Welcome to Unlimited Parenting, where we discuss parenting children with disabilities or special
health care needs. My name is Allison, and today I am joined by my fellow partners in
crime, Melissa and Sarah. And today we are here for another installment of Bring Your
Own topic. Brought it. Brought it. It's been brought. You make me wonder why I even bring
the thunder. That's a Hamilton reference. Have you ever seen Hamilton? What? They just
shot me to look. I attempted to watch it and it was too much. I know it's a musical. Don't.
That was Lin-Manuel Miranda. That was David Diggs. I know. That was amazing. I know what
we're doing later. What? It's on Disney Plus. I know. That's when I tried to watch it. But
so is the Ares tour, you guys. I guess everyone has their priorities. You're going to edit
all of this out? No, I'm not. This is a real podcast. This is the edit list. Okay, well
maybe this can be part one of my topic. Okay. I-Pole has purchased a, what am I trying to
say here? An advanced version of editing software. Oh. Right? And I love it. It makes everyone
sound so fantastic. It's dimming the ambient noise while raising our voices. And it's so
beautiful except for me. This makes her so mad. And I am the primary talker. And it doesn't
do, it's the pops and the peaks from my lisp. And it makes it sound so terrible. So if you
have been listening and you have been hearing that, I am trying to do a workaround. But
the magic AI dust, the option that I use, it really makes, you could hear it right there
where I said dust. Like when we edit this, I bet you anything that will pop or peak or
and it'll be awful, but it never does it for you. And it never does it for you. That's
because your voice and you are unchangeable. You're unique. I'm what? Unique. One more
time. Why? Is this going to AI it out? No. I'm curious. Do we need to call an ambulance?
Okay, this is a podcast and she's making fun of my speech. We'll call an emergency vehicle.
We should not need it. AI does not want to mess with something that is so fantastic.
Like an AI can't touch this. Can't touch this. And okay, let's say you want to go first.
So we can. That wasn't your topic? No. Oh, I said that could be part one of my topic.
It was more like a gripe that came out right when we. Now I wonder though. Now I wonder
if it was because that mic was going out. Oh, and I'm the only one who uses that mic.
So now when I go back and I do the AI dust, baby. So what's your topic? So well, my topic
was adaptive clothes. Not, well, not really adaptive clothing, but the reason that I,
it was a tip that I wanted to share because I was recently reminded of it. And I thought,
oh my gosh, this would be great for the podcast. So I wrote it down. I'm going to bring it
to the podcast. So a friend of mine was looking for bibs for you have other friends. Oh yeah.
Well it was another Angelman parent. Let's just say that. So it was in one of our Angelman
syndrome groups. It was a crisis averted. It's an acquaintance. How about that?
So in an Angelman group, someone was looking for bibs that don't look like bibs for our
kids when we're out and about. Right. And so this is a topic that my husband and I had
been talking about a couple of years ago and someone, it was actually a second cousin of
mine said, don't you use press and seal? And I went, what are you talking about? And she
goes, well, you just use press and seal. We take a roll of that everywhere. And so when
Reese broke his arm, they told us to put press and seal on the cast to keep it from being
grimy and getting food on it and getting dirty. Cause you just put it like glad press and
seal and you put it over the, and then you press it down and it's good. And so this friend
of mine said, we use press and seal for bibs. We just get a big roll. You press it on their
shirt. It doesn't even look like you're wearing a bib and then you throw it away. And I love
it. And so we do that for Reese. We have a roll of press and seal in our car at all times.
I don't know if anyone's ever seen that, but we keep it in that way. He keeps his shirt
dirty or he keeps his shirt clean. We keep some from getting dirty. I send it every year
to school. So school uses it and he comes home from school clean. He doesn't. So press
and seal is my topic. And it is, if glad ever discontinues press and seal, I won't, you're
going to riot. I'm going to riot cause it keeps our clothes clean. It, it does a lot
for me. So anyways, press and seal is an adaptive, adaptive clothing was going to be my topic,
but I took it down this other route that I wanted because I really struggle with clothing
that looks age appropriate. And you know, he's 15, but he does drool and he does get
food on his clothes. And so we struggle with, with the two. So that's my topic. And that's
what, yeah.
