Tag Archives: Humor

What’s His Name?

Posted on by under No Filter Fridays

Hello friends!  It’s time for another installment of No Filter Friday.  This is the time that I love to share things that the girls have said or done that have left us red-faced, laughing, and sometimes speechless.  One of my favorite parts of Skylar’s autism has been the total lack of “filter” that she possess. In many ways it is refreshing how brutally honest she is, but it can be embarrassing.  If you are new to my blog or missed previous posts, you can click here for a complete list of No Filter Friday stories.

This week’s story just happened a couple of days ago.  I was waiting in the pick-up line for Skylar to get out of school on Wednesday and was chatting with my sister on my cellphone.  I smiled as I saw Skylar walking down the hill and commented to my sister that she looked like she was in a good mood.  She was walking next to a boy that I recognized from her class, but for the life of me, I can never remember his name.  I know all the kids’ names except for this one boy.

As Skylar got in the car we had this little exchange.

Me:  Hey Sky…what is the name of the boy getting in the car in front of us?

Sky:  That is Stephen. (I have changed his name for privacy purposes!)

Me:  Stephen!  That’s right.  I can’t believe I can never remember his name.  (I repeated his name several times so that I could add it to my memory bank.)

And as I was repeating his name Skylar got out of the car & yelled at Stephen:

“Hey Stephen!  Look over here!  My mom has NO idea who you are!”

And with that, my sister started laughing and said “WOW!  That was awesome!”

I simply responded with “Oh my!  The No Filter Friday stories just keep on coming!”

Poor Stephen just stood there with the most confused look on his face!

When I looked at Skylar she just had the most innocent look on her face.  Oh, to have that innocence.  I truly believe it is a blessing!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

JuJu

*If you missed my post from Wednesday about who & what is inspiring me right now, click here to read it!

*I also posted a sweet story about my experience sitting in on Skylar’s choir class on Monday.  You can read that story here.

Poor Daddy!

Posted on by under No Filter Fridays

Hello friends!  It’s time for another installment of No Filter Friday.  This is the time that I love to share things that the girls have said or done that have left us red-faced, laughing, and sometimes speechless.  One of my favorite parts of Skylar’s autism has been the total lack of “filter” that she possess. In many ways it is refreshing how brutally honest she is, but it can be embarrassing.  If you are new to my blog or missed previous posts, you can click here for a complete list of No Filter Friday stories.

Today’s post is another blast from the past.  Yesterday we had to go down to Phoenix for an appointment and since I can’t drive, (read this post to see why) Chris drove us down.  We were chatting on the way home about No Filter Friday ideas and Chris mentioned this story.  We loved remembering it and just laughed!  So today I’m going to share this funny story with you.

When Skylar was in the 1st grade, we were stationed in Dayton, Ohio.  As we were getting her ready for school one morning we had the radio on in the background. We were listening to a local Top 40’s station.  Just to give you a little information about our music preferences, Chris and I like all different kinds of music, but neither of us have ever really listened to rap music.  We just haven’t.  The extent of our rap music background is some old school DC Talk.  Because of this, our children do not have any knowledge of names of rap singers or groups.

I was in the bathroom putting on my makeup when the music stopped and the DJ came on to share various news stories. One of the stories involved the rapper, Ludacris.  The DJ wrapped up a few news issues and then said “When we come back I will be sharing a story about Ludacris”. Skylar immediately got upset.  She was teary-eyed when she came into the bathroom and the following exchange took place:

Skylar:  That lady on the radio made a poor choice.  She called dad a bad name.

Me:  What do you mean she called dad a bad name?

Skylar:  Well she said “When we come back I have a story about looney Chris”.

Chris and I started cracking up.  Skylar of course was upset that we were laughing about the DJ calling Chris a looney.  We quickly explained to her that there is a rapper named Ludacris and that the DJ was talking about him and not calling her daddy a “looney Chris”.

We still laugh about this today!  And,  just in case you don’t know the difference.  This is Ludacris:

And THIS is Looney Chris:

Hope you all have a FABULOUS weekend!

