Labor Day Weekend in Review

                   Day One: I sit here thismorning watching my little fire, and the red squirrels fight over acorns. Ihave been up since before the sun, and have had very little sleep. Liam is abed hog, and totally tore our tent up last nite.  No surprise, he had a rough nite last nite. Idon’t know what got into him, but it still weighs heavy on my mind…..
 We are camping withfriends (having a blast I might add.) Last nite, hubs made a little sit inmovie for the kiddos in the cabin. By this point, Liam was starting to get ornerybecause he was limited on the “Big Boy” things he could do, as the younger oneswant to do what he and his big brother do. He was NOT happy about this! “Hekept saying, “I can’t do anything! I can’t have anything to myself. I want tobe alone.” I took it as he was being bratty and having a moment. Not EVERYTHINGis related to Autism, or so that’s what the hub’s says. He was alsocomplaining that the fire was too bright, it hurt his eyes. I got him a pair ofsunglasses, and that seemed to help, though it should have been my clue that hewas becoming overstimulated. I feel bad that it didn’t occur to me. Maybe if itdid, I would have been able to take him away from camp for a bit and preventthe fit of anger about to come. We’re all human, and I am far from perfect, soI guess there is no point in beating myself up about it. No one was hurt, and that’swhat matters!
 So anyway, I am insidewith the 3 younger kiddos watching The Ant Bully. The younger 2 are all over,talking non stop, excitement controlling them. Liam, whom normally acts thisway at our house, was having NONE of it. He kept yelling at them, grumbling andbasically being a turd. I had to get on him so many times I lost count.Finally, I got out his body sock, had him get in, and told him he needed tocalm down. This worked! (For a bit) Until that is, the other kiddos startedasking him where he was, what he was doing and so on. This enraged Liam. Hepopped out of his sock and actually put one of them in a chokehold! I wasflabbergasted and quickly put an end to it. Before I even sat back down, he hadhis fist in the other’s face, threatening to hit them if they didn’t leave himalone. Then he started crying. When he started crying, so did one of the otherkiddos. I quickly called in hubs to help me diffuse the situation.  Liam started cryingharder and telling daddy he “just wanted to be left alone.” We were all stayingin the cabin together. What to do, what to do!!!! Thank God hubs thought andbrought an extra tent and a twin air mattress. We told our friends what wasgoing on, and being the AUSOME people they are they totally understood!!! At 11pm they helped us to pitch the other tent, and get it all set up for Liam andI. Within 5 minutes of being in it, he was fast asleep! Thank God for smallmiracles.
 And so, as I sit herethis am, totally relaxed, (despite my lack of sleep,) I pray that today will bebetter for him, for me, for all of us. After all, it is a new day!!!                                                <3<3<3<3Bright light, bright light!!! (sorry watched ET last nite :) ) 




Day 2 : Well yesterday wentmuch better. Liam was in better spirits and only needed 2 alone times in thetent. We went swimming and to the splash pad. Liam was so good in the pool, heeven went UNDER water!!! I was so proud of him! He did it on his own, withoutus asking. Just, “momma, look at me!!!!” We were even able to get him to do itagain so we could capture it on camera. He was also jumping in, but Momma hadto hold his hands. Still a big deal as he doesn’t like water in his face. Inthe tub he has to have either goggles on, or a wash cloth over his face. So thefact that he puts his face in the water is a huge milestone for my baby, and wecouldn’t be more proud!
 Liam has also been “froggin’” around camp. He has caught a bullfrog, a huge toad and a smaller toad. He didn’t want to let them go, but he finally did this am. Aunt Nikki told him they missed their momma’s and were hungry, so he let them go.
 He is however upsetthat his new sandals have fallen apart. He broke a pair of flip flops the lasttime we were here, and when they went in the fire he had a meltdown. He gets soattached to his things, especially clothing items. Hubs said he was going toburn them, and Momma came to the rescue! Daddy forgot that about last time, sowhen reminded, he told Liam he could keep them. GREAT!!!! The things this childloves are so odd. He collects rocks, pop tabs, old keys, loves scratch offtickets, and beanie babies, or any stuffed animal. Matter of fact, when Icleaned out his toy room he had 5, 25 gallon bags FULL of stuffies. I was ableto get him to part with a 13 gallon bag full, and that was it. Our house is toosmall for his collections, lol.
YesterdayB rented two pedal cars for him, Liam and Aunt Nikki. They had a great timeriding them. Liam rides in the back, and it’s NOT easy to pedal those thingswith 70 pounds behind you. He wanted to try it himself again, like he did lasttime. So hubs pushed it up the hill for him (not a steep hill, just too hardfor him to push it himself.) When he got up there, he got on, and away he went.Right into our van!!!! Hubs is yelling, “brake Liam, brake! Hit the brake!”Liam is screaming, “I can’t! Stop me daddy, stop me!!!” After we knew he wasokay, and our van was too, we all laughed about it. Who wouldn’t???
 So we are on daythree. Going home tomorrow, kinda sad but all good things have to come to anend. Back to house work and school work Tuesday! I am off to make the most ofour last full day here. <3<3<3<3
As you can see, he doesn't like water in his face!
His moment to shine! I am so proud of you Liam!
Liam and his bullfrog :)

Liam laughing because he hit the car!
   Day 3: Yesterday was so muchfun, and Liam had a GREAT day!!!! His little friend (we shall call her J forprivacy) came with her momma and daddy to visit. She and Liam are precious andthe best of friends. Liam has Autism, J has Aspergers, and the way they getalong and relate is adorable. I am so glad we met J and her parents. So whenthey got here, J explored the woods surrounding the cabins. She somehow gotinto pine sap and stuck her hands together. It was funny, even she thought so.Her momma and dad were able to get them apart and the fun commenced. Her andLiam made some Smores (or schmaws as Liam calls them) and J taught us how tomake the PERFECT smore! “Don’t let it catch on fire!” she says J Too cute.  Next stop, pool andsplash pad. They kind of went right past the splash pad and into the pool. Liamgets out when he sees the big bucket getting ready to spill, so he can go getunder it. Before long, so was J, and she loved it too. Of course wiping herface as soon as she was done J In thepool she was having a blast! She was jumping in, going under water, it was sogreat to see her do those things. Liam wouldn’t. I didn’t pester him, justshowed him what she was doing, hoping he may want to as well, like he didyesterday. No such luck, but that’s ok. We got some great pics of them, I can’twait to look at them all. Choosing which to print will be a big decision!  When we got back tocamp, they went to the playground for a few minutes, then it was time for themto go. Liam seemed a little sad, so I took him to the game room. He got somereally cute tactile fidgets from the machines, and then we played pool. He wasmostly knocking them in with his hands, but he was able to sink one the rightway! His face lit up like a Christmas tree,  he was so proud! (I love how the little thingsmean so much. When you’re a special needs parent, it’s sometimes the littlethings that matter most.) Liam was pretty goodthe rest of the nite, and when we went to bed, he was out in 5 minutes. I thinkthe fresh air got to him.  Today is our last dayhere, checkout is at noon. I am sad to leave, but kind of happy to get home andsee my fur babies. Liam is already asking about school. Not sure if that’sbecause he does, or doesn’t want to do his work. I hope you all had a wonderful,meltdown free Labor Day weekend. I also hope you took the time to appreciatethe little things.  <3<3<3<3

Making the perfect Smore's
friends in the pool :)

I hope you all had  GREAT labor day weekend with your AUSOME kiddos.<3<3<3<3