Do you get it at the restaurant supply store? Yeah, we have or Costco in bulk. Yeah, that's
fabulous. Yes. Also we would be going through clothing at a faster rate. We would. So I
think that there are some, I know it's not the best thing for an environment. I reuse
it sometimes at home. I will say that I try. I try to be very aware of my impact on the
environment. And so we try to do other things that would maybe lessen that. But yeah, I
realize that this is not environmentally friendly, but, but it's less clothes. Like it works
said, less clothes to buy. It's less laundry. It's less water that I'm using. How maybe
there's a, maybe there's a tough, I don't know. Absolutely. So that's what I would say
that this works for our family. It might not work for everyone, but when you're talking
about adaptive clothing, it reminds me of how I started my oldest son choose on everything.
And I started buying him those swim shirts. Yeah. And now that's all he wears all of the
time are swim shirts. But does he chew on those? Yes, but it's less noticeable and it
takes so much longer for those to degrade because of the type of fabric that they are.
So instead of falling apart and getting all stringy and getting the holes in them. Yeah.
After a while they start to look chewed, but they don't, they're not like disintegrating.
And that is another, any other adaptive clothing? Not anything that I've been resourceful other
than, you know, just we have Truman has a feeding tube and we use cloth man to be, she
saved my life a couple of weeks ago or not my increases. Yeah. But I mean, we, I sometimes
feel bad because you know, you talk about clothing and being age appropriate and Truman
is uses a wheelchair and he doesn't use his feet. And so we can keep shoes and he, they
don't grow. His feet don't grow very well and he's flat feet. And when you walk on your
feet, your body, like your feet form, his are different. They are completely flat on
the bottom. And so we, we don't put shoes on him all the time, like at the grocery store,
things like that. And I always wonder if, cause I see people looking at his feet and
I, I just wonder if I should put shoes on him more often. It is about 700 degrees out
of. Yeah, I know right now. Right now it is. But, and, and he's got these cute little Birkenstocks
with the strap on the back that keep him on his feet. And so he's, he's still pretty trendy.
Yeah. But there are times when he, we've gone to school even without the shoes. Well, and
I think it's, what is his comfort level too? Yeah. You know, is it, cause when it's 195
degrees outside, of course you don't want high tops and socks. So. Right. Yeah. Right.
What's that? So. Yeah, I know. We struggle too with that age appropriateness and still
functional. You know what I wish, speaking of clothing, you know, however, all the cool
kids shirts have like the little tiny logo on the, on the, among the heart and then the
big cool one on the back. I know. Kids in wheelchairs. Right. They don't get cool stuff
on their back. You can't see the cool stuff on the back. You just have to see the tiny
little piece. So some, I, I struggle finding shirts. Finding shirts that actually look
cool on the front that aren't just plain cause all the cool stuff's on the back. Yeah. Yeah.
Way to check my privilege. Cause I never would have thought, no, I never would have thought
about that. Not once have I ever thought that all of the really cool stuff on shirts is
on the back. It's not on the front. Yeah. Right. Unless you put cool graphics on the
back. I never. Yeah. To maintain age appropriateness, unless you buy a graphic for a 19 year old
boy with a bunch of cartoons on the front. And that's, but yeah. That is a really good
point. How come when you walk into Target or old Navy or wherever you shop, the kids
section, all of the shirts, all the graphics are on the front, but I never, never have
I thought about that. Yeah. Weird. I don't know how to segue from that. Cause my mind
is just blown. I've never. Billy shoes? No, I've never. Oh, there's a post. There's a
post on Facebook. I saw that. There's all these Billy shoes. Yeah. Where, where were
they? It was at the 208. Oh gosh. 208 outlet or something like that. A bunch of pink. A
pink certain size Billy shoes. So this, these big box stores, people are like buying up
a leavened over product. Gotcha. And I'm sure they're brokers. I don't know. I'm not a,
I don't, I'm not a retail expert, but yeah, I just sometimes it's like the Amazon return.
These big warehouses are popping up and like, there's like 10 or 12 pairs of one size.
Yeah. Just saw that on Facebook. Pink Billy shoes for five bucks. Yeah. And those things
are expensive. Yeah. They're worth it. I will say that. Truman's, one of Truman's helpers
at school went to the one in Nampa and picked up some shoes for him. That's the great ones.