Make it a great one!

JuJu

“He is NOT Josh Groban!”

Posted on by under No Filter Fridays

Hello friends!  It’s time for another installment of No Filter Friday.  This is the time that I love to share things that the girls have said or done that have left us red-faced, laughing, and sometimes speechless.  One of my favorite parts of Skylar’s autism has been the total lack of “filter” that she possess. In many ways it is refreshing how brutally honest she is, but it can be embarrassing.  If you are new to my blog or missed previous posts, you can click here for a complete list of No Filter Friday stories.

Today’s story is a total blast from the past.  Last week I was flipping through an album when I came across this picture from when we took the girls to see Josh Groban in concert in March of 2005.

Many of you know that Skylar LOVES Josh Groban, but let me tell you how that came to be. Not long after Skylar was diagnosed, I saw a PBS concert special with Josh.  It was wonderful and the next time I was in Target I decided to pick up his CD (it was well over $20).  I remember thinking “that’s really expensive for a CD” but went ahead and bought it.  When I got home, I was thrilled to find out that it not only included the CD, but also the DVD of the concert I had just seen.

A few weeks later, the four of us made a trip to northern Virginia to visit my parents. We were stationed in Dayton, OH at the time.  About 2 days into our visit, Skylar had a complete melt-down.  She was crying and kept repeating “Want my room!”  I could not console her at all! She usually did pretty well at my parents’ house, but she was really struggling during this trip.  I remember saying “Skylar, come sit by mommy and let’s listen to this nice man sing.”  Chris quickly popped the DVD in and as the music started she sat down next to me on the couch.  She immediately started to calm down.  I was amazed that she sat and listened to song after song. After about the 4th or 5th song she said “I like him!”  And the rest, as they say, is history!

She watched that concert EVERY night before she went to bed for almost 2 years. She sang along and she mimicked Josh as he introduced guest musicians, directors, and his producer.  When anyone came to the house, she insisted they see the concert too.

So almost 2 years later when I heard that Josh would be in Louisville, KY (about 3 hours from Dayton) I knew that we HAD to take her.  I called my parents and told them about the concert.  I remember my dad saying “We are going to that concert! I will NOT miss being able to see Skylar see Josh in concert for the first time.”  I love that they drove the 8 hours from Virginia the day before and then the 3 hours with us to Louisville for the concert.

We arrived at the concert, took our seats, and anxiously waited for the concert to start.  As the lights dimmed and the music started, a guy named Chris Botti walked out on stage with his trumpet.  I had not even thought of the fact that someone would be opening for Josh as it had been years since we had been to a concert. Before I could even turn to Skylar she blurted out “He is NOT Josh Groban!”  A couple of the people sitting around us kind of giggled and I quickly explained that this man’s name was Chris and he would be playing a couple of songs before Josh would come on stage. Skylar nodded her head and sat quietly and listened.  When he finished his second song, she clapped excitedly and smiled.  Chris Botti then started talking about the next song he would be playing. The smile immediately left Skylar’s face and she screamed:

OH NO! NOT AGAIN!

I. Was. Mortified!  I couldn’t move. My face was on fire and I totally wanted to crawl under my chair.  The people all around us immediately started laughing!  It also helped that the gentleman next to us said “Honey, I’m ready for Josh too!”

I believe that this was the beginning of Skylar’s brutal honesty!  She has not stopped since!

Josh did eventually come on stage and she didn’t stop smiling the entire concert.  As each of his songs started to play she would smile, clap, squeal with excitement, and say “I LOVE this song!”  It was one of the most wonderful experiences.  As we were driving home we asked Skylar how she liked the concert and if she would ever want to see him in concert again.  I can still hear her words in my mind today:

“I loved it!  Maybe next time, I’ll get up on stage and sing with him!”

I have no doubt that Skylar will totally find a way to do just that!

Hope you all enjoy your weekend!

Make it a great one!

