autism is a journey: Spring Break--at the end

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Spring Break--at the end

The boys did well while we were gone; the sitter offered to do it again, so they must have been manageable. I always worry about them, but now that we've left them a few times, it seems I worry less.

Jackson is still a bit anxious today; he prefers us not to leave him. I think it's good for him to know he can be without us and survive. Some of that separation anxiety wears off and Callahan, who promptly announced he, "never want[ed] a babysitter again!" He couldn't tell us why exactly, just that he never wanted one again...

The weather here is gorgeous (finally). We went to the park after church today and Jackson had fun--overall considering the number of people that were at the park. Tomorrow morning will offer a reality check as he has to get back into the school routine for just another 7 weeks or so.

Overall, spring break went better than I expected it to go...

1 comment:

tylerbritney said...: I'm glad you and Dan had a fun night away. Sounds like the boys did ok with out you guys. Cal is too funny! I hope that tomorrow morning goes smooth for Jackson. Don't forget, take some "you" time this week. Enjoy YOUR Spring Break!!; April 6, 2008 at 5:50 PM

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from "Metaphor-the puzzle piece symbol"

Ever had one of those "ah-ha" moments? I'm driving down the road today, pondering Jackson's recent successes--boyscout camp and football camp. It occurred to me that each experience gave me back a piece of Jackson. [I'm not doing a very good job explaining this...] When we learned about Jackson's diagnosis, so many dreams were snuffed out. We no longer thought about our son becoming an athlete, a scholar, or even a friend. We thought in much smaller terms:"how many words does he have?""did he learn a new sign""is he reaching out to us?""that's playing pretend, isn't it?"Our perspective as parents permanently changed. It's like we had this complete picture of our child and autism fractured it--into a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle.Each day little by little, we get pieces of the puzzle back. It'll never be complete, never the same as we expected, but there will be parts that will come together.Like when he participated in the school music program, enjoyed boyscout camp, rode the roller coaster and attended football camp. Bit by bit, we get pieces of what we expected back.Of course, the flip side of this is all the joys we gain from Jackson that we never expected in spite of the autism, but that's another post my friends....