Cool. Same thing. Like that's so nice. I know people out there. That's what I was just about
to say. Like, look at the staff who are just like thinking of our kids when they're not
even the staff that are coming on their days off to help support. I can't. They're right.
I know it's thank you. There's good people out there. There really are in our kids lives.
I know it's a good takeaway. That's a good topic for today. The good people on our kids
life. Yeah. Yeah. Tell about a good person in your kid's life, Sarah. You go first. Melissa,
you go first. No, I think he has such great people that work with him that, you know,
we were able to hire one for the summer. And just what I just said about his other helper
at school, like these kids make an impact on the people that they work with. Absolutely.
And they become your friends and they care about our families. And they don't get enough
credit. Right. I don't think they get enough credit. And it's hard work. And it's really
the ones who are boots on the ground, really working with our kids day in and day out,
not the ones doing the paperwork or monitoring the plans. Because please don't get me wrong.
That's important too. So important. But these guys are making impacts on our lives and families
so we can go to work or send our kids off to school and not be so stressed. I mean,
they're people who care. I recently, and I told these guys about it, I had a really cool
experience where my oldest son plays football. We brought a group of a whole bunch of the
O-linemen together. And one of those individuals happened to be an individual that had worked
with Reese in his special education classroom and didn't know that his brother was who his
brother was. And he saw Reese at this event and he was so excited to see Reese, not his
big brother, the football player. He was excited to be connected with Reese again, because
he remembered working in his classroom. And so if your kid's working in a special ed classroom
because they want to, I don't know, there's just good kids out there too. That's the good,
that's the thing. There's good kids out there. There's good people out there that are in
our kids' lives and for the right reasons. And I appreciate every single one of them.
So that's my person. Thank you to my kids and my daughter too.
Well, of course. If you're listening, you know who you are. I would like to share a
story about a man who we'll just call Shmenes Kim at the camp where my middle child is at.
And this man is just going above and beyond for my child every day. He was recently sick
and he had to step away for a couple of days and there was an incident and Shmenes is very
focused on making sure that my son is very included and that he has a special space where
he can go when he needs to come down. But it's actively trying to pull him in and have
him be with his typical peers again. But my son had barricaded himself in a room and they
couldn't get him out and Shmenes had to come in on his day off. And he came in to still
try and help Jack, which is so sweet. Shmenes. No, they don't. They literally don't have
to do it and they do it because there are good people who truly are in it for the right
reasons. Yeah. Because maybe Shmenes saw a little bit of himself in Jack. I don't know,
but there's just... Thank you. Thank you, Shmenes. Thank you, Shmenes. Was that the
end of your topic, Molly? I'm done. Sorry. I'm done. Don't act so scared. Sarah, have
you thought of a topic or would you like... I have and hopefully we don't need to spend
too much time on it. So I have a ring, camera, and I get neighborhood alerts all the time.
And then I found this other Facebook group. I was like, what's going on in my neighborhood
where I live? And I'm like, I'm in the search Facebook and see if our neighborhood has a
group. Show enough. It does. Oh, that's gotta be... And so I... Joined it? I joined it.
It's kind of one of those like train wreck things where you are so like, people actually
say this, they write these things down, a document, what comes out of their mouth on
the internet. On the internet. And then I'm like, can't unsubscribe because the train
is always crashing. You have to watch. And don't get me wrong, there's some amazing things
about it when dogs get lost or run away or turtles are found on the sidewalk. Really?
Turtles? How often are people finding turtles? These are the questions that we need answers
to. There was a turtle on 4th of July. So I mean, people find things. It's wild. And
so like last night, we've got a lot of fire smoke out here in the valley. And I went on
their Facebook to see if anyone was talking about it. And of course they are. So there
are public service announcements all over on these groups. But then some of the horrible
things that people think they can say about literally our neighbors in our neighborhood.
I'm just torn. Yeah, I'm torn about how to stay informed about what's happening in my
neighborhood. And then and you have to deal with like, I live by these people. Yeah, are
not kind. I love how you're literally describing a microcosm of our nation at large right now.
How do I stay informed and follow the news and not get completely drained and burn out?
