Beach Bash

A few weeks ago my mother, son and I had one of the best days of our lives! We attended Autism Services of New Jersey’s 8th Annual Beach Bash in Belmar.  It’s one of those stress-free days because you know even if your child has a meltdown or does anything peculiar no one is going to look at you funny. The event was totally amazing.  There were booths of different services for the autism community in fact, his school was one of the first booths we visited. But they had everything from gluten-free food samples, to various kinds of therapies, even health insurance companies.  There was another set of tents full of crafts, another filled with games, and 2 others filled with food. There was even a DJ in the middle of everything else inspiring everyone to get out and bust a move! Best part, everything was free of charge! Whole Foods donated generous amounts of food to cater the affair and Surf Taco also shared some delicious fare. 

Fun in the sun!

 But perhaps the best part of the day was the water.  My son loves water, our pool at home, the lake on which my parents’ summer home sits, his many trips to Niagara Falls…the boy loves water, it has a calming effect on him.  I sat back in the sand watching him bask in the sun as the waves crashed over him.  I can’t put my finger on the calming effect but watching the other children I know it’s not just Andy.  Must be something to it though I have never researched it but his school did add a swimming program last year. 

 I just love seeing Andy so free, so unrestrained.  He was also quite social with a few girls who were insistent upon playing in the water with him, so nice to see! The event also had surf lessons available but I know Andy isn’t ready for that yet but maybe another time.  This is the second time we have been to an Autism Services get-together and they always exceed my expectations.  I truly cannot wait for the next one!

Affirmation

I’ve been an absolute mess this week. No matter what I was doing or supposed to be concentrating on all I thought about were the medication changes that my son was going through. Well, my mind is pretty much at ease now. We have had an amazing 6 days on the new dose. There have been no bad side effects, I can barely believe, it was one of those situations where I prepared for the worst but got the best.  I am thrilled. My brother has spent a significant amount of time with my son since the med change and he can't believe how quickly there has been such positive change! My son actually had a somewhat-normal sense of humor this week. I literally thought something was wrong with how hard he was laughing at reruns of Full House.  

 I often wonder who my son is under the mask of all these medications and I think we are on our way to finding out.  Even though watching my son’s behavior has been reassurance enough to know I did the right thing, it got better than that. He, the boy who HATES to write (polar opposite of his mother), wrote me a letter at school one day. He told that he is so very happy to be off some of his pills and that he is going to try his best to behave and prove to me that he doesn’t need them. It brought tears to my eyes and I stuck it on the refrigerator door as a little reminder that I made the right decision, taking a risk was the right thing.