A Halloween Retrospective- Updated for 2018

 Some of you may not realize how much Halloween has been a part of my life. Really- my whole life. There are two reasons for this; 1. My mom loves to dress up (and dress up her kids) and 2. My birthday is two days after Halloween on November 2nd. I have had a number of birthdays that involved dressing up in costume. Since we make a big deal of Halloween here, we thought it would be good to have one place for all the pictures of all my costumes. So, I'll start with this year... 
                                  2018- Harry Potter
 On Halloween last year my mom already knew what we had to be this year- Harry Potter! We are HUGE HP fans and it was easy to turn my greased lightening car into the Hogwarts Express. I, of course, was Harry, my brother Liam was Ron Weasley, Addy was Hermione Grainger and my mom was Hedwig- the owl! Our April was Professor Trelawney. Dad worked up to the last minute as usual to get all of the details just right. My Grandma made the stickers for the sides of the train.

 

2017- Grease

My sister had the great idea that we should be the characters from Grease! We watched the show this summer and LOVED IT! My brother and sister are always playing the sound track around the house. Of course, we had to make my wheelchair into Greased Lightning! My Dad worked really hard to get this thing moving! It had some trouble rolling at first, but he always comes through to make sure it looks great!

2016- Red Baron

Last year I was a pilot! My airplane barely stayed together through Halloween, but it was still really cool. It had a spinning propeller. Dad had a great design, but the materials didn't hold up!

2015- Bull Rider
In 2015 we were cowboys and girls. I was a bull rider, as you can see from the giant bull on my chair! Mom and Dad were a little worried how this one was going to turn out- but it ended  up looking pretty good!

2014- Coast Guardsman
This year I wanted to dress like my Dad, so he made me a Coast Guard boat just like he drives. I had a uniform with my name on it too. It made a cool siren sound and had lights. My sibling and I were all first responders- Coastie, Policeman, and Firefighter.

2013- Firefighter

My fire truck had some fun accessories. It had all kinds of lights and a siren also.  My brother was a witch and my sister was a princess that year. Dad says anything with lights and sirens is a winner!

2012- Pirate
This was the first year we made a wheelchair costume. Mom was really excited to put it together. It had a skull on top of the mast with light up eyes, and skull lights all around the sides. My brother and sister were pirates too!

2011- Tin Man
 This year we were all from the Wizard of Oz. I was the tin man- this isn't a great picture. My brother was the scarecrow and my sister was the lion. Mom was Dorothy of course.

2010- Punk Rocker
This was a great costume year! My mom called us The Decades, and we dressed from different eras. I was a punk rocker- can you see my nose ring and tattoos? My mom and sister were from the 50's and my brother was from the 70's- he had an afro and leisure suit.

2009- Scarecrow
This year we did the Wizard of Oz for the first time. We didn't have my sister yet, so I was the scarecrow and Liam was the lion. Mom was Dorothy and my Auntie Lexi was a witch. I had a costume birthday party that year. We had a little train ride come to our neighborhood and my mom made cool spider cupcakes.

2008- Mouse
This was the first year we lived in Rio Vista. I was a mouse and Liam was a pea pod.

2007- Curious George
On my second Halloween I had a costume party for my birthday. I was Curious George with a banana on my head. My mom was the Man with the Yellow Hat.

2006- Lobster
On my first Halloween I was almost 1 year old. My mom dressed me as a lobster! Little did we know that we would eventually move to Cape Cod!

Celebrating Ed!

On October 22nd we celebrated our dog's adoption day! We called it Ed-doption Day and we went on Ed-ventures because our dog is named ED. Let me tell you a little about Ed...

He came to us last year on October 22nd, all the way from Texas! He was a stray dog and was put at a shelter and then stayed with a foster mom until we found him. He came on a long ride with a bunch of other dogs. My dad and I went to pick him up in Rhode Island. He was a little nervous when he first got to our house because it was so new. But it didn't take long for Ed to be part of our family. Sometimes Ed lays on my bed when I go to sleep at night.

On his Ed-doption Day we celebrated by going to Ed's favorite places- the pond and the dog park. He LOVES to run free and sniff! We also made him some dog treats.

Thompson's Field- dog park

Ed loved to run!

Ed loves to play at Goose Pond

He doesn't really swim, but likes to play in the water

He likes to dig in the sand too!

I got to help pour in the ingredients

Here we are making dog treats

Since we don't know Ed's real birthday, we celebrate his Ed-doption Day! Next year we will take him on more Ed-ventures!

4th Grade Assignment: Write about someone who has had an impact on your life.

Last week I got a very special note at school. It was from a friend who was in my class last year. He wrote an essay at school about someone who made an impact in his life. Guess who he wrote about? ME! It made me really happy to hear these words from my friend Teddy, and I wanted to share what he wrote.