Well, and that's what I was gonna say. Because on top of that, you had to you have to decipher
what is I mean, what's accurate information and what's not and you. Yeah, that's a little
hot. I get you. I get it. And you're right. That's exactly B. Your neighborhood is America
right now. And that's probably not just my. No. I just was ready to make another Hamilton
quote. Okay. What's the state of our nation? Are we a nation of states? What's the state
of our nation? I mean, you're gonna watch it later. We're gonna. That was pretty much
it. I'm just torn on. Yeah. I'm probably gonna stick around on the Facebook group, but I'm
just I wish people weren't so mean. Yeah, there's really something to be said about
the phenomenon. And I know I like to like, get really specific and quote random things
at people. But there's something to be said about that phenomenon of I can't look away.
Like this is so bad. I cannot look away from it. And also not to not be mean, but like
get a hobby. That is their hobby, though. For real. That's that's how they spent. That's
how they're actively choosing to spend their waking hours. And I'm not out here judging
that. But don't you want to do something slightly more fulfilling? Or potentially maybe it's
like a neighborhood watch situation. They're like, Hey, I wanted to make you aware that
this remember those signs all over my aunt's neighborhood. Okay, well, if you're done,
I will saunter over to my topic, which is I really wanted to make you guys cry and be
like a relive a memory that you wish you could do for the first time again, right? Oh, yeah.
But then I decided that's a little rough. So now I'm going to say what is some movie?
What's a movie that you wish that you could watch for the first time again, like go into
it completely blank slate movie or book? You while you guys are pondering, I'll, I'll do
mine okay. When Stephen King was writing as Richard Bachman, he wrote because it was really
like frowned upon for an author to have more than one book in like a year. I don't I don't
really understand the reasoning behind it personally, but it was frowned upon. So Stephen King would
write a Stephen King and he would simultaneously write as Richard Bachman until someone let
the cat out of the bag that they were one in the same. And then he stopped writing as
Richard Bachman, which makes you wonder like how many other Bachman books would we have
gotten if this person hadn't abouted him. But he wrote a lot of books as Richard five,
I think as Richard Bachman, you know, like out road rage desperation or no desperation
of Stephen King regulators was Richard Bachman. You got the long. What? No regulator. No,
for real. The book is called the long walk. And it's probably one of the shortest Richard
Bachman, Stephen King books in the world. It's like less than 300 pages. This book picked
me up, spun me around and then threw me back on the ground again. It was the single biggest
trip I have ever taken. And I would give anything to go into like a dissociative fugue or lose
some time and be able to read that book again for the very first time with fresh eyes. When
did you read it for the first time? Oh, that's such a good question. Obviously very late.
That book came out in what was it? Late 70s, early 80s. So I read it for the first time
in 2021. Oh, just recently. Okay. Just recently. Yeah. But I read it like four times a year.
Gosh. And I just pretend I try to even forget like the characters names so I can just I
try any tactic I can. I mean, like, I mean, it's just very obviously it's very niche.
It's very, you know, like what type of book do you like? Right. Like it's not an at guitar
book or any of those things, but it's set in a very dystopian future. It's kind of like
a Hunger Games future. Go ahead. What's your question? So every time you read it, do you
get something different from it every time? Yes and no. Okay. Yes. I'll say yes. Well,
because sometimes, you know, when you watch a movie for like the third time or something,
you're like, Oh, I didn't even notice that before. Or it's similar to that. I think that
this is just one of those books where it affected me so much. The first time that I read it
that everything like just seeped into my bones. And I can't forget things. So anyway, it's
set in a super dystopian future where these kids volunteer to make the long walk. Right.
And you know, the premise is, is that you walk until there's only one person left. Oh,
yeah, it's and it's all like very young boys. Wow. Like 15 to 20 or something like that.
And you know, people will line up and cheer for them and they get water only once a day,
but you only get the water if you can like actively advocate for it. And they're walking
through rain and what happens when they forge alliances and the alliances fall apart? What
happens when there's only a handful of people left? And at the end, you know, the character,
this is very, what makes it very unique is that the character that you hope will win,
but then at the end, when he wins, he's so mentally, oh, that it demolished that he just
keeps running. Like he can't even stop walking. He just, so it's just one of those, like I
said, it's a book that picks you up and it throws you back on the ground. And I'm like,
gosh, I just wish I could just view this with a new set of eyes. So you guys have a movie
or a book that ever did that to you? Yeah. The wizard of Oz. I'm so sorry. I don't mean
to just immediately, but it's literally about of a hurricane that picks you up and throws
you back down. So I could not just miss that opportunity to just, is there a book that's
ever picked you up and thrown you back down? Yes. The wizard of Oz. I thought you were
joking. No, it would come on every year when I was a kid. It still does. It comes on around
Halloween. Is it Halloween? Okay. That's like the kickoff to the season, which it really
should be the kick, it's spring cause that's when I really all the hurricane. Yeah. Tornado.
