Traffic Lights

My toddler is becoming more like a little boy with each passing day. His perception of everything and everyone changes each time he learns a little more about this big wide world we live in. Watching Leo learn and take in these same lessons that I have long since learnt and swept to the back of my mind, provides me with a new found appreciation to these simple wonders of the world.

Just last week Leo and I were out and about in my car, and as usual we ran into the typical ensue of traffic that you quite simply cannot avoid. A little voice pipes up from the back seat, my two year old who has noticed that the car is now at a stand still and wants to draw my attention to the fact that we should be 'GO GO GO'ing', you can expect nothing but wise words from my growing toddler.

With Leo's advice fresh in my mind, the traffic lights stuck on red and a toddler who needed some immediate stimulation before he screamed blue murder, I thought very quickly and decided to teach him a life lesson about traffic lights!

Little did I know that my beautiful toddler was hanging off my every word.

I told Leo that when traffic lights were on red, just like Lightning McQueen... we must stop *putting my hand up to demonstrate* and then when the lights turn green, we must Go Go Go!

Apparently this example has stuck firmly in his mind, the whole way home Leo was keeping a visual look out for up and coming traffic lights. 'Mumma! Stop' Leo squeals with delight as he throws his hand into the air from the back of the car, my 2 year old back seat driver. The red light suddenly flashes off and green replaces it promptly, just as my foot touches the accelerator, Leo is reminding me to 'Go, go, go!'.

Now our daily adventures out and about are even more exciting, with Leo thinking the rules of the road apply to us walking along on the pavement. He tells me when to stop, and he tells me exactly when to go again. We walk over the bridge and in to town and he tells me all about the 'Quacks' and then waves the cutest wave as we bid them farewell. 

I only have to walk past Subway for Leo to tell me he wants one for lunch, and then he will sit so proudly with his CapriSun and his sandwich, a real credit to me as he sits so still eating his dinner. 

He kisses and gives me the most affectionate cuddles and just makes me ever so incredibly proud. That cheeky toddler of mine is the most endearing chappy, and just spreads that smile of mine across my face with ease. 

These simple life lessons that Leo learns on a day to day basis are things I don't give a second thought about until I see him soaking in all the details like a sponge. Things that I walk past not even taking in are put in a completely different light when Leo discovers them for the first time. These lessons for Leo are mysterious and magical, and simply driving along in the car with him, or taking a walk to the park open up endless possibilities to magical new discoveries, and of course conversations with my beautiful, beautiful toddler.

A Best Friend

I can remember my school days as though they were just yesterday, a time where I had all the time in the world to make memories with friends and quite simply rejoice in the complete lack of responsibility.

In reality it is already been 8 years since I bid farewell to that time in my life. So many things have happened and changed since the school bell rang for the very last time, and responsibility has certainly caught up with me now!

My school life was fun and looking back I quite simply wouldn’t change a thing, I could often be found giggling with my oldest friend. Trouble quite simply used to follow us around, and we certainly used to act before we thought things through… I guess to some extent that is still true today.

It has been 14 whole years since I first met my mischievous best friend, and in that time frame we have certainly had our fair share of ups and downs. For every wrong we have made we always make things right, we have said things in the heat of the moment but kissed and made up regardless of any choice words we said. We have cried happy tears and shared nights where we have done nothing but laugh, and she was even the person to support me when I first found out I was pregnant.

We have been through absolutely everything together, we have grown up together and experienced many of life's lessons. But sometimes things happen in life that you don't expect. Sometimes you can be nothing more than a shoulder to rest upon.

In December 2011 Chelsea got dealt some life changing news, my best friend was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. For once even I was lost for words, and I didn't really know what she was telling me. I didn't actually really know what Multiple Sclerosis was until that day. I guess to a certain degree I still don’t understand exactly what it is, but I do know that from deep inside her MS is rivaling and making himself apparent to her in ways far less than desirable.

I have watched Chelsea fight this, and fight hard she does.

Chelsea is head strong and knows exactly what she wants, she always has done. MS certainly was not in her life plan, but as you walk through life you realise just how cruel it can actually be. You realise that even those people closest to you can get dealt a life changing set of cards and age has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Chelsea is 24 years old and dealing with this horrible disease at the same time as juggling her two beautiful children and loving husband. Multiple Sclerosis has no place or right to be taking away all of her energy and throwing multiple relapses in her path. Relapses mean being pumped to the nines on steroids, steroids that make you feel awful and then give a much needed buzz! But no amount of steroids can undo the damage that this silent disease has already done.

I wish I could wave a magic wand and take all of the pain away but I can't. Nor can I relate to how she is feeling...But I do try to comprehend what she is going through on a day to day basis. I wish I could go back in time to when she first started mentioning her eye sight problems and push her to book into the Opticians sooner...

It breaks my heart to think of everything that she is going through, sometimes I don’t know what to say because I cannot even comprehend how she is feeling. The only case of extreme tiredness I have ever experienced was in early pregnancy with Leo, and was gone within a few months. I cannot imagine my eye sight being permanently damaged and not knowing what MS will do next. But somehow she still lives her life to the full, and all the while is raising awareness of this horrible disease.

Throughout everything she is going through one thing is for sure, she is still the same girl that I met all those years ago, still as vibrant and fun loving as she always was, she really doesn't let this disease define her. She still strives to do everything she can, plays with her kids all the while creating an amazing childhood for them to reflect on when they are big and grown.

Even though Chelsea has been dealt this set of cards and her life has changed beyond recognition she is still here telling it exactly as it is. You can read her story over on her blog MS Mummy of Two, where she enlightens us into exactly what life is like, living with Multiple Sclerosis.