God is good. This is why. When you have a special needs child, life is different. But, sometimes you forget that your life is different. For example, yesterday L was making a whole bunch of crazy, silly noises. Not unusual for him. It's not all the time but happens most often when he's playing hard at home. But, for some reason, maybe because I was in the middle of making over 4 dozen cookies and a pan of magic bars it caught my attention (it doesn't always) and well, sometimes quite frankly, it's annoying. And to be brutly truthful, we do not live in an ASD (Austim Spectrum Disorder) world. So, I do feel it's our responsibility to train him up in the way he should go, both Biblically and emotionally as much as I an possibly do. So, I tell him, "L, stop. That's annoying." And he does. For a minute. And then well, it tends to blend into my psyche and I don't hear it.
Last week we had leaps and bounds of a major breakthrough with him. Our children's Christmas program at church. Our kids do two services. One at 9 am and again at 11 am. Well, we decided what would be best for him, would be one show. 11 am. We had seats as close to the stage as possible, in case he needed to be walked away quickly. The reason why this was such a breakthrough was not long ago, 6 months maybe, his end of the year concert at school he was all over the place. I was sitting in my seat crying on the inside wondering why in the world neither his gen ed or especially his ASD teacher were doing anything. So, mama bear rose up in me. I got out of my seat, walked in front of a crowd of at least 100 people and stood their with my child. Holding his hand. His shoulders. Reminding him to stand still. Trying to get him to participate with his neurotypical peers. Finally on the last song, he did.
Fast forward 6 months to last week, L stood on stage by himself, with only the occasional rub on the back reminders from one of the (awesome) adult actors on stage to turn around. He hammed it up. Waving to people. Giving thumbs up to his dad. He sang every song. Stood when he was supposed to. Sat when he was supposed to.
Then what came after I was not prepared for. The comments from adults. A good friend said her husband leaned over and said "hey L is up there". My baby blended in with NT friends. For a special needs mom, this is HUGE. Our children's pastor's wife, with tears in her eyes, said she didn't know who she enjoyed watching more, L or us watching L.
Compliments on from all of our friends only encourages me to continue to fight for him and be his advocate. Because I know HE CAN DO IT!!! He's shown us he can!!!
Our church, what a blessing. I'm so thankful for the time and sheer energy they put into him. I hope we are doing the same by pouring into their kids when we work our weeks in kidmin.
So to all of you that had compliments, thank you. It drives me to keep pushing him. Keep pushing through red tape when it happens. Keep pushing for things he deserves and needs. He is constantly getting better with time. And most of all, with God's Hand!!!
