Learning Process

In the beginning of finding out Gatlyn's diagnoses I was really confused. I felt as though I should be upset, and I was. But every time I got sad about it I realized it was going to be okay. Gat will thrive, he is thriving. He defeats every obstacle that comes his way. I am seriously amazed at the little guy's strength.

There are some things I struggle with raising a son with special needs.

1. Discipline: Sometimes his size gets to me, the kid is tiny and he crawls most places at home. I am a fan of time out and stuff as I have said in many post before this one. But, it seems weird when you can't just say you need to go sit in time out. I have to physically pick him up and put him in there. And if I forget he is in timeout, he can't just get down like the girls used too! lol. You know you have done that too.

2. Eating: Gat gets all of his main calories through his tube (because of his short gut syndrome). This makes it tough when we sit down to eat. I am trying my best to better my kids eating habits. Top priority has been eliminating countless snacks. I have roughly 3 snack times that I like to stick too. But when Gat wants to eat by mouth I want to encourage that too. So this is definitely a battle I am going to continue to have.

3. Kids Like Him: What does that mean? Because Gat has a disability? Or he has special needs, just say "Kids with disabilities". Nobody has ever started a conversation about the girls with "Kids like them...". It something that bothers me. You can call him disabled but preferably Gat, Gatlyn or one of his many other names will do just fine;) If you want to talk about his disability, lets do it! I love to talk about it. Cerebral Palsy is not a swear word so don't be afraid of it. I am so happy I am not anymore. I talk about it casually and would love to inform (not that I am an expert) you. Side note: maybe other parents don't want to talk about it. . . I am not one of those!

3. Clean up: Once again because of Gat's size and physical capabilities I never even thought to have him clean up. So this has recently been a huge undertaking for us. We have made a lot of head way and he is getting a lot better about cleaning up willingly. Although I did have a half hour standoff over the soggy cheerios he threw all over the floor Monday. It consisted of a lot of crying, 3 timeout bouts and 1 spanking (yes I spank in some situations). BUT we got it done! He cleaned it all up. . . the last 2 pieces were the toughest;)

I really don't think Jess and I intentionally don't make Gat do things. We mostly do it because we know it will be easier. Because crawling with a handful of crayons is a tricky thing. But I get sneaky and scoot them a little closer to wherever the crayon bucket is. SHH...don't tell Gat;) There is nothing cuter than him so proud he did it on his own. He basically is his biggest cheerleader.

All in all folks you'll be happy to know we are not just dealing with the Cerebral Palsy, we are living with it. No way the Schrock's will let that slow them down.

Remember to order your Team Gatlyn shirts!!! It's coming up quickly:) Link to our team page. Remember half the sales of our shirts go toward our fundraising goal. So help us out!!

This is a picture of them with their cousin before we left for Chicago!

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.
Romans 5:3-4 (NLT)