Just Thoughts...

Boy, isn't it easy to get sucked in to (and sucked dry by) all the autism awareness and advocacy blogs and web pages. There is such so much happening (some of it really good, some of it continues to be really, really bad). I mentioned on a friend's blog last nite that I am starting to allow myself to believe that the tide is turning, that I actually WILL see in my lifetime an acknowledgement that so many of the kids diagnosed with 'autism' are just really really sick medically and need TREATMENT to address the cause of their 'odd' behaviors and not THERAPY to stamp out those 'odd' behaviors.

But that being said, I allow myself to get sucked in too much.. waaay too much. Salamander's school is out now, I still have two more weeks of a crazy busy work schedule ahead of me (it'll be busy after that too, but I should be able to drop down to about 20 - 25 hours a week for at least a month, instead of 45+). I can continue to send Potatey to school, but I don't necessarily want to (but I will for the next 2 weeks). I want to spend time with my boys, just enjoying the summer. So I need to stay focused on what is going on HERE, and do what needs doing, and spent less energy on all the stuff 'out there'.

So I made myself (well, more exactly I made my boys a promise, they just don't know it). I can check the autism blogs/web pages one time a day, one time, and that's it. It can be the morning, the afternoon, the evening - but only one time a day. And the second part of the promise is that I am going to bring the primary focus of my blog back on my boys, on OUR journey, the good stuff, and the not so good stuff. Oh, you'll still see me link to 'big news', but as of late that's mostly what I've been doing. And there are plenty other blogs that do that and do a much better job at it than I do.

So on that note:

Salamander had a rough afternoon yesterday. He came home way earlier than he usually does (as school got out at noon), and for most of the afternoon the poor guy was like a fish out of water. All this stuff he WANTED to do, but he just couldn't get himself to 1) pick something, 2) get started. So he spent most of the afternoon pacing circles around me (which made it EXTREMELY hard for me to get my work finished up.. and in fact, I didn't finish up), and there were quite a few screaming and yelling episodes. Things got better around 4 pm or so when Potatey got home and I took both boys to our farming co-op with me.

Unfortunately, pick up of our veggie share was NOT at the farm (threatening T-storms), but at a nature center close by. Boys were disappointed (and so was I, as some good running through the fields chasing off the birds would have gone a long way towards getting the endorphins going). But we found the lady that runs the co-op waiting for us at the nature center (she is utterly in love with my two.. and I can completely understand), so the boyos helped her for a bit and then helped me pick out our veggies. First strawberry harvest had come in too, I think half of our share didn't even make it to the car.. LOL!!!! There was one memorable blow-up on Potatey's part when he realized that this week we had to make a choice between Shell Peas and Snow Peas. As he got to pick last time, Salamander got to pick this time (and picked the Shell Peas), and Potatey wasn't happy with that choice, but Salamander was firm.

Oh yes, I realize the irony in my children fighting over what PEAS to pick, as opposed to what stupid TOY in a store. And I'll take a PEA fight anyday.

After gathering our veggies, the boys asked if they could run around and explore for a bit. I had my quart of strawberries, found a perfect sunny spot on in a grassy area, told my brood to stay within yelling distance (LOL) and off they went.

About 5 or so minutes after I plopped my butt down, a gentleman with two boys about Salamander's age walked in as well. Salamander ran over to the two boys, stopped, made eye contact with the boys and said: "Do you guys want to play?" Boys looked at their dad, dad nodded, boys said: "Sure, what are you guys playing?" Salamander: "We're playing freeze tag, that pole over there is base." And off they all ran, hooting and hollering and chasing each other (while Potatey was by far the youngest child, he certainly wasn't the slowest. That kid has got evasive moves that would do a Running Back proud. Sure he was tagged a fair bit, but typically within a couple of minutes he would have launched himself sucessfully at one of the older kids).

The dad turned to me and said: "It always amazes me how quickly kids 'just' connect like that and then run off to play together." Of course, the gentleman had no idea what he was actually saying and what Salamander's history is. For the first few minutes of play I was a bit too choked up to really chat as I was just so proud of Salamander, how smooth he had maneuvered through this whole social interaction and how much fun he was having (it all looked so 'easy', and those of you that know Salamander KNOW that social interactions frequently are anything BUT easy for him). Once I regained my composure, I spent a very pleasant 15 minutes or so just chatting while our collective brood ran around (I actually had a chance to make SMALL TALK.. OMG.. and it felt SO GOOD). Then, as it was getting late, we all collectively walked to our cars, said our goodbyes, and went our respective ways.

We definitely all rode that "gosh this was FUN" high back home. Boys had a neighborhood friend come over (who's out of school now too.... he used to spend a lot of time over here, haven't seen much of him this school year, but I'm sure that'll change now), and they dug fortifications in the sandbox while I made dinner. We had a very uneventful dinner, some nice 'quiet time' after and then the boys went off to bed.

Potatey slept halfway decent (did come to wake me up around 5.30 am.. NOT!!!). Unfortunately Salamander woke up with terrible bone pains (I am pretty sure he's mobilizing lead again.. I've seen an increase in pica). I had to give him something for the pain, and he was better after a nice soak in hot water.

They're currently off with their dad doing stuff. And I have 18 million things to get done (what I really WANT to do is exercise and take a nap, but that won't happen, as what I HAVE to do is groceries and clean up this joint, especially purge Salamander's school work area). So I better get my butt of this blog and get going.

Later...