My Friend, Kai

By: Teddy

9/18/17

     When I entered third grade, I met my friend named Kai. Kai has cerebral palsy. He can't walk, talk or see very well and he sits in a wheelchair, but he has very good hearing. He is a very good friend and in third grade, I tried to include Kai as much as I could in class.

     Kai's mother wrote a blog for him about all of the adventures he goes on with his family. I realized that Kai can do a lot of things like we can. For example, Kai rides horses, goes skiing, rock climbs, rides a bike pulled by his mother and goes to the beach a lot. 

     When Kai went to school with me in Mr. Kliment's class, I would read to him a lot and include him in indoor recess where we played connect blocks. Kai invited me to his Halloween birthday at his house. There were other kids in wheelchairs. They were all able to do all of the activities, including the zipline and had FUN.

     My friendship with Kai shows me that all kids with differences can do the same things that we do. Kai has taught me that I am lucky to be able to run, talk and see. I have realized that some people don't have these things and I should be thankful that I do. Being friends with Kai showed me that just because you are different doesn't mean you can't do what other people can. I realize that everybody matters no matter who you are! I think I became a better person from being friends with Kai.

Here I am with my friends Murphy and Teddy

Team Tri for Kai!

Last weekend I completed my 4th triathlon! A triathlon is a swimming, biking, and running race. We do sprint distance races- usually a 1/4 mile swim, 10-15 mile bike and a 3.1 mile run. 

This year we had a few changes to our race. First of all, we decided to do The Pilgrimman Triathlon in Plymouth.  It is at Myles Standish State Park, so we got to camp for the weekend too. Another change is that my Dad got to participate with us- he did the biking this time. The last change was the AMAZING piece of equipment we borrowed from Hoyt Running Chairs. Here are some pics of our adventure!

Waiting at College Pond to start the triathlon!

We made cool tshirts for our team- Tri for Kai!

Liam was practicing his dance moves by the DJ!

Liam found a rock shaped like a heart before the race!

Our new friend Abby raced with her Dad too. We hung out in our boats before the race.

Team Tri for Kai before the race

Here we go! Ready to swim!

Here are Dad and I starting out on the bike!

Dad has LOTS of hills ahead of him!

Dad and I riding on the course!

Some new friends who were doing it as a team too- Friends of Abby Mac!

Our return from the 12.8 mi bike!

Mom pushed me on the run here I am crossing the finish line!

I WIN!

Our relay team got 3rd place! (There were only 3 teams;-)

Here we are with our medals

 It was a fun day! I love to go fast on the bike especially, and sometimes I like when I get splashed by my mom's kicks during the swim- but the BEST part is crossing the finish line and having people cheer for me! My Dad is excited to do a race again with me next year!

Hi, my name is Kai

Hello 3rd grade class! You might not believe this- but Mr. Kliment and I have known each other for many years. I have been lucky enough to be in his classroom 4 times now! We are thinking of creating our own handshake since I've been around so long! I am really actually in 6th grade. It's a long story- but I'm at EHB for one more year before I move onto the high school. Yep- high school!

So, some of you may be wondering about me, because I'm a little different from other people you know. To see what I told my class last year, click here. It talks about my condition, called CP.

Let me introduce you to my family...

My brother Liam is in 3rd grade. He thinks he's a ninja.

My sister Addy is in 2nd grade and she LOVES anything with sugar in it!

My dog Ed is a rescue from Texas. He loves to dig holes in the sand and then lay in them! And...he REALLY loves my Mom!

My Mom is a Calmer Choice teacher and works for a marketing and endurance events company. She used to be a 4th grade teacher back in the day.

My Dad sells boats to the military. He retired from the Coast Guard a few years ago.

If you read my post from last year, you will know a little bit about my condition. My family likes to do lots of fun things- they try to have me participate in whatever we do. You can read about my summer here.

Something else important to know is that you might hear the word "ADAPTIVE" when people talk about me, or when I share about the things I do. Adaptive just means that we change they way we do things to help me be able to participate in regular activities since I am not able to use my body the same way as everyone else. I am very lucky that there are very talented and creative people in the world who want to see people like me be able to have fun like everyone else. I bet if you tried to think of an activity I couldn't do (but that other people can do)- someone has probably thought of a way to help me do it. Let me know if you think of anything and I will do some research! 

Some adaptive activities that I have tried:
- Adaptive downhill skiing
- Adaptive rock climbing
- Adaptive Cycling
- Adaptive triathlon
- Adaptive hiking
- Adaptive zip-lining
- Adaptive horseback riding

Another "adaptive" activity I am going to try this year is adaptive communication. Pretty soon I am going to get a computer device that I will be able to use to communicate. You will probably be able to see it when I am working on it at school. It is going to be a lot of hard work and take awhile for me to get the hang of it.

I hope we have a fun year getting to know each other. Here is a picture of Mr. Kliment and some friends from last year.