There is nothing better than finding something he likes and enjoys and wants to do again.

Last night, at the recommendation of his developmental pediatrician, we tried a gymnastics class at the National Academy of Artistic Gymnastics.

Turns out they have a couple classes for kids on the spectrum. Turns out one of those classes has one other 12 year old boy enrolled. Turns out the teacher is studying to be an Occupational Therapist and is gifted with working with kids. Turns out there’s a class for Anna right around the same time.

Turns out, he loved it.

There were so many awesome moments (that started even before we left the house):

1. There was no issue about wearing the shirt we bought for him which was sleeveless (if you’ve been following along you know he has a strong dislike for short-sleeved shirts).
2. He ate all his broccoli at dinner without complaint.
3. When it was time to leave the house to go to gymnastics he was excited.
4. When we pulled up to the building he got out of the car, peeked into the big glass windows and saw a giant pirate ship along one wall of the building. Not only is there an actual ship structure coming out of the wall but there is a big pit of foam blocks under the ship for the “water” and the kids get to jump off the ship into the water. 
5. We went in and they immediately went over to the baby play area while waiting for their classes. They watched the other kids, paying particular attention to any and all action around the pirate ship.
6. Anna’s class started first. She got right in line and off she went. She loved it. Jumping, somersaulting, walking on the balance beam, etc. At the end of her class she got to play on the pirate ship and one of my favorite moments was watching her stand at the edge and jump off the side into the big blocks of foam. She hesitated just long enough for it to mean something and then jumped in.
7. While Simon was waiting for his class to begin he was playing Angry Birds on my phone. A couple minutes before class started another boy who looked to be about his age walked in, took off his shoes and looked around. I saw him notice that Simon was playing Angry Birds. He walked over to Simon and stood right behind his chair, maybe just a little too close for someone he didn’t know, watching him play. I  saw the boy’s Dad watching me watching them. He said the boys name in a way that meant “move back” and I said, “that’s okay, I think they are going to be in class together.” At that point the boys got introduced to one another (“Simon, this is M, he’s going to be in your class.”) and ended up having a little discussion about Angry Birds and Simon shared my phone with M so he could have a turn too. I live to celebrate moments like this – little social successes that maybe, just maybe will begin a friendship.
8. Around this time their teacher came over and met Simon and chatted about Angry Birds for a few minutes before they moved out onto the actual exercise area. It was beyond awesome to see him continue to be excited as the three of them took off for class. They started on the big trampolines which seemed to me like the perfect place to begin (and something Simon has loved to do before at another local gym).
9. Our goal with this class is exercise and strength building and if it can be fun, well, even better (and if he ends up making a friend that would be so awesome). He definitely got exercise and he was definitely having fun and if he keeps at it he will definitely develop some strength. The class was long enough (an hour) for it to mean something and long enough for him to get tired (which isn’t hard when you aren’t really that physically active in the first place). He was bright eyed, following directions, and he was trying. That willingness to try, in an of itself, is huge.

He ended the class the same way he began, with a very big smile – asking if we could go back tomorrow.

The other night Simon asked me for a pen and some paper.

This is what he drew.

Not tracing.

Looking at a picture and then drawing it.

You better believe there was a whole lot of “Simon, that is so awesome.”

I think someone might need his own sketchbook.

Simon Edwards | Obi-wan vs. Anakin from Ali Edwards on Vimeo.

Last week while I attended his IEP meeting Simon got to hang out with his friend Ben. Ben and his Dad had just been perfecting the art of stop-motion and taught Simon the basics. We left there with the name of a small camera and the software (Frame By Frame) Simon needed to make some of his own videos here at home.

The camera arrived over the weekend and he’s been making little videos daily since then. This first one is about 9 seconds long – you might have to push play twice (for some reason I did). So cool.

Last week Simon got to be Katie’s patient in one of her college classes.

She’s studying to be a Dental Assistant and asked me if he could be her patient for some x-rays. I asked Simon if he would be willing and he was – he thinks Katie is pretty darn cool and was excited to see her at school.