JuJu

The Woozies

Posted on by under No Filter Fridays

Hi there!  Sorry for my delay this morning in sharing my No Filter Friday post.  Our internet has been down and it is finally back up.  This has been a crazy week as I have had Hailey home sick all week.  In fact, she woke up miserable and crying the morning we were leaving Albuquerque to come home.  It was so similar to our previous trip that I literally felt like I was in the movie Groundhog Day. If you don’t know what happened last time we went home for a visit, you can read that story here.

So without further ado, it’s time for another installment of No Filter Friday.  This is the time that I love to share things that the girls have said or done that have left us red-faced, laughing, and sometimes speechless.  If you are new to my blog or missed previous posts, you can click here for a complete list of No Filter Friday stories.

Yesterday we headed down to Phoenix for Skylar’s appointment with the endocrinologist.  She was really excited to be ushered into a room that had a really nice massage chair.  She thoroughly enjoyed the massage and just giggled the entire time.  I was thrilled that I was able to capture the joy she was experiencing with my camera phone.

Both of us were thrilled to be able to meet Jenny and my youngest niece, Sam for lunch following the appointment.  It is always nice when we can coordinate a get-together.  We had lunch at TGI Friday’s and Skylar was ecstatic to get a dessert.  I laughed when the waitress set it on the table and both Jenny and I said “Wait! We need to take a picture before you take a bite!”
Skylar made some of the funniest noises as she ate.  There was no doubt that she was enjoying it.  After lunch we said our good-byes and headed back up the mountain. About half way home Skylar mentioned that she was feeling a bit “woozy”!  This is her new word and she has been using it like crazy this week. Her use of it kind of reminds me how the Smurfs overuse the word “smurfy”.
Skylar needed some more blood drawn so I told her that we were going to go ahead and stop on our way into town at the lab.  She has gotten really great about having this done.  She used to cry and wail, and that was before we had even stepped into the lab.  We got to the lab at 2:30 and it was completely empty.  I of course made a mental note that we would be coming at 2:30 for every future blood draw.  As we were waiting for the gal to get her paperwork in order and to be called back, I noticed that Skylar was lounging all over the waiting room.  She kept saying “I’m feeling really woozy!”
When the technician called us back Skylar plopped down into the chair, flung her arm onto the table and said “Can you make this quick?  I’m feeling woozy and I might fall asleep right here.”  Thankfully the technician laughed and said “I’ve been doing this a really long time, so I will be really fast!”  I must say that this was by far the quickest blood draw we have ever had.  Usually we have to reassure Skylar about a hundred times that it won’t hurt and that it will be over really quick.  This time, Skylar didn’t argue at all!
When we were finished we rounded the corner and to my surprise the waiting room had about 15 people in it.  As we were about to head out the door, Skylar belched SO loud!  I immediately said “Excuse you Skylar!  That wasn’t very appropriate was it?”  She just said “Look mom, it wasn’t my fault. It was totally the woozies!  In fact, I’m thinking the massage chair gave them to me!”
I personally think it was the dessert!
Hope you all have an enjoyable weekend!  Make it a great one!
JuJu
*I’ve been so overwhelmed by the support of my recent post…Actual Awareness: My Thoughts on the “Cryptic Facebook Statuses for Breast Cancer Awareness”! I had no idea it would strike a chord with so many.  Thank you for sharing it with your friends and family!  If you haven’t read it yet, you can read it here.

Are You The Boss?

Posted on by under No Filter Fridays

It’s time for another installment of No Filter Friday.  Sorry that it has been a few weeks since I’ve shared a No Filter Friday post, but the holidays got the best of me and I’ve slowly been getting back into a routine.  This is the time that I love to share things that Skylar has said or done that have left us red-faced, laughing, and sometimes speechless.  If you are new to my blog or missed previous posts, you can click here for a complete list of No Filter Friday stories.

