Thankful Thursday - Dr. Bradshaw, Possibly the World's Finest Pediatrician

Dr. Bradshaw is the kind of pediatrician that every parent hopes that they will find...
She is outstanding!!! Dr. Bradshaw is truly a gift to the medical community and to all parents who have her as their child's pediatrician. 

Nearly seven years ago, we had heard about Dr. Bradshaw while I was pregnant with Big Bro. Dear Hubby and I went to two classes aimed at new parents, one was about breast feeding and one was about preparing for and taking care of your newborn.
While we were at the classes, we decided to ask people who were there if they had heard about any pediatricians in the area, as we had just moved to the area and were unfamiliar with the doctors near where we lived in Virginia.
Well, in both classes, people began to share all of the good things that they had heard about Dr. Bradshaw, especially how she is so professional and kind.

Well, Dear Hubby and I made plans to go to meet her and we were both so impressed. She just had such a nice manner about her, was so thorough and helpful, and so was her entire staff.
We signed up to have soon-to-be-born Big Bro as one of her new patients.
Well, Dr. Bradshaw was one of the very first people to meet Big Bro!
She came to the hospital and checked him over from head to toe...

We felt so happy that she was the one to provide medical care first to Big Bro and then, to Little Bro when he was born...
Once again, Dr. Bradshaw was one of the very first people to meet Little Bro.

Dr. Bradshaw is so on top of her game! The medical profession should hold her up as the best example of the gold star standard for pediatricians, as she is truly exemplary. 

We really miss having her as our family's pediatrician...
If we did not live about 17 hours away from where her office is located, I would still want to have her as our doctor for Big Bro and Little Bro.

We always tried to let Dr. Bradshaw know how much we appreciated her, but now that we have lived in Florida for a while, we miss her even more.

We have managed to find a nice physician at an urgent care facility but as far as a pediatrician, we have yet to find one that even comes anywhere close to Dr. Bradshaw.

Well, the time is quickly approaching for Little Bro to have his four year old physical and immunization updates.
This really worries me, as we have not met anyone like Dr. Bradshaw.

Dr. Bradshaw has a soft, gentle demeanor around children that makes them feel relaxed.
But then, underneath her soft demeanor is a woman who totally knows her stuff...she is so well read and well versed in dealing with every kind of childhood ailment / condition / disease / issue...you name it and she is in the know.

Dr. Bradshaw always made us feel at ease, that we were part of the decision making process, that she respected us as parents, and that she really cared about our family and the boys' health and well being.

Both Big Bro and Little Bro have some health issues that she had to address shortly after they were born...she was so on top of everything related to their care.

Dr. Bradshaw even took it a step further and helped us to find an outstanding specialist in Florida. If only she knew of a pediatrician down here...we would just love an identical twin of Dr. Bradshaw!

We always knew that our sons were in excellent hands with Dr. Bradshaw.
We always tried to let her know how thankful we were of her, but now that we live so far away, we really miss her...
We will soon be faced with the dilemma of having to take Little Bro in for his four year old work up that they do here in Florida, we gotta get going with trying to find someone whom we feel we can trust as implicitly as Dr. Bradshaw...

We do not have that same sort of confidence with the practice we currently have listed as the pediatrician for our boys...the practice that is listed on our insurance forms for the boys is a very reputable one, but there is not the same sort of feeling that they really care about the boys or our concerns like Dr. Bradshaw did for our children.
Whenever they have been sick, instead of taking them to the practice that is supposed to be their pediatric provider, we instead take them to the urgent care facility that is close to our home.
The urgent care facility is very nice and the doctor there is great, but he cannot do all that needs to be done for the boys and their care...can't give them their immunizations or do special testing, etc.

So we need to get out there and do our best to find a Sunshine State version of our beloved Dr. Bradshaw.

Do any of you have a pediatrician who is just outstanding?
How did you go about finding them?
What sorts of questions did you ask when you met them for the first time?
Would love your thoughts, comments, or suggestions...

Thankful Thursday - Inspirations and Different Perspectives

Karen Tyler is a wonderful Montessorian and has been a real inspiration to many of us,  largely   homeschooling moms...

Karen gets it...
She gets that there may very well be great reasons (ranging from spiritual to physical, from financial to philosophical) WHY we homeschool and why we choose to utilize Montessori materials and the Montessori philosophy in our homes.
She gets the notion of a Montessori inspired home and also gets the idea that some of us choose to not only use Montessori but also to incorporate some other materials and philosophies into something that works for our children.
She gets that we are all on our own life journey and that one size does not fit all with respect to educational settings, for some children have very specific environmental or learning needs, so Karen has been willing to share her expertise in helping us to navigate how to try to "do Montessori" in the home. 

Karen gives it...
She gives freely of herself, her experiences, her materials, her insights...
She has made her online training, her excellent albums, and her lectures, essays, helpful hints very accessible.
She is incredibly generous. She does not charge nearly what her training is worth...she wants to share her wealth of knowledge and does so out of the goodness of her heart.

