Born to be Free
The following blog post was written by special education advocate Robin Beauchemin.
Welcome to my nine-part blog series! My name is Robin Beauchemin, and I am a mom to an amazing young man with dyslexia. In this blog, I will tell the story of our journey which started with a diagnosis of ADHD in 2nd grade and continued with a diagnosis of dyslexia in 8th grade.
This is the first blog in a nine-part series.
It was early on a Tuesday morning. Dad and I had been up all night anxiously awaiting your arrival. You were a stubborn little guy right out of the gate. Clearly you were in no hurry to come out of the cozy little home you had for the last nine months.
After a long 23 ½ hours, there you were. This perfect, adorable, precious little boy. Words cannot describe how much we loved you within seconds of meeting you for the first time. That love is what has guided us on our journey together. A journey we had no idea we were in for, and one I never imagined we’d be on.
You were four months old when I found out I was pregnant with your brother. You were such an easy, happy baby. Admittedly, I felt guilty giving you a sibling so quickly. That guilt turned into gratitude as I watched my two boys form a bond so incredibly tight. That bond was a big part of your journey.
You conveniently started walking just before your brother was born. You weren’t even 1 yet! I knew then that this would be a challenging time for us. Your dad was still traveling for work, and we did not have family close by. But somehow, we made it through, like we always did.
Your dad came home from work one day to find me sitting on the floor, and all the couches turned around facing the wall. When he asked me why I chose to rearrange the living room, I shared with him how you had spent your day diving from the couches like a WWE smackdown at the young age of 14 months. It was at that moment that the pack ‘n play jail was created, solely so I could nurse your brother.
I was 7 months pregnant with your sister. We had just returned from a trip to the grocery store. I put you and your brother in the living room that had no sharp edges, the heating vents had been securely screwed to the subfloor below, and all shelves were anchored to the walls. I continued to unpack the groceries, and it hit me: “Oh dear, THEY’RE AWFULLY QUIET.” I peeked around the corner into the living room and there you were… You somehow managed to climb onto the sill, unlock and open the window, and empty every basket of toys you had onto the front lawn. YOU WERE 3! And I was the crazy pregnant woman throwing toys from my lawn, in the rain, into a big black garbage bag that I swore you would never see again.
Dad and I went on a trip to Home Depot to secure every window in this house after that. Lots of wooden dowels entered our lives at that time and quite a few chuckles from the guys at Home Depot as we all brainstormed together.
This is when our creative parenting journey began……
Robin Beauchemin is a non-attorney special education advocate serving clients throughout the state of Connecticut.