What do you all think??

The Ice Rink

The ice skating rink is perhaps one of the last places you would expect to see a disabled child. But if you look closely, you will see him. He is the little boy standing just outside the rink with his two parents. You might notice that one of the parents always has a hold of this little boy, never letting him go. You notice he does not talk much, and does some strange things with his hands. They have been coming here for a couple of months now. Their oldest son is learning to play ice hockey, and coming to the rink has become a family affair for them. They all show their support; even the little guy. The little one has been watching all the kids skating at the rink-joyfully jumping up and down each time one of the figure skaters would spin in front of him. He loves watching them. His two parents smile at each other and then at him-for them, this is enough for now. You find yourself staring at this family, not out of happiness, but rather out of dismay. I have noticed your stares. That little boy you are staring at is mine.

On this day however, I am not going to let that bother me. We have decided to put ice skates on that little disabled boy. We have decided to let him be a part of the action. We get to the rink and get skates on. Although my little man seems to want to skate, this mom admits to being just slightly nervous about how it could all go down. We head out to the ice and carefully step on. I grab on to my sons’ hand and begin to lead him around the rink. We are met with his figure skater friends who have been twirling in front of him for weeks now. They both tell him how good he is doing, and even though he does not look at them, I can tell he is beyond happy. Nobody knows it, but this mom has a tear in her eye at this moment. You see, this is nothing short of a miracle. That little boy who is now ice skating with his mom is autistic.

This is the article I am thinking of submitting to Autism Today. I would like to hear your thoughts!

Last weekend of summer....

So, yesterday I had the day off from work and I thought I would run a few errands to prepare for school. The day was going just peachy until our 16yr old dog decided to leave a puddle as big as the Mississippi River in our hallway. I do believe some (ok, A LOT) of expletetives were used in the clean up process. Naturally these happened to be used in front of my now highly echolalic 6yr old...in which he promptly repeated to himself in his room. Shit! Now I have to deal with that too. Anyway, I get the boys dressed and ready to go. Mike is staying home to do the yard...as it resembles a jungle by now. I give Nick a brief run down of the day's events. First we will go to Michael's school, then we go to Nick's school, then we go to the store. Nick is fine with this, and things are going beautifully. Until...

We get to Michael's school. It is crowded with parents doing last minute things (like us) in a rush before the year starts. At his Open House last week we were told that he needed a Tdap shot before he could start school. No problem. I made the appointment, we went, and it turns out he didn't need it at all-so we got the paperwork from the nurse and I thought I would bring it to his school for his records. I am standing at the counter, restraining Nick with both hands to keep him from running away, and listening to the secretary tell me that Michael needed the Varicella vax and NOT the Tdap! WHAT??!! This would have been good to know like LAST WEEK! I mention something about good luck trying to get an appt. before school starts..and held my tongue. In my mind I am cursing up a storm, but outwardly I manage to be civil and even smile. Walk the boys back to the car, and head to Nick's school to get the list of school supplies. In the parking lot of the elementary school I call the appointment line on my cell phone and manage to get Michael one for the 13th of Sept. Oh well. That is the best I can do. Mike also calls me. He calls to tell me the weed eater blew up and that he would not be able to finish the yard. Ummm, I could care less about the yard right now sweety-my day has been de-railed, but I am guessing you are okay since you are calling me? By the way, Nick had decided to poop once we got in the car...so the backseat area was rather smelly, and I had to take smelly boy to the schools like that. I am pretty sure that by this point, I had that "Don't Fuck with Me" look on my face.

We get home to change smelly boy, eat a bit of lunch, and prepare for the major outing of our day. SCHOOL SHOPPING. I can honestly say that it was at risk for spiraling out of control. Michael did not like Nick even touching anything of his-so it was becoming quite the scream fest. I had enough. It is no use scolding Nick for screaming, so I grabbed a couple of notebooks with the 3D pictures on the front, and a happy child we had. We also had to buy new winter jackets, some more long sleeved shirts, and new shoes for both. During this time Nick managed to escape and was all the way at the front of the store before I could catch him. I noticed the stares as I was escorting him back to the family. I could care less. Let them fucking stare. My kid is smarter than yours...school supplies be damned!

Got home and divided up the supplies. They are all set, and we were worn out. Today was much better! We had our YMCA playgroup this afternoon, and got to talk with other special needs parents. What a joy! They held it in the gymnastics room and all the kids had a blast! Got some cool motion pictures of Nick and Michael. Enjoy!