About a month ago, Chris came home and announced that his office was having a dinner in honor of the senior cadets that were being commissioned.  I was really excited as I hadn’t been out among adults a whole lot since moving back to Arizona.  We prepared the girls for this night out several weeks in advance.  This entailed reviewing proper restaurant etiquette, properly introducing themselves to other guests, & most importantly, reminding them not to scream at each other across the table.
The day of the dinner I had stopped in to Costco to pick up a few groceries and saw their favorite sticker books in the book section.  I bought one for each of them knowing that it would keep them happy for at least an hour.  I also brought the i-Pad and headphones for Skylar in case it got too loud for her.  On our way to the dinner Chris told Skylar that he was only working half the day the following day so that he could come have lunch with her at school for her birthday.  She was so excited!  She asked “you don’t have to work the whole day?”  to which he responded “I sure don’t!  My boss is giving me the rest of the day off, just so I can come have lunch with you!”
When we arrived at the restaurant I was thrilled to see that we had an entire back section reserved for our group.  We strategically put ourselves at the end of a table so we could sneak out if necessary.  The girls did fabulous through dinner, playing with their sticker books while we waited.  It wasn’t until the very end of the night that Skylar asked to have the i-Pad.  We weren’t quite ready to go so I happily obliged.  I made my rounds chatting with everyone and I eventually ended up talking with the Colonel (Chris’ boss).  As we were chatting,  Skylar came over and took the headphones out of her ears.  She looked quizzically  at him and the following exchange happened between the three of us.
Skylar:  Sir?  Are you the boss of Embry Riddle?
Colonel: Oh no!  I’m not the boss.  I’m more of a middle management guy.
Skylar:  What? I thought you were the boss!
Me:  Sir, you are Chris’ boss and he works at Embry Riddle, so for the purpose of this conversation, we are just gonna say that you are the boss of Embry Riddle ok?
Colonel:  Oh, ok then!  Yes Skylar, I’m the boss of Embry Riddle.
Skylar:  Oh good!  Well, thank you so much for giving my dad the day off tomorrow so that he can come have lunch with me for my birthday.
Me:  (standing there so proud that Skylar so eloquently spoke to “the boss”)
Colonel:  Well you are so welcome!  Your dad works really hard and I really appreciate all that he does in the office.
At this point the Colonel continued to praise Chris while Skylar got this totally “glazed over” look and slowly slipped her earphones back in her ears and pushed play on her i-Pad.  I was absolutely horrified!
The Colonel got the funniest look on his face and said: “Wow!  I think she is totally done with me!  I said “I’m sorry sir, but I’m pretty sure you lost her right after you said ‘you are welcome'”.  He laughed and said “I think you are right, but I really wanted you to hear how much I appreciate Chris and all he does.”
I’m so thankful for friends and family that don’t get offended when Skylar says and does her silly things.  Most people comment how refreshingly honest she is.  I’m sure that all of us have been in conversations where we wish we could just put our headphones in our ears!
Have a great weekend!  Make it a great one!
JuJu

Morning Mayhem

Posted on by under Everyday

I don’t know about you, but mornings around here are totally crazy!  I think my hair might actually go gray this year between Skylar being completely unyielding with her morning routine and Hailey moving at her own pace, which is NOT fast.  I’m so thankful to have Chris home with me in the mornings to help me get the girls ready and dropped off at school.  He has always been a tremendous help to me whether it be making the girls’ lunches, pulling Skylar’s meds, or just keeping the girls moving to get out the door on time.  The 7 months he was deployed to Afghanistan were quite interesting as I was working full time as a school nurse and we had to be early to school.  I remember waking each morning at 5 a.m. and saying to myself “Ok, here we go!”

This morning was no different.  The morning started off well.  Skylar woke up in a pretty good mood which was awesome!  After I wake her up, I wait to see what her response is going to be.  Some mornings she says “Uggghh!  I didn’t sleep well at all!” or “It is 6:34 mom!  You woke me up 4 minutes late!”  Those mornings I just brace myself for the roller coaster ride that will be our morning.  This morning she said “Hi mom!  How was your bunco?”  I played bunco last night and she was already asleep when I got home.  I was thrilled that she woke up in a good mood as I know that our morning should go a bit smoother.

