KATHRYN R. BIEL: AUTHOR

I've made it to the big time...I'm a guest blogger. You can find today's episode of Biel Blather here  on the blog for Starfish Therapies. Starfish Therapies  is a pediatric therapy company in California.  They provide PT, OT and Speech services for children.  The owner of Starfish Therapies is Stacy Menz, PT, DPT, PCS, who was a classmate (and friend) of mine at Boston University.  I personally often use the Starfish Therapies blog as a place to find new ideas for treatments, new information about equipment, and for family education ideas.  Stacy and Starfish Therapies have been a great resource for me (and in turn my colleagues).  If you're at all interested in pediatric development or therapy, I urge you to check it out!

It is hard to feel good these days. The end of March and into April was even more stressful than  last year.   I don't know what it is about this time of year, but I think next year, I'll just skip it.  Trying to focus on the positive, Pat was hired on as a permanent employee at GE, so we won't have the stress of a contract, year-to-year position.  While the money is good, the lack-of-peace of mind is not, and we'd rather have peace.  Jake had an unexpected, but uncomplicated appendix removal just before break.  He remained the trooper that he always has been, and came through with flying colors. School resumed after April break. Due to the early timing of Easter this year, we're looking at an eleven week span with only one day off (Memorial Day), which, at this time, seems endless for students and staff alike.  Spring seems like it will never get here, and if we get a glimpse, it does not stay for more than a day. I continue to be weighed down by ...

I had the idea for this post, and then I found out it was National Sibling Day.  Who knew such a thing existed? I have two older brothers.  In my perfectly clear recollection of childhood, I was the perfect little sister, and was needlessly and endlessly picked on by my brothers.  I was the innocent victim for years.  Of course, now that I have children, and may have a daughter who may be a little something like me, I may see that perhaps on a few occasions, I may have been the instigator.  But mostly, I was an innocent bystander. That being said, for all the sibling rivalry and competition, which I'm happy to say we've outgrown (pause for laughter), I have some pretty good memories from childhood that include my brothers.  One such thing is that my brothers were my portal into the world of music.  I have early memories dancing to "Disco, Disco Duck." We had a whole, totally awesome collection of 45's that we used to listen to in my parents' b...

I guess this proves it...I'll never be a super-cool mom. Now, I firmly believe that parents should parent, and not worry about being their kid's friends.  That being said, there is part of me that wants  my kids to think I'm super-cool.  And that it would be even more  super-cool if they thought that while I was being a kick-ass parent to-boot. Yep, not gonna work here. As you may be aware, Jurassic Park has been re-released in 3-D for the 20th anniversary.  [ Pause here to lament that I first read the book when I was 16, and wrote a term paper on it in Junior English, and that was 20 years ago! Holy cow, how did that happen?!?] Jake, being a typical nine year-old boy, told me he wanted to go see it.  He claims to have seen parts of it on tv, and that he wasn't at all scared by it.  So, me, the super-cool wannabe, plans this whole day.  I take Jake to drum lessons, and plan for the movie afterwards.  I have Pat running diversion with So...

Today is a day when all things are Irish, even those that are not. I'm proud to be of Irish descent, even though, at this point, it is only about 12.5%.  And despite the fact that I'm married to a man named Patrick, he is not one tiny drop Irish, so my poor children are only about 6% Irish.   My own Irish tale is somewhat atypical.  About 5 generations back, Patrick and Honora Ryan left Ireland to strike it rich in the Australian gold rush in 1852 or so (I'm guessing as a result of the famine).  My great-great-grandfather (my grandmother's grandfather) was actually born in Victoria, Australia.  I had always assumed that the family did not strike it rich, as they returned to Ireland.  Perusing my grandmother's writings, I found out that they did indeed strike it rich and returned to Ireland, only to be burned out.  At that point, they came to the states, and settled in the Cohoes and Latham area. I found out an interesting fact about the impact of...

I had suspicions early on that Jake's development was not normal.  Sure, he was healthy (which, working with disabled kids, I did not take for granted), but I felt from about the time he was a year old that something was amiss.  He would not perform on demand.  For example, he could wave 'bye,' but not on command.  When playing pat-a-cake, after I moved Jake's hands, he would then move mine, imitating what I had done, but not internalizing the movement to himself.  Although he could isolate a finger, he did not point at objects.  But he had a tremendous understanding of what was being said to him.  When he was about 11 months old, he was sitting and playing with his foot.  My dad said to him, from across the room, "Left foot, left foot. Right foot, right.  Feet in the day, feet in the night."  Jake took off like a shot, crawling down the hall to his room.  He returned moments later with "The Foot Book" by Dr. Seuss, which that line ...

You know the saying "It takes a village to raise a child?"  Well, I firmly believe it to be true.  But in this case, I believe it takes a village to support a parent to be the type of person who can raise a child.  I'm very lucky. Over the course of my life, I've had a changing cast and crew in my village.  A lot of people have been visitors, temporary members and even citizens of my village (which could be called "Kate-ville").  I would not be the person I am today, nor even close to the type of person I would want to be without these people in my village. My village are the people who provide shoulders for me to cry on, who provide ears to listen, brains to think and hearts to love.  They are the arms to hug and comfort, even if it is through inappropriate remarks and irreverent humor. I've often said that it is not important to have tons of friends, but simply one or two good, true friends.  I am so lucky to have had that throughout the course o...