She and Simon have a really great relationship so I was interested to see if the fact that she was the one doing the x-rays would make a difference in how the whole experience was for him. He’s been doing really good at the dentist the last few visits but it’s still not his favorite thing (seriously, not sure how many people count going to the dentist as a favorite thing but you know what I mean) and it’s been a challenge to get x-rays done for him in the past.

I picked him up a few minutes early from school on Wednesday and we headed out to her college (there’s a whole dental clinic there).

I filled out some paperwork and he played Angry Birds in between attempting to sneak away to find Katie. Chris arrived just as Katie came out to the waiting room to invite Simon back for the x-rays.

First thing she did was take his blood pressure. Chris and I each took a bunch of photos with our phones (hence the black and white photos you see here – not great lighting in the dental clinic) and Simon was all smiles and just so happy.

Then Katie walked him down the hall to the small room with the x-ray machine.

This was not just any old x-ray, it was a panoramic. Above you can see where she was getting him set up (he wore a vest for the actual x-ray) – standing with his toes on the line and his mouth on a bite plate.

He did awesome during the whole process. A completely willing and eager patient – no complaining or asking if we could leave, no expressions of anxiety – he simply followed Katie’s directions with enthusiasm.

The whole thing took about 30 minutes. The actual x-ray portion was pretty quick and then we waited a bit for the x-rays to be developed.

He was so excited to see the pictures of his teeth. They came out great.

Nice job Simon and nice job Katie. So glad you are a part of our lives.

I asked Simon last night what was his favorite part and he said, “I saw my teeth on the pictures.”

COOL THING #1 | This photo. Katie snapped it during the craziness of the birthday party, after the kids had finished the treasure hunt (the glasses were some of the prizes). I’m thankful that this was my prize.

COOL THING #2 | Simon getting an email from my parents first thing in the morning with an interactive card and fun Spongebob game. I’m thankful for all the ways my parents have connected with Simon.

COOL THING #3 | For his party Simon really wanted to have “marshmallow lasagna.” The idea for this dessert came about from a show called Wubbzy and he’s talked about it from time to time in the past. I googled “marshmallow lasagna” and found a few different recipes. We ended up doing a modified version of this one – it’s basically a smores casserole and it is super, super sweet. For some reason (most likely it’s part of the Wubbzy episode that Simon has memorized) he asked for grated cheese on top of his. I’m thankful that he wanted to try something new.

COOL THING #4 | The kids really played together. There was chasing (Simon’s favorite), and laughing, and running around upstairs and downstairs, and light sabers and swords. More than half (actually most) of the kids at Simon’s party are somewhere on the autism spectrum. They’ve been in the same program with each other since kindergarten and we’ve watched each of them grow and develop over the last few years. Most of the same kids were here last year and this year there was really a difference in the way they interacted with one another. I’m so thankful to those kids and their parents for showing up.

COOL THING #5 | I got some photos that I really like of all the kids together eating at the table. I’m not going to be sharing them here but I’m really happy that I took them. Those photos especially remind me just how old he is getting. I’m thankful for the chance to share these photos of friendship with Simon.

COOL THING #6 | My sister sent a bouquet of birthday balloons for Simon. I’m thankful for my sister who is always so thoughtful when it comes to celebrations.

COOL THING #7 | Chris organized a fun treasure hunt (you can see the flier he made up in my Project Life post here) that included five different pirate treasures. I’m thankful for the relationship that Chris has built with Simon and for the one they are building now.

COOL THING #8 | Lots of Ninjago. I’m thankful that Simon’s current favorite lego theme has books available.

COOL THING #9 | The nap time after the party. An early in the day party meant time left in the day for a nap on the couch for me. I’m thankful that Anna took a nap (she was exhausted from the excitement) and that Simon was ready and willing to play in peace and quiet with his new toys.

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Last year I did a Nine Years of Simon post featuring a layout from each year of his life. That was such a fun process of looking back that I decided to do it again this year with ten different layouts.

I’ll have a birthday party weekend recap to share tomorrow.

This was Simon’s writing homework prompt last week. Love.