Although I have additional degrees in education and have classroom teaching experience, going through Karen's program really helped me to chart a course for homeschooling my sons. Homeschooling is a whole other "ballgame" than being in the classroom in a school setting, regardless of whether it is public or private, traditional or progressive, etc.

So, from the bottom of my heart, Karen, thank you!
Karen is the founder and instructor for Montessori Worldwide Album Class and runs A Montessori Marketplace.


Now, for some inspiration and a very different perspective...

Jenny is a Reggio Emilia inspired, progressive education preschool teacher and blogger and new one to me...

Her blog, called let the children play, is something to behold, as it challenges my comfort zone with what I would consider safe for my sons to do...but to grow, we need to be challenged...we need to re-evaluate from time to time and think about the authentic learning process, and that includes letting children get messy and taking risks...

Here are two of her thought provoking sentences:

While we don't want children to come to harm, our fears can lead us to overreact to risky play.  If we remove risk from play, we are not encouraging children to persist at challenging tasks.  If we remove the challenges we are not developing resilience in our children.

Being a bit of a chicken comes most naturally for me...
I am good (bordering on very good) at being a chicken...

When you have three very high risk pregnancies, you lose one dear one at 20 weeks, your oldest child is born with tracheomalacia, and your youngest child has Von Willebrand's, and both of your sons have asthma and allergies, it is very easy to be overly protective...keeping them in a bubble would not be wise, nor really even feasible, nor would it be good for their intellectual / physical / emotional growth...
They need to go out and explore the world, and that is what we do try to do...but in all honesty, allowing them to try things that I would normally consider dangerous makes me feel nauseous, almost like how I feel going down a big twisty water slide ride.
Absolutely do not like feeling like I am completely out of control, so just as it completely freaks me out when we go to a water park and go on water slide rides where your whole family is all thrust togther on a big inflatable donut and you spin uncontrollably round and round as you simultaneously go downhill, without being able to see where you are going...without being able to control the direction you are headed or the speed or the trajectory of your ride... 

But as I read her blog and some of the ones she has in her sidebar, feel compelled to loosen up a bit and maybe just maybe them try some more risky outdoor activities.

So, Jenny, thank you from the bottom of my heart...you have given me so much food for thought!

We were told outright that under no certain circumstances can Little Bro play contact sports. 
Not up for consideration...just out and out, No... don't do it.

So, with that being the case, that makes us question what other outdoorsy fun will he not be able to do while growing up that usually other boys love, such as rock climbing, tree climbing, or building structures that could lead to him getting injured.

It is a tricky balancing act...but I do realize that I have to be willing to loosen up at least a little. 

Then, the other question that eats at me is how do we then make it"fair" for Big Bro, if Little Bro can't do these things?

How do I make it fair for both boys?

 If you have a child or children whom you feel you very well might shelter a little too much, then please pop over to check out Jenny's interesting blog. 


Well, thank you to both of these dynamic, insightful, intelligent women. 

They have made an impact on me. Hope that they will make an impact on you, too... 

One more thing, please be sure to read my post about the upcoming scavenger hunt for this weekend...it's gonna be fun!!!

Thankful Thursday - A Ferne Like No Other...

Well, I am going to give it a go and try to do thematic Thursday posts whenever possible...am going to do Thankful Thursday, as there are so many wonderful people in my life who I am thankful for...people who are in my life day to day and folks who touched my life in the past but still have an impact on my day to day...

I was trying to decide whom I should thank first, but then, the decision was made easy...I heard back from one of my favorite people and role models, someone whom I had lost touch with but was just now reconnecting with...after twenty years!!!

Now, I want to tell you about a wonderful woman and educator named Ferne.
This is her real first name, but I am not going to publish her last name, out of respect for her privacy.
The reason why her first name comes into play is that since it is an unusual name, it actually so happened that exactly 20 years after I did my student teaching with her, I happened to mention where I had done my student teaching and the nice person whom I had met happens to be good buddies with the person who taught across the hall from Ferne.
If she would have had a name like Mary, maybe it would not have happened that we would be able to make the connection just by the name.

Let me tell you how wonderful she was and I am sure she still is, and what great advice she gave me...

First, I did my student teaching during the 89-90 school year.
It was at the height of when things were getting revved up in education and the new rage at the time was "whole language".
Ferne's advice to me was as follows:
"The pendulum in education will swing, to be certain...so don't just do phonics or just do whole language...always do a balanced program."

Ferne was so spot on with this comment!

Luckily for me, I had the buzz words of whole language on my references from various professors and from the supervisor from my University, as it really was one of the tickets to my landing a job before I had even walked in my graduation ceremony.

But the reality in education and especially, in teaching reading / language arts is that there has to be a balance. So many times in education, the trend is to totally throw out the old in favor of something that appears swanky in its packaging more so than content.

