Once again this blog has suffered due to the summer doldrums. I am not a fan of summer, and it seems to sap all that is creative out of me. Thankfully, October begins tomorrow, and this Saturday we’ll have a high of only 68! Super excited!
Summer has been busy, and we will continue to be busy as fall approaches. Lydia has joined up with fall soccer, which keeps us hopping on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Sam has begun drum lessons, and he’s taken to those like a duck to water. I should’ve known I would end up with a drummer. Gymnastics continues, though Sam has stopped for a while. Lydia has also been doing a little homeschool theatre.
So.
In between all that we somehow have to fit in time for school and my part-time teaching gig. Wheeeeeee!
Way back last February, we made plans for a trip in October. A special trip. A kid’s-greatest-dream trip. A trip to the fabled Disneyworld! Back in February it seemed like a long way off, but suddenly we’re looking at mere weeks before we leave! The kids are stoked (I did not do that surprise-them-at-the-last-minute deal that some parents are so fond of — Sam would not have taken that well).
I feel like I’ve been planning at a level usually reserved for wartime generals. Disneyworld is no longer the simple place we visited for marching band trips. Now you have to make 180-days-in-advance restaurant reservations and FastPass plans 60 days out. Anna and Elsa from Frozen are tough reservations to get. It’s nuts. Nuts, I tell you!
Hopefully, we all will survive.
During all of this planning and drumming, acting and learning, Sam was formally diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in August. To tell you the truth, I am relieved. After years of worrying, struggling, and second-guessing, it turns out that first psychologist we saw back in 2012 was on the right track. We have an answer. We have a path.
The occupational therapy that Sam started last October has helped him immensely. He still goes to therapy once a week, so between that and a lot of ways and means we’ve established at the house have served him well. Though Sam will never be ‘cured’ per se, he will be fine, both now and when he’s an adult. He will have to work harder on some things (handwriting, modulation of his movements, social situations) but will have an easier time with many other activities (music, spelling, memorization, physical strength).
So who is Sam?
Sam is a musician.
Sam is a lover of all things orange and Godzilla.
Sam is a comedian.
Sam is an autist.
Sam is my son.
So. That’s what we’ve been doing this summer. And now, Disneyworld awaits!
You just made me cry