Leo Clement

It's that time again. That almost last week in August in which momentous things happen to our little family.  Justin and I got married. (8/22/04) Nika was born. (8/26/06) Major relocation and life change (8/25/07) And then suqential move back to VT (summer '10) The Day of Diagnosis of "something very very wrong with baby." (8/17/10 Please do try to ignore the icky preggie jammies, I had other things on my mind...(like talking on the phone with THE DOCS while mechanicly plucking all the parsley out) Leo was born. (8/23/10) I shudder to think what else will happen to us during this week in the future: apocalypse, local volcanic eruption (a real childhood fear of mine, I think I read too many books and was homeschooled..remember that book on Pompeii? The illustrations gave me nightmares for years...) and/or insert some other surprise of cataclysmic proportions of your choice here.   So far, it's Monday and th...

When the going gets tough, the smart go to camp. So when the cares and stresses of the past summer months hit into the burnout level, Justin and I packed up girl, lion and dog, and headed off to the family camp in the Adirondack Park. A photographer nightmare, this family...at least two out of five were kinda paying attention... Like tired and battered butterflies we soaked up the sweet nectar of the sunny wilderness. Who knew butterflies could look like Lion boys? Leo did some literal soaking, both of the sun, and the water.  It is the family tradition after all, that life at camp takes place either in the water, or on the dock. Only sleeping and hiking are the sanctioned exceptions. And maybe rock and tree climbing. But our trip was more then that, this time. Did you know that Monarch butterflies, fragile creatures they are, can fly almost a mile high, and cover more ground then most migrating birds? We didn't k...

We are one pill popping happy culture. There is a pill for this, and a pill for that. Swallow something down and sit back and wait for all your ills to go away. The search for the utopian answer is never ending. As an active participant in the pill popping mania, I can attest to the helpless feeling of dependency on something outside yourself for health and wellness. I'm fairly healthy, no big things yet, but I suffer and experience all the mind games as surrogate for my little lion. He is the innocent and unwitting party who has no say, but to who it all happens too. We make the decisions but he is the one who has to suffer the pills, liquids, sprinkles, shots, nose vaporizers and all the side-effects that go with them, and he is the one who has to teeter on that illusive balance beam which at any moments can pitch him over the line from healthiness into the dark land of seizures, hospitalization, and brain damag...

Leo sometimes, is beyond description. I often flounder, unsure of where to start, in those chance meetings at playgrounds or stores. How to explain him? What do people see when they look at him? A kid who just isn't quite right? How to put his remarkable life in a couple sentences? Impossible. One time at the grocery store, the checkout clerk gently touched his cheek and said, "this little one's been through a lot hasn't he?" I was struck dumb, staring at her. What a lovely and perceptive thing to say. She went on to explain that she worked at one point at our hospital in the cranio clinic. She recognized Leo as such a warrior because of his scars and head shape. I felt amazed by the depth of her understanding and her open manner. After those first couple years of Leo's deformity, and my resulting heightened sensitivity to strangers around him, I was blown away by her spontaneous kindness.  In this fast world of hardness and unemotional screens, a...

1. The difference between a tired Momster and a scary-under-your-bed-real live monster is only by one letter you know. 2. There are moments when Momsters literally hit the wall. And it's on purpose. No worries about the bruise on your forehead, thats what cover up is for... 3. Husbands are often foraging the kitchen landscape for dinner and finding similarities to bushmen in the Kalahari, just minus the coconuts. 4. Sometimes, either pancakes or mac&cheese are made three times a day in the before mentioned kitchen. 5. Momsters know at least three, semi-fashionable hairdos, for disguising the fact that her hair hadn't seen shampoo in three days. What the hell, as long as we are being honest, make it four. 6. A true Momster can rattle off several reasons why the tooth fairy missed her date with her kid's tooth, even when rudely awoken in the wee hours of the morning. 7. A Momster sees the visit of a therapist for her kid as a chance to put her feet up and fi...

Justin and some of the other band members Many of you know, and the rest are about to find out, that Justin is a pretty dang talented musician. He is not just talented, but he is dedicated to perfection in sound, and I admire his drive and love for musical expression. Even though there were times when I would rather he come up from the studio and help wash dishes then create musical masterpieces, I am probably his biggest fan. He, and a couple of other musical friends, have been working on a special song for a long time now, one that I asked him to make on a whim, but he took me seriously and golly, I never dreamed it would sound like this! (I mean that in a good way, of course...) It's so fitting that there is a soundtrack now to Leo's story. A song that pretty much sums it all up- goofy, uncertain, but strong and fierce at the same time. Have I told you how much Leo himself loves music? He can boogie with the best of them when a favo...

"Hi Mama!" Even all groggy, at five in the morning, the sound of these two words never cease to tickle my heart strings.  "Hi Papa! HeeHaw?" (His name for big sis.) "Hi! Moon? Sno?"  (Pointing to the darkened window. Boy still isn't trusting this warm weather thing.) "Up, UP!" (Jumping up and down in his crib.) Then vigorously signing "dog" and woofing. Next, he is signing "shoes", and chucking his seahorse lovie overboard, barely missing the cat's unsuspecting head.  Crawling out of bed like a grub from under a log, I head over to pick him up. It's the beginning of another day with Leo man.  Days with Leo man are something- something tasty, indescribable, and yet essential like cheesy toast and fresh orange juice dripping off the chin. He's fun, demanding, terrifying, and the number one cause of tear-flow around here.  This past weekend was, for us nutty Orthodox Christians, Easter (know...