Everything appeared to be going smoothly until Skylar took her medicine before she ate her breakfast.  Hailey was NOT happy with that at all and the following exchange took place:

Hailey: You can’t take your medicine before you eat!  What are you thinking?

Skylar:  Hailey! How dare you speak to me like that!  You are not my mother!

Hailey:  Shame on you Skylar.  Don’t ever speak to me like that.

Skylar:  Mom!!!  Hailey is being rude to me!

Me:  Seriously?  Both of you cut it out.  Skylar, finish getting ready.  Hailey, stop telling Skylar what to do.  Your dad and I have it under control.

Hailey:  Clearly, she needs more help mom!

Oh my!  I’m not sure why, but Hailey has taken it upon herself to be an additional parent figure to Skylar, which Skylar absolutely can’t stand.  I feel like a broken record that constantly repeats “Hailey, quit bossing your sister around.  Hailey, we are taking care of it. Hailey, stop parenting Skylar”.  I must say those words 20 times a day.

As the girls were getting into Chris’ car I said “Skylar, I love you!  I’ll be waiting for you in the pick up line!  Hailey,  I love you!  I’ll be waiting for you in the front of the school!”  They both hollered “I love you too mom!”  For years, when we drop them off or are sending them off to anything whether it be school, church, or grandma’s house, we say “Make good choices!”  This morning after I told them I loved them I hollered “Make good choices!!”  Standing at the laundry room door I could hear Hailey all the way from Chris’ car say:

“She MUST be talking to Skylar because I ALWAYS make good choices!”

Clearly, we still have more work to do!

Make it a great one!

JuJu

When You Grow Up!

Posted on by under No Filter Fridays

It’s time for another installment of No Filter Friday.  This is the time that I love to share things that Skylar has said or done that have left us red-faced, laughing, and sometimes speechless.  If you are new to my blog or missed previous posts, you can click here for a complete list of No Filter Friday stories.

Skylar has always been a fan of superheroes. Who can blame her?  Superheroes ROCK!  She loves Superman, Spiderman, Batman, & Mr. Incredible. She definitely goes through phases of what she is obsessed with and during those phases that is what she wants to talk about.  Today’s story is about one of those conversations.

A couple of months ago Skylar was sitting at the kitchen table while Chris and I were cleaning up the kitchen. The conversation started off with a simple question from Skylar:

Hey dad? What do you want to be when you grow up? (I thought it was funny that she was asking this as Chris is 39 and has been in the Air Force for over 19 years) The rest of the conversation was as follows:

Chris:  Well, I am grown up and I’m in the Air Force.  I’m not exactly sure what I want to do when I retire.

Skylar:  When you grow up do you want to be able to fly like Superman?

Chris:  No, not really.

Skylar:  Do you want to be able to run really fast?

Chris: Nope.

Skylar:  Do you want to be invisible?

Chris: Not really buddy.

Skylar:  What about smart?  You wanna be smart when you grow up?

Chris:  What?? You don’t think I’m smart now?

Skylar totally started laughing & said:

Daddy, you are so funny!  So…do you wanna be smart?

So thankful for these sweet moments that we have with Skylar!  I love her brutal honesty.

Hope all of you have a great weekend!

JuJu

*I was nominated for one of Babble’s Top Autism Spectrum Blogs.  I’m totally honored by this.  If you read my blog and you have found it helpful I would appreciate your vote.  I am currently #19.  You can click here and search for I Am JuJu, then click on the “I Like This” icon.  I believe you can only vote for one blog per computer/device. Thank you so much for your support!  I love sharing our journey with others and I truly hope that it brings hope and understanding regarding Autism.*

Looking Pretty Good!

Posted on by under Everyday

It’s time for another installment of No Filter Friday.  This is the time that I love to share things that Skylar has said or done that have left us red-faced, laughing, and sometimes speechless.  If you are new to my blog or missed previous posts, you can click here for a complete list of No Filter Friday stories.

