Mush... Mush.. Muddled Mess of Mother.

Young son has a birthday this week. Saturday. Double digits. 10. Where did the time go?
Oh crap, no use waxing poetic... my "baby" is turning 10. It is what it is.

So, to start young son's birthday week... I scheduled his yearly physical at the Dr.

Now, bringing any kid to the Dr. is not a fun event. Young son has turned it into an " Olympic" event. The night before my "coaching" starts kicking in.

You will not cry when the Dr. looks in/and or at any various body part. You will not scream when the Dr. looks at your toes. He isn't going to cut your toenails. No biting when he wants to look in your throat. Repeat after me .... AHHHHHH. No yelling " I'm stuck" or "I'm all done"- when you are done ... I will let you know. We only pee in the cup at the Dr. - we DON"T at home. You may NOT put all the toilet paper in the Dr.'s toilet. You MUST leave some for the other children. The Dr. is allowed to look under your underwear... YOU MAY NOT show anyone else anything as you are prown to do.

This is only the beginning of the "Commandments for the Physical"

This time he was pretty good. Only yelled once about taking his socks off ( he dressed himself and had on 2 different ones. Mr. Indepentant. He can hear - the nurse took him for a test so now I know that he ( along with the other two) is just ignoring me. He also can see - although the "T" was and "I" the entire test. The nurse said it counts due to the fact that he was consistantly wrong the entire time.

So then we went off to camp. Young son was "gifted" by a friend of his Uncle. 3 weeks of camp. It was normally held at a convent about 25 minutes away. This year it is being housed at the local Y. 5 minutes from my house from 10:00 - 4:15.

The camp was started by a Mom and Dad whose son is autistic. It's held the last 3 weeks of August every year so the kids don't backslide. Because in August all therapies stop. Now mind you the children don't stop being autistic...they just stop the therapies.

These parent's run triathalons and raise funds all year long for this camp. It's run by a special needs teacher, music therapist, OT, PT's and adult/teen volunteers. All hand picked for our "special" kids.

After the physical.. mother and young son approached the door of the Y. With enough supplies for him to camp in the place for the next 3 weeks. We walked into the class. Greeted by a teen girl who was adorable with young son... she took him over to get his "camp" shirt. Bless her heart it even fits him. Bad part they only gave us one and young son is a slob so mother has more laundry.

Young son didn't flinch..handed me his plastic dinosaur and said "bye mom". Thus taking his first step into camp.

I walked out of the building crying my fool heart out. Sadness? nope. These were tears of how "normal" my kid acted. Just like everyone else dropping their child off at camp. He was happy... he was included...

Clay, if you ever have doubts about the good this "inclusion project" of yours is ... give me a call ...I know a child that is benefiting from inclusion. Might not be your program "yet".. but inclusion is inclusion and it's HUGE. Especially when I see my child so - so- happy.

I went to pick young son up a 4:15.... couldn't pick him out from all the happy kids running around. The director pointed him out... he was playing with "bowling" with other kids. Other kids !!! Friends !! He was playing with "Friends".

Oh crap... here come the tears again and young son used all the tp.

I always hated the month of August. Young son's birthday reminded me of all we had lost. This year? Today? I was reminded of all we had gained.

Young son made some friends. Young son is making some memories. Young son is making it... period.

What's the record for crying "happy" tears. Excuse me...think I might go for the "record".

God Bless - Barb