camping

Continuing the new trend of surprising me at every turn, Johnny had an extremely successful first camping trip the other weekend! Our church was taking all of the kids camping, and while they offered to have parents just drop the kids off and pick them up the next day, I obviously stuck around with the little guy and spent the night. The adults that were running the event are all people who are used to working with Johnny during Sunday School, so they were also super impressed with how well he did-- several made comments to me about what a successful experience it was for Johnny.

The "challenges" for Johnny to handle included some time spent out on a canoe on the pond, frog hunting, collecting firewood, cooking over the fire, getting mud all over him, mosquito bites, sleeping in a tent and even being sent to bed before the rest of the kids. Okay, so I sound like a mean mom for making him hit the hay a little earlier than everyone else, but we were already over an hour past his bedtime and when the kid does best when kept to a schedule, I decided he could forgo staying up to watch a projected movie that he has at home anyway. After just a moment of protest, he crawled into his sleeping bag and was out cold in less than a minute. He even slept in later than anyone else!

Our summer continues to bring new experiences for the little man, and I am thrilled to say that while we of course still deal with some of the same struggles we have always faced, Johnny is thriving more than ever. He continues to enjoy his summer camp every weekday morning, and with the National Autism Conference just around the corner, he has plenty more fun in store for his summer.

leaps and bounds

This past week or so has been full of big steps for Johnny. While it may not seem like a big deal to most people, my son has overcome two of his biggest sensory challenges and I couldn't be more proud. 

The other day we went out to my mom's house for the evening. Johnny's Grammy and Pappy Chris own a small farmette a little way out of town, and we like to go there and let Johnny help out with feeding the chickens, collecting eggs, planting and maintaining the garden, and mowing the lawn. (I've covered that last bit previously!) Anyway, the other evening we were there and it was hot out. For some reason his dad had sent Johnny to camp in long pants that morning, and being the stellar mom that I am, I didn't even notice it until we were out at my mom's a few hours later. The poor kid was dying, so I told him to take his pants off and just not worry about them. After all, it was just my mother and I out there with him. Well Johnny decided he was going to help Grammy clean out and refill the chickens' water, and before I knew it I heard squeals coming from the other side of the barn. Johnny was taking turns chasing grammy with the hose and vice versa. Eventually my mom talked him into helping her water the plants around the house, and by the end of it they had settled on watching the sprinkler in the garden for a little while. 

Johnny ventured into the garden while the sprinkler was running and before long was covered in freezing cold water, mud and grass. We let him play like that for a good long while, and every few minutes he would come running over to have me "check" his shirt or his shoes to show me just how dirty they were getting. While this may seem like a relatively simple and normal thing for a 5 year old to do, you have to understand that Johnny doesn't mix textures... ever. We have spent the past two years or so working so hard to have him handle mixed textures, and even just a single texture like mud or the feel of grass have been hard. Add in the fact that he was getting sprayed in the face with water, (yet another major issue we have dealt with in the past) I was floored that he was handling everything the way he did. He was seriously excited! Which in turn had both Grammy and me excited! I could barely believe what he was doing-- in soaking wet muddy sneakers and all. Super proud.

Well, then Wednesday came this week and it was our time to say goodbye to Ashleigh (his TSS) for good. What else would I choose to do on her last day than tackle one of Johnny's most difficult problems? I mean, I could have taken it easy on the poor girl, but honestly I was worried that without her and in the process of "breaking in" a new TSS, it might be a while until I had help with this particular issue, so I just went ahead and decided to shoot for it... a haircut. I gave Johnny three options: I could cut it at home with scissors, he could get it cut at a salon with scissors, or I could buzz it with the clippers at home. He asked what incentive I would give him for any of those options, so I told him that he could have chocolate if he got his hair cut with the scissors at either place, but could have a toy he has been begging me for for the past few months if he let me buzz it. Keeping in mind the fact that he hasn't had his hair buzzed in over 2 years because the noise and vibration are both too much for him to handle usually, I explained to him that if he let me use the clippers, he would get to go longer between haircuts. While that sounded good to him, I really think that the prospect of that toy is what did it for him: we were going to buzz it.

After the last haircut experience we had, (read here) I was super psyched that he was going to let me use the clippers because they're honestly a lot easier for me. However, I was expecting a full-on meltdown during the process, several stops, and was fully ready to accept that I might only get half of his head done before he lost it entirely and made the rest of the day a living nightmare. To my delight, he sat *relatively* still and it was all over in less than 10 minutes. Gone! A whole pile of strawberry blonde hair on the floor and a clean looking kid! We did go and get him the toy and he was just about as proud of himself as I was. 

After all of this, in addition to the experience we had at the ocean when he fell under and then got back up to keep playing, I can't help but look back at where things were even just a year ago. I am astounded by the progress he has made, and the fact that all of the big things seem to be happening in close succession leads me to believe that he is truly adjusting to the changes in his life. With custody evening out to start our set hours at the beginning of next month and school starting near the end, I think that Johnny and I have definitely found our footing. I am still just so impressed with the progress he has made, and I don't know that I could ask for anything more. I love that boy!