Double Digits

AJ turned 10 this year.  Such a huge milestone, and so much progress has been made.  But, at his birthday party, we saw the evidence of the most important progress of all - he has friends!!

For his 1st birthday, we invited all our friends, and the kids from the parent/baby group.  Everyone came, the babies cried, slept, and drooled.  A fun time was had by all.

For his 2nd birthday, we invited all our friends, and the kids from the parent/baby group.  Almost everyone came.  The toddlers babbled, pulled each others hair, and drooled.  A fun time was had by all.

For his 3rd birthday, we invited some friends, and the kids from the parent/baby group.  One kid came.  They had fun.  We were sad.

For his 4th birthday, we invited some friends, and the kids from pre-school.  One kid came.  They played, but not together.  They had fun.  We were sad.

For his 5th - 9th birthday, we just invited friends and relatives.  He didn't want to invite other kids - he kinda gave up.  He said he didn't care.  We did, and I think he did too.

Then we started home schooling.  He made friends.  He was successful in socializing.  This year, we had to trim the list.  There were TOO MANY kids on it.  We wound up inviting 7 kids.  They ALL came.  Everyone had fun.  We all had lunch, opened gifts, played outside, had cake.  It was AWESOME!! 

Were there bumps in the road?  Absolutely.  Did AJ have any meltdowns?  Absolutely.  Did we have the best party ever?  Absolutely!

Kudos to our boy, our friends, and their fantastic kids!

Tween-ville, here we come!

Free To Be... You And Me

Ok, this post has nothing to do with autism, nothing to do with AJ, and nothing to do with parenting.  But this blog is called Autism and Family - and that includes me.  This is just about me.  And it's super funny - maybe just to me, though.  And, it has blaspheming.  Fair warning...

So, when I'm not being a home schooling mom, or boring people by endlessly blatering on about autism, I am a small business owner.  I'm a jewelry designer.  Go ahead, check out my website (http://www.camcreations.net/), I know you want to.  I'll wait....

Ok, if you're done being impressed, I'll go on.

Today, I did a show called Pagan Pride.  I'm not really a Pagan, but, I'm a "live and let live" kinda gal.  So, I went.  And it rained...torrentially.  At an outdoor show.  My tent sprung a leak.  Lovely.  So, I'm setting up in the rain (why didn't I go home?  I have no idea...).

By the time I stepped in the 400th puddle of the day (at 7:30am) I mumbled, under my breath, "Jesus Christ".

A guy I didn't know behind me said, "Dude, wrong Diety."  I really, really didn't laugh out loud.  It was hard.

Divine intervention must have hit, because my response was "Hey man, diversity and tolerance are the cornerstones of understanding."  in my best stoned hippy voice.  Divine.  Intervention.

His response:  "Deep man, really deep."

I'm still giggling.  He's still stoned (allegedly).
 

I OWE YOU A CALL

You know when you talk to a friend, and before you hang up you say, "I'll call you next week"?  But, next week, your kid has a meltdown, or you're sick, or your car breaks down, or, more likely, all of the above.  So you forget to call.  Then, you remember, but it's really late, so you decide to call the next day, but you forget again.  So, it's now been a month.  Now you feel really guilty, and you decide to call next week.  But, by next week, you feel even guiltier? 

Yeah, so I was supposed to call (errrr... write) a loooooonnnnnnnggggg time ago, but crap happens (see above), and then guilt happens, and then, well, it's been a while.

So, I am working up some blogs in my head, and I WILL call you (errr.... write) soon.  Really..... I promise....