Dear Simon,

Last night you had your Fourth Grade Open House. Here’s what I learned:

1. The technology in your classroom is so cool. You showed me how you use/play with Garage Band. I thought it was cool just watching you walk over to the computer cabinet and carefully pull one out and bring it back to your desk, hugging it to your chest the whole way. I also liked seeing the  “clicker” that each kid uses to “log-in” to the main computer when they arrive in the classroom.

2. The garden right outside the window of your classroom is so beautiful. Right now there are rows and rows of sunflowers. I got to see a great photo that your teacher took of you standing out in the sunflowers on a day that your class spent some time outside sketching (and learning about Vincent Van Gogh and his sunflower paintings). I also noticed at least two very giant pumpkins growing out in the garden. The garden is one of your teachers passions and I really like that about her. She brought in this bowl of little tomatoes and your sister ate about ten of them.

3. Daddy and I got to ask your teacher about spelling homework and tests. You’ve brought home spelling homework the last couple of weeks and have been really frustrated at not immediately knowing how to spell all the words. We’ve been talking about how that’s part of the process of learning – but sometimes that’s hard to understand. She gave us some good tips, suggestions, and perspective and let me know that it was more important for you to just say the words out loud, spell them out loud and then write the words on the line vs. me just saying the word out loud and you guessing the first time. We’ll try that next week.

4. It was so awesome to see the math papers on your desk! We saw that you are learning about the Distributive Property (“The Distributive Property lets you multiply a sum by multiplying each addend separately and then add the products”). Here’s an example that I found online:

4 x 53
(4 x 50) + (4 x 3)
200 + 12
212

I love that you are learning this skill – I think it’s going to come in handy as you get into bigger numbers. I don’t think I learned to do arithmetic that way when I was in fourth grade so I might need to do a little practicing with you to get the hang of it.

5. We got to visit all your past teachers again. It’s always fun to see you want to see them, say hi, give them a hug as you make your way through the building.

Fourth grade seems to be off to a great start. We are so proud of you Simon! Keep up the great work.

Mama

We’ve been taking the slow route in helping Simon learn to ride his bike.

Slow and deliberate with lots and lots of confidence-building praise and support.

While visiting my brother and his family we took him to a track to get in some more practice.

He was doing so awesome…better than ever with his balance.

I had the video camera rolling so he could see that he really was doing it. He loved seeing those videos and it was such a good reminder to me that he’s a visual kid and seeing himself in action is a great teaching tool. My favorite parts of the video (which are much to shaky to share) are hearing my brother and sister-in-law cheering in the background as Chris takes his hand off the bike or Simon’s back. There’s so much love in their voices.

And then he got going a bit too fast around a corner.

There was a crash.

And lots of tears.

And lots of comfort.

And maybe even a bit of chocolate cake with the sentiment “way to go Simon” written in blue icing on top after dinner to celebrate all the awesome riding he’d been doing before the crash and maybe, just maybe encourage him to get on his bike again.

We were a bit worried he’d resist getting back on his bike after the crash but he was totally ready to try again.

Even a rainbow and a bunch of crows showed up to give him some support.

That willingness to try again after falling off…it’s so huge.

He got right back on and was totally excited all over again.

Keep practicing buddy – we know you can do it!

THIRD GRADE FIELD TRIP = 80 KIDS + 20 ADULTS + 2-HOUR BUS RIDE EACH WAY + OREGON COAST AQUARIUM + LUNCH AND EXPLORATION AT THE BEACH

I have things I want to say about this adventure but the words seem hard to come by tonight.

Some stories simply aren’t easy to document because the layers run deep.

There’s my story, his story, and our story (the intersection of the two).

I’m wavering between facts and feelings and the parts that were fun for Simon and others that were a bit tough for my heart to witness. He’s getting older and the kids are getting more socially sophisticated and that gap is getting bigger.

And yet, he is happy. He loved having a field trip, loved going to the beach, loved seeing the fish, loved having Doritos in his sack lunch, and he loved having me come along. And more than likely that’s really all that matters.