Dear Addie,
And then it was finally here - like a countdown to Christmas Day, our big adventure project, the adventure we’d planned since the beginning of school - Blue Jay Point was finally happening!
Look out outdoors, here we come for two whole days of fun and learning! Time to put all our newfound wilderness knowledge to the test - and go!
We played field games, hiked, fished, played on mothers natures playground taking enjoyment in bouncing on a fallen tree (with my supervision of course;) and sat...yes you actually sat - calmly at that, as in not running straight for the lake causing a WWF-type scene by the water's edge…of course while you remained calm it wasn't without you asking for your “babing suit” (bathing suit) a few hundred times, but all good. We listened to park rangers educate us on different animals from owls to snakes and even learned about how night vision works! As if all that wasn’t awesome enough families were invited to join us for hamburgers and a night hike - which was truly a special moment for our dream team with us all being able to take part in your first big field trip at your new school.
As night fell upon us we had tossed around the idea of you spending the night, but ultimately decided maybe next year you’d be more prepared for sleeping in the Lodge and headed home, only to return the next morning to do it all again.
Addie, I have been privy to the educating and detail-oriented planning that went into making this field trip fun and successful having been your aide at school these past few months, but there was so much more that maybe only as your mama I could truly see.
Here’s the thing baby girl, sometimes we get so caught up in the day-to-day we hardly notice or remember when some things have just, well for lack of a better word - changed. This is funny because we relish and celebrate the smallest of accomplishments whenever we can. Parenting does that to you sometimes, you can feel like you're trudging through mud using all your energy wondering if you’ll ever make it to where you are supposed to be going, and then boom - you’re at the finish line, but you can’t exactly pinpoint how you got there.
Addie, you sat on the sandy shore and did fight or even try to get in the water. Yeah, you asked for your bathing suit a whole heck of a lot, but never made a mad dash channeling your inner Michael Phelps. Huge progress and self-control on your part Ad. As if that was an accomplishment itself, on the second night when it was getting late we thought we’d head out before dinner, but wanted to give you the option. When asked, “would you like to go home or stay?” You loudly and proudly said, “stay!” Now making sure you weren’t just repeating the last thing I said I rephrased the question asking to stay or go home and the response was the same “stay!” My mama's heart melted.
Addie I’ve been raising children for almost 17 years and 11 of them were with someone with Autism, that’s you my sweetness. I’ve learned that communication can look and sound wildly different than the stereotypical norms. All behavior good or bad is communication. Even the minimally verbal kiddos like yourself who lack spontaneous vocal back-and-forth communication skills find a way to be seen and heard, even if that’s just giggling and flapping in the presence of a classmate or friend - you wanted to stay not to have deep seeded conversations and to tell scary stories around a campfire but because you were seen and heard just as you are - you were one of them and this was your tribe, a tribe we all hope to find in life one day.
Baby girl, I am so unbelievably proud of you for all the hard work you put into educating yourself and preparing for this big trip. You did great!
I love you so very much!
Now on to the next school project!
Love,
Mom
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