Tornado, not a hurricane. Yeah. Oh my God. Yeah. Hurricanes are over water. Yeah. Thank
you for correcting me. It's okay. But it has like, I fell in love with the story. The,
and maybe it was very poetic in that, but I loved it. I love it. And I watch it still.
I watched and read different renditions of the story. I don't know why. I just love,
Wizard of Oz. And how'd you feel about the one with Michael Jackson? What? There was
one? Be so for real right now. I'm being so for real. There was one with Michael Jackson.
Wizard of Oz? And there, it's like Michael Jackson. Hold on. Let me do some research.
Let me do some research. But yeah. So I know, right? There's so many people have remade
it and redone it. Oh, that is, I love Wicked. Oh, of course. Yeah. Cause I like to know,
okay, well how did she become such an evil? There's a new one. Yeah, they are. They're
remaking it. It's coming out at Christmas time. Oh, wow. It's just going to be a newer
version of the original. Okay. Just don't know why, but it made an impact on me and
I can still watch it today and find things and really pick things out. And yeah, it's
called The Wiz. The Wiz. And it's from 1978. Dorothy was played by Diana Ross. Michael
Jackson is the Scarecrow. Nipsey Russell is the Tin Man. Richard Pryor is the Wizard of
Oz. How we got Mabel King, Lena Horne, Johnny Brown. Just ugly show. Wow. Yep. Yep. So. Okay.
Well, there's something to do this weekend. I had no idea. And those aren't red shoes
either. They made it their own. Which of course, everyone who does a remake should always make
it their own, right? I just watched The Tin Man on Amazon Prime cause I'm like flipping
through it. I'm like, what is this? Definitely different. It's got an elf. Oh, Zoe. Thank
you. Yeah. Okay. Deschanel or something. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, that's mine. Ooh, Elf's a good
one too. I would say Forrest Gump. I love Forrest. I know you're going to be like, I
wish I was a bird. Dear Lord, make me a bird so I can fly far, far away from you. Pray
with me, Forrest. So I like history, but I love Forrest Gump and how it's just like,
how did Forrest just intertwine himself into all these? He's a president. Yeah. He's saved
Watergate. No, I'm just kidding. He could run. He could run, right? Forrest run, Forrest run.
For a long time. I don't know. There's just, it's a simple move. It's just, but it's, it's
not simple. It's, I'm ready to stop now. I just love everything. I love Tom Hanks. I
love Sally Field. I love just, who plays Jenny? Is that the same actress who played Princess
Bride? Oh, I don't know. I think, I think it is. Oh, let me, let me look. Do some research.
I get where you're coming from. It's simple. He's not simple. I get what she means. Yeah,
but he was so, he was just him. Is it her? It's Robin Wright. Really? From House of Cards,
Princess Bride. It is her. Jenny. Now see, I know, I know we're talking about this movie
here, but I mean, obviously Forrest Gump has a disability. Yeah. But I was just about to
say the way that Jenny treats him, any, anybody's man, right? Like he's just a human. Yeah.
Treat him with respect. And maybe, I see the, maybe that's why I love this movie. Maybe.
I don't know. Yeah. Cause I felt the same way when I watched it. I'm just like, there,
and everyone that he interacts with, people treat him like a person. A person. And I think
it's, we, in our, in our life's lives and what we deal with, our families, our kids
are not treated like humans a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Or just, we, I, yeah, make excuses or we do
things that we don't mean to, but I think that, that's what stuck out to me in that
movie too, was that he was just, he was just Forrest. He was, yep. And I just, to watch
that movie again, not knowing everything I know about that movie and how it relates to
now, maybe, yeah, like you said, how it relates to my life now, but I loved everything about
that movie. I bought, I never had a movie soundtrack. I went out and bought that movie
soundtrack. Like just everything about that movie spoke to me. It was weird. I don't know.
