and the rest of my school team

6 wrestling

7 playing in the playroom

8 hanging out

9 playing b ball with dad on his b day and wining

10 testing you sorry it is my job

AZ

who said Hunting and baskets are for little kids

well I am here to tell u that is not always the case. Easter is tomorrow and with that comes egg hunt. Egg hunt are fun but who said the fun must end when you turn 12. I am here to tell y in our house we have a money hunt how dose it work u ask let me tell you. the plastic eggs you know the ones that pop open are all you need and some eager tweens or teens. Have someone hide the plastic eggs and let the teens go lose. At the end make sure everyone gets a even adamant of money.

for kids or teens with special needs It is critical if they look or move slower to give them a head start and have someone help them this is what normally happens with me for past egg /money hunts I hope these tips help everyone have a fun and safe Easter

Happy St.Patrick's Day

   hope   u  all were green today  or else   considered   yourself   pinched  by  yours  truly.

 A  shout out to   Aunt   M   who  turned  one year older today  

Eight adults and fourteen kids

Tonight we are hosting a family friend get together. It will be black doctors who happen to work with my mom and their kids. Mom is doing this to introduce a new docker to other black doctors. The family has 4 kids under the age of six. Tonight ought to be fun

Wordless wednessday : My cousin as a kitty cat

to see more of C visit with us click here