Last week we went down to Tucson to spend Thanksgiving with my mom’s side of the family.  My aunt and uncle are always so gracious to open their home and host our crazy crew.  There were about 30 people there and 16 of them were kids.  This was our 3rd year to go and Skylar tends to do pretty well while we are there.

Chris and I were sitting at the dining room table eating and visiting with my dad when my mom came in and said “You are NOT going to believe what Skylar just said to Pa!”.   Pa is my mom’s dad.  He will be 80 this year and he is still very active.  He and my MeMe don’t ever stop going!

Pa was sitting on the patio visiting with my mom when Skylar walked up.  The following conversation happened:

Skylar:  Hi Pa!  You are looking pretty good!

Pa:  I am?

Skylar:  Ya, you know, you are definitely older but your voice isn’t all scratchy like an old person?

Pa:  What do you mean all scratchy?

Skylar:  Oh you know how old people’s voices usually sound!  Hmm…what’s the word I’m looking for?  Oh ya….CRANKY!  You don’t sound cranky!

I should have known when I heard the laughter from the porch that it probably involved Skylar!  But honestly, I think this conversation with Pa was a vast improvement over how she handled my dad’s mom.  You can read that story here if you missed it.  I love listening to the way Skylar describes things!  I wonder why she thinks that all older people sound cranky.  It could possibly be that her current movie obsession is “Up” and that the older gentleman, Mr. Fredrickson, most definitely has a cranky voice!

Either way, I love that she searched for the word she was looking for and she found it!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

JuJu

*I was nominated for one of Babble’s Top Autism Spectrum Blogs.  I’m totally honored by this.  If you read my blog and you have found it helpful I would appreciate your vote.  I am currently in the 20′s.  You can click here and search for I Am JuJu, then click on the “I Like This” icon.  I believe you can only vote for one blog per computer/device. Thank you so much for your support!  I love sharing our journey with others and I truly hope that it brings hope and understanding regarding Autism.*

Hello? I Need a Band-aid!

Posted on by under No Filter Fridays

It’s time for another installment of No Filter Friday.  This is the time that I love to share things that Skylar has said or done that have left us red-faced, laughing, and sometimes speechless.  If you are new to my blog or missed previous posts, you can click here for a complete list of No Filter Friday stories.

Our story for this Friday happened in 2006.  For those of you who don’t know, Skylar not only has Autism, she also has Epilepsy.  In January of 2006 Skylar had not had a grand-mal seizure in almost 4 years and her neurologist suggested that we try to decrease her seizure meds.  We did not give her the mid-day dose of Depakote that day (a Thursday) and on Saturday morning I awoke to find Skylar seizing.  I immediately called 911 and they had to give her a LOT of medicine to stop the seizure.  In fact, the ER doc noted that she had been given enough medicine to “sedate a horse”.  When Skylar seizes, she does so with gusto!

Skylar did not wake up until later that evening.  When she did start to come out of the sedation the first thing she said was “I have a BAD headache”.  The doc said “I bet she does.  She had a LOT of medicine.”  She had been given benzodiazepines, which are not usually recommended for individuals on the autism spectrum as they can cause severe hallucinations.  Skylar had been given them before and we knew this, however we knew she wouldn’t stop seizing on her own.  Due to the severity of the seizure and some breathing issues they decided to admit her for observation.  Once she was settled in her room, her nurse came in and asked Skylar if she could get anything for her.  Skylar’s response:  “I still have my headache so I could really use a band-aid!”  The nurse giggled, said “Okay” and walked out of the room.  Skylar has always been a huge believer that band-aids help everything!  If she had a tummy-ache she would put a band-aid on her stomach.  We went through a box of band-aids at least every week.  I would rather just give her a band-aid than give her medicine.  If band-aids gave her comfort that was totally fine with us.

More than a half hour passed when the nurse came back into the room and asked how everything was going.  Skylar looked at her like she had 2 heads.  She tapped on her forehead and said to the nurse:

“Hellooooooo?  I NEED a band-aid!!”

The nurse was stunned.  She looked at me and said “Oh my!  She was serious about the band-aid?”

