All Packed Up

Well, after two and a half hours of packing, my son is all set to go on his first parent free camping trip away from home tomorrow. He and Boy Scouts from all over the region will be spending the next week in the Adirondacks.

They're going to be kept pretty busy swimming, hiking and canoeing. They will also have the opportunity to earn various merit badges in a variety of areas from map reading, ecology and archery - to name but a few things. They may even see bears...hopefully very shy bears...very full and very shy bears...at a very great distance.

As laid back as I sometimes appear to be about my kids, I'm pretty nervous inside! He's acting pretty cool about it too, so I wonder how much of the "away" part has sunk in. I know I'm going to jump every time the phone rings. If it rings later in the evening, I think I'll do more than jump - I'll probably fly right out of my skin. I hope so much he has a good time. If I see him at the end of the week, grubby and full of smiles, that will make it all worth while.

The Best Seats

Fireworks have never been an issue for Jonah, sensory wise. He LOVES them. We live in a great little town, that really loves to put on the occasional fireworks show over the summer. These often follow some great outdoor music. The best part is, we can see the fireworks from the comfort of our own front yard - all but the lowest are visible.

My son loves to recite facts about the Founding Fathers and sing snatches of patriotic songs while the fireworks burst overhead. The past couple of years, he's really developed a deep interest in American History - particularly The Revolutionary War. He danced off camera, just as I snapped this shot.

Tonight's weren't as long as the ones on the Fourth, but the kids enjoyed them just as thoroughly. My son, is now happily in his room, reading my now very dog eared copy of "The Complete Idiot's Guide To The Revolutionary War." If I listen, I can hear him huming something that sounds very Yankee-doodlish.

Beating The Heat

We've had a heatwave in our neck of the woods for the past three days. So, once the worst of the afternoon was over, I put out the slipNslide for the kids to play on. Jonah was a bit put out by the fact the inflatable end of it was broken. It suffered a blowout the other day and is beyond repair. Still, the slide is fine and so we set it out. Normally, you connect the hose to the slide itself, but I thought it would be more fun to hang it over a tree branch and have it misting down upon the whole thing (rather than weakly squirting from the slide itself).

My 6 year old was ecstatic with the new set up and eagerly encouraged her brother to join in. However, the popped end and the unorthodox setup of the hose, was enough to set Jonah off on a "fixation." He grew grumpier and grumpier by the minute - repeatedly bringing up the fact the the slide was "broken" and therefore unusable. He also continually asked for us to go get a new one (the answer being no).

Seeing where this was going we gave him the choice of either playing on the slide as is, or going inside and missing out on the fun. He sputtered, attempted to bring up the "broken-ness" slide again and even started to get frustratedly tearful. Finally, the grumpy mutterings turned to laughter and a good time was had by all.

Watchdog: Dubious Medicine

A link to the Chicago Tribune's year long series of articles on questionable Autism treatments.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/chi-autism-storygallery,0,6581479.storygallery

Playing Clue

First Solo Trip Away From Home

My son is in the Boy Scouts.  This coming Sunday, he will be leaving with his pack for a weeks stay in a state park, just over three hours away.  This is his first ever trip away from home (other than an overnight at a friend's house).  Neither my husband or I will be joining him.  My husband will be away for a two week National Guard drill, so that leaves me the solo parent at home, with our other two children.

The adults in the group are aware that he has Aspergers.  The kids, some understand and don't think twice about it.  Others politely ignore him.  Only one, purposely tries to bother him.  We've made them all aware of what Asperger's means when it comes to our son and what to keep an eye out for (mostly his wandering attention span).

I know that he and the other boys will be kept busy from the time they wake up till the time they go to sleep with various activities and events.  I know that the older Scouts will be acting as mentors to the younger - so there will be additional eyes watching over my son and the other boys.  But still, I'm his Mom and I worry:

About bears, bullying and how vigilant the lifeguards are.

Will the other boys include him?

Will anyone be mean to him?

Will he remember to use his bug spray?

Will he lose his flashlight?

Will he behave?

But most of all, will he have fun?

Why Do I Ignore Writing?

I have another blog, where I talk about my attempts at doing my first triathlon.  I've been pretty consistent about posting updates on my progress so far.  So why do I struggle with this one?  Why can't I seem to write about a topic that is so close to my heart?  Or maybe that's the reason?