Well, Ferne had been in education long enough to know this whole song and dance...and she dealt with it in an awesome way! She was very willing to let me try new things while I was doing my practicum, along with while I was actually student teaching in her room. She trusted me as a professional, but gave me guidance whenever necessary.

She was a consummate professional, but also very personable, generous, and kind.
She was always dressed in lovely clothes that emulated how she took her job as a teaching to be a profession, a vocation...she wore very nice clothes, but did not look too formal or too stiff.
Her room was very well organized and ran like a well oiled machine.
She had respect for her students, and in turn, they respected her.
Ferne could be firm when necessary, but also had a gentle kindness about her. She knew when a child was struggling or when a child was flourishing, and she adapted things to fit their individual learning needs. She treated all children as unique and special and expected the best from them...and the children knew this about her.

Ferne never got into the whole gossip scene that you sometimes find in teaching. She stayed above it all and did not get into sessions bashing things about the school or fellow teachers or students.
Let me tell you, it does happen in other environments. I saw it happen in other school settings more than a handful of times.
I can honestly say that I never heard Ferne say anything negative in a gossipy way about anything at all...

Ferne did know what was going on though, with fellow teachers, with students, with the school system and the whole contract situation, etc. but she always kept it positive around me.

She was in the know about her students, even when they did not know how aware she was. She had one little boy who lived with his father and brothers. This boy brought a box of chocolate candies in for his lunch, as he had packed it for himself.
Ferne had me work one on one with this child. It was an eye opening experience.
So many times, you hear of children growing up without a father, but this little guy was growing up without a mother. It was a struggle for his dad to raise sons without a mom.
What was neat to see how this child grow over the school year, due largely in part to the TLC from Ferne (and hopefully, from me, too...).
Like me, he was very blessed to have ended up in Ferne's class.

The other thing that was neat was that Ferne shared some of her life outside of school with me. I knew about her husband, her children, and some of the details about their lives. She shared with me how important her family was to her.
I actually thought of Ferne's daughter, whom I never met but felt like I knew, on my own wedding day...
On Ferne's daughter's wedding day, an earthquake struck in the city that she was living in and her guests were not even able to make the wedding. The young bride and groom went ahead and got married and were still very happy to be a newlyweds. Ferne's daughter was marrying the love of her life so everything else did not matter all that much.
I thought of her over and over as we had some crazy goings on behind the scenes at our wedding...
The order for our flowers had gotten lost, so the day before the wedding, we were scrambling for flowers...
The wedding cake almost ended up not being delivered, as the person we had spoken to had said that they would collect the remaining amount due upon delivery and somehow, someone new at the bakery thought that it had to be paid in full at the bakery before delivery...
The wedding was supposed to be outside, but there was a cold snap, so the night before, the entire venue had to be changed.
The hair stylists who we had hired to do my hair and make-up, as well as the entire bridal party's hair, was strung out from partying too hard the night before, so they did not show...and we did not have so much as a curling iron, hair gel, blush, or lip stick...
All of the favors for the children in the wedding were stolen...
They had wrong sized hurricane glass globes on the tables and they were missing all of the candles.
Someone helped themselves to floral wreath centerpieces the night before the wedding, so two tables were completely barren...
My dress arrived and they had altered it to be too tight in the bust...made me almost look like Betty Boop. 
The photographer took lousy photos and made off comments the entire wedding.
Oh, and the wedding planner / organizer we had paid had quit. She was part of the package through where we got married and there wasn't a replacement.
 But it did not matter to me...not much at all...at the end of the day, the wedding turned out great! And, I was a very happy bride!
So who cares what went wrong behind the scenes...all thanks to Ferne sharing her daughter's story, it made me enjoy the day no matter how insane it was behind the scenes.

Well, flash forward 20 years and there I am at the pool with my two sons. Big Bro splashed a woman who looks to be in her 60s...I apologize and then, have Big Bro apologize, as some of the retirees at the pool do not like it when little ones splash them...
This woman mentions that it is okay, as she is a retired teacher.
Then, we begin to talk some more and lo and behold, she is good buddies with a teacher who used to teach across the hall from Ferne. I tell this person all of the things I could recall about her friend, and how professional and nice she seemed, even though I did not student teach in her room...
Then, flash forward a few days and lo and behold, the other lovely teacher who taught across from Ferne was passing through...so I first got to see her after 20 years...I quickly put a very overdue note to Ferne together, along with photos of Big Bro and Little Bro, and then, she tells me that she will pass them on to Ferne when she returns home...

Well, then flash forward today, just as I had decided that I am going to start Thankful Thursday and what do a I get in the mail but a lovely card from Ferne.

It is truly a small world after all, as they say!!!

So, a huge thanks to Ferne for being such an outstanding role model and gift to the world, especially the world of education.

If all teachers in the world were like Ferne, there would not be a need to homeschool!!!