Summer Time.... is the Best Time!

It has been a long 3 1/2 months since I have sat down and took the time to type out what has happened in our crazy wonderful chaotic world!  

Starting with summer time. 

Summer time is a wonderful time in our house. It is the time to sleep in, relax, no school, play video games, play outside, go to the pool, no school, stay up late, vacation time.... did I say NO SCHOOL ? Yes with all the fun we do in the summer time the only thing that truly means so much to Tyler is ~ NO SCHOOL ! It is amazing how much he changes when its summer break. He is more relaxed, he actually has a smile on his face and enjoys his day. I don't see a lot of anxiety, stress or fear. The best thing is there are very few meltdowns. He is just a happy boy playing with his brothers and having fun with no worries. I love seeing him that way. We really enjoyed our summer. We still continued his therapy visits with the psychologist and behavioral therapist. He seems to be learning a lot in behavioral therapy. He has some visits where he really participates and other visits he does not. The therapist is really good at working with him, understanding how far to push him and when to give him space. I like being there also because she does teach me a lot of parenting techniques and ways to change the mistakes I make parenting a child with Autism. It is not an easy thing to do and there is a lot to learn. I feel more confident as a mother now that we have been seeing this therapist. She has also noticed the change in him during summer.  

In July we went to SC for my son Brandon's baseball tournament. It took us a month of therapy visits to get Tyler prepared for this trip. She helped him understand he has to go, why he has to go, what we are going for, what he will do there and see there, who will be with us, how we driving there and more. We had to go through the trip for him. Visually showing him pictures and a map that way he could feel as comfortable possible leaving is safe place. He still had anxiety, he still had meltdowns, he still would fight us on almost everything, but then he also had good days/moments too. We know change is very hard for him. This trip was a huge challenge for Tyler. Thankfully I had my parents come to SC and they helped us a lot with Tyler. He didn't have to go everywhere we went because he was able to stay back at the condo with Grandma. That was a huge help. After our return from SC it was almost time for the the new school year to start.  

And so it ALL begins again.....