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.