I said “She sure was!  I can assure you that if you just bring her the band-aid, she will not ask you for another thing during our stay.”

The nurse said “I am so sorry!  I totally thought she was kidding.”  She ran and got the band-aid and gave it to Skylar who happily put it on her forehead.

The next morning, the neurologist who was on-call came in to see her.  He saw the band-aid and said:

“Skylar, why do you have the band-aid?  Did you hit your head?”

Skylar said “Why do you think I have a band-aid on my forehead?  I already told the nurse….I HAVE A HEADACHE!!!”

The doctor immediately started laughing and said “Wow!  I wish that band-aids could fix everything like that!”  He flipped open her chart and turned to me and said “That’s right.  She has autism!  I should have known by her matter of fact response.”

I quickly apologized and he said “Are you kidding me?  I wish that I could be that brutally honest with people.  It is really refreshing!  She totally made my day!  I LOVE HER!”

We were so thankful for the comedic relief that Skylar gave us during a time that was extremely scary and emotionally draining.  We were also thankful for a doctor that had a wonderful sense of humor and was completely understanding and accepting of who Skylar was.

I hope that you all have a great weekend!

JuJu

*I was nominated for one of Babble’s Top Autism Spectrum Blogs.  I’m totally honored by this.  If you read my blog and you have found it helpful I would appreciate your vote.  I am currently in the 50’s.  You can click here and search for I Am JuJu, then click on the “I Like This” icon.  I believe you can only vote for one blog per computer/device. Thank you so much for your support!  I love sharing our journey with others and I truly hope that it brings hope and understanding regarding Autism.*

She’s Not That Bad!

Posted on by under No Filter Fridays

I can’t believe it is already that time again!  That’s right folks, it is time for another installment of No Filter Friday.  Fridays are the days I share our stories where Skylar has left us red-faced and laughing due to her lack of filter.  If you are new to the blog or just missed an installment click here to read them all.

Today’s story actually happened on Wednesday of this week.  The girls are taking a pom/jazz class each Tuesday at our local YMCA.  The lovely gal, Heather, who is teaching the class had hoped to put together a class for kids with varying degrees of special needs, but unfortunately there was not enough interest.  I had REALLY wanted Skylar in a special needs class.  She has hypotonia (low muscle tone) and it affects her left foot pretty severely.  She is also pretty clumsy and has difficulty controlling her body at times.  I decided to let Hailey do dance and hold Skylar out for awhile.   Hailey started her dance class and after a few weeks Skylar wanted to join in.  Heather was happy to have her  and I felt comfortable with Skylar being in a class with younger students.

Each week there seems to be at least one new student and each time I wonder how they will react to Skylar.  A couple of weeks ago we had a new girl join the class and I noticed that she stared at Skylar a lot and whenever she said or did anything this girl would lean over to her friend and laugh.  That probably doesn’t even bother Skylar, but as a mom that hurts me to the core.  On Tuesday before Skylar’s class started I leaned over and whispered in her ear “Skylar, I want you to not dance right next to that little girl because she isn’t very nice.”  Skylar said “fine” and ran off.  As they were warming up I looked over and noticed that Skylar had moved directly beside that very girl.  I held my breath as I watched Skylar talk to her and hoped that she would be kind.  I couldn’t hear what they were saying to each other as the music is usually up pretty loud.  As I started to chat with another mom, Skylar yelled very loudly as she pointed at the little girl  “HEY MOM!  SHE’S NOT THAT BAD!”

I was horrified!  I was pretty sure only one other mom realized what she said and it wasn’t the girl’s mom so I was super thankful.  I quickly said “That’s great buddy!  Pay attention to Ms. Heather & keep on dancing!”  The class actually went really well after that.  I would pay money to know what Skylar said to her.  Maybe she told her that she needed to be nice to her.  Knowing Skylar she probably told the girl she liked her shirt and the girl appreciated the compliment.  Either way, I’m glad that all is well in dance class now!

Hope all of you have a great weekend!

JuJu