I'm weird. It still does. I listen to that soundtrack all the time. It's a good one.
It's a good one. I think that was the first soundtrack I ever bought. Cause it came in,
there were so many songs and it came in a two, like, had two discs. It was CDs, Allison,
back in the day. But those are the songs that I'm 35. I know what you were like. I remember
you were like, I think I was disassociated. I don't take it personally. I get that look
from you a lot. Yeah. Anyways, that's what I would pick. I would pick Forrest Gump. Do
you get something different from it every time besides a really cool quote? Like Lieutenant
Day in you ain't got no place. I guess, well, so I just recently rewashed it with our youngest
and I, I liked watching him watch it. And then he would ask about this like, well, what
is, what is that? Why is he playing ping pong? And so we would be like, well, this he's playing
ping pong with the Olympics and then there's this. And then, you know, so we were, it kind
of prompted a bunch of other conversations. So probably where we had to watch it in history
class. Yeah. Yeah. Did you watch it? Yeah, I did. I did watch it. Yeah. So I don't know.
I think I get different farther in the educational system by the time I got to government. So
we didn't watch Forrest Gump. No. 10 years later. 10 years later. Yeah. It was in American
government. Like, yeah, we had to learn about the history. But, and Forrest Gump is surprisingly
a decent history movie, right? Like it's, yeah, Vietnam War. It's okay. So I'm about
to ask a really asinine question, but when Forrest is sitting on that bench and he's,
you know, giving the platitude about the chocolate, is he getting ready to get on the bus to go
and see Jenny? Is that what it is? Yeah. And at the very like towards the very end, the
lady is like, you don't need to even get on that bus. You can, that's two blocks from
here. And so then he, so the whole time he had been sitting there telling the story,
waiting for this bus to get to where he needed to go. And then it was just a, and so he took
off at the end of the movie. He just walks over. Mm hmm. Because that movie came out
when I was six and I saw it when I was six. And I think that's the last time I've seen
it was that one time. And that's how much I know I had to have seen it once more as
an adult, but I haven't seen it in a really long time. I just remember those very few
select things. And I remember like adults around me crying, but then like not understanding
why I were crying. I only could watch, I watched it in history and then I think we watched it
one other time and like it evoked such an emotional like feeling in me that I have not
watched it since. Yeah. Like I have a hard time. It, this, maybe it's because we're coming
off the heels of the 4th of July, but it feels like in a very American movie to me. Mm hmm.
It makes me proud to be an American when I watched that movie because how other Americans
treated him when he was, you know, and all of the events that, and I know this is a made
up movie. Forest character is not a real character, but I like that. I like to think that America
maybe would be like that. Maybe one day. Maybe one day. Um, I made that look on my face because
I just realized that my movie like that, that I could only watch once and never really watch
again, but was so good, was also a Tom Hanks movie. And it wasn't cast away, which is also
really hard to like when he hands that person her pack. That movie is hard to watch. Um,
it was, um, Philadelphia. Oh, okay. Wow. Yeah. That is a hard one. I couldn't, that's a hard
one. I'm just crying and crying and then I keep crying and then Tom Hanks is in a hospital
bed and I'm crying. I just love Tom Hanks. I can't watch the notebook. I'm sorry. I watched
it one time and I've never seen it. That made, I cried so hard. It's not the love story one,
because they die in, oh, I know. And maybe it was around the time where my grandparents
were getting older and like, there was just a lot of things. And so anyway, that's one
I cannot, but I also cannot watch Holocaust movies. Yeah. Oh no. I watched Schindler's
List on our honeymoon in Mexico because it was on the TV. I watched some of all fears.
What? This is so bizarre. Why are we the same person? Cause we watched some of all fears
on our honeymoon. Jeremy's like, we have a rain shower. I'm like, so weird.
Thank you so much everyone out there for listening in and know that if you are in Idaho or planning
on moving to Idaho and have any questions on systems or services for children with disabilities,
please consider reaching out to us on our website at ipulidaho.org. That's I-P-U-L-I-D-A-H-O.org
or by calling us at 208-342-5884. Be sure to tune in next time. Until then, this has
been Unlimited Parenting. Thanks for listening.