Today we celebrate Blue and the beginning of his 12th year of life. There is much to celebrate as he has come such a long way over the past year. You may be wondering why I refer to the boys as Red and Blue. Well..when I started seriously blogging I thought the colors suited their personalities. Red is the explosive like dynamite. (Today is not his day so I'm not going to go in to detail about him.) Last year in 5th grade, Blue was very sad, anxious and kind of...Blue.
He started to feel different than his peers and he wasn't quite sure why. He loathed the fact that his anxiety was so high -that he was deathly afraid of thunderstorms. He felt defeated every time he had the compulsion to hide in the bathroom with fan, earplugs and IPod for hours on end. He had frequent misunderstandings with classmates and sometimes with teachers. P.E. was a nightmare with so many kids and so much noise.
It made him sad when he would get angry and say mean things, and subsequently feel really bad about it afterward. He couldn't control his anger. He knew that some of his classmates thought he was a little "weird". He tried desperately to please them and fit in. He wanted to be funny like the popular boys so he tried to imitate them, but the kids didn't laugh.
1 year and a small dosage of medication later, he has come into his own. As he celebrates his 12th birthday, he has a 4.0 grade point average and has been invited to participate in some wonderful challenging classes and activities. He now works well with his peers and has developed excellent leadership qualities. He is still not in love with thunderstorms, but they no longer bring life to a grinding halt. He's getting there on that one.
His fuse is a little longer than it used to be. For instance today at school some kid called him chubby and he didn't go ballistic. He didn't go running to a teacher either. In fact, he didn't say anything. It hurt his feelings enough to tell me about it, but he readily excepted my explanation:
"Sometimes middle-school boys are just rude and silly. There will be a fare share of name-calling mostly because they are insecure and want to make themselves feel better. You just have to try to ignore it, unless it makes you really uncomfortable, then you let them know."
"That's why I am so glad I have you, because you love me more than anyone," he responded. My heart absolutely melts.
I told him I still remember the teasing I got in middle school when my nose was much bigger than the rest of my face. They called me "Sir Nose". Lovely! My nose is still on the grander side of life, but I have learned to live with it. I even have my days when I think I'm pretty darn cute! Make-up helps a lot!
This weekend he will have an all boys birthday party here at the house. They will play games, eat pizza and just hang out. The party will include a friend he has known since 1st grade who has since moved on to another school. He will also have the twins that he has known since pre-school and a new friend he made this year. For someone with Aspergers he's doing pretty darn well in the friendship department. Of course, some of his friends also have special needs but they all get along great.
I am so proud of my birthday boy! He makes me glad I decided to try one more time for a girl. Instead, I got the most special boy a mom could ask for.
He started to feel different than his peers and he wasn't quite sure why. He loathed the fact that his anxiety was so high -that he was deathly afraid of thunderstorms. He felt defeated every time he had the compulsion to hide in the bathroom with fan, earplugs and IPod for hours on end. He had frequent misunderstandings with classmates and sometimes with teachers. P.E. was a nightmare with so many kids and so much noise.
It made him sad when he would get angry and say mean things, and subsequently feel really bad about it afterward. He couldn't control his anger. He knew that some of his classmates thought he was a little "weird". He tried desperately to please them and fit in. He wanted to be funny like the popular boys so he tried to imitate them, but the kids didn't laugh.
1 year and a small dosage of medication later, he has come into his own. As he celebrates his 12th birthday, he has a 4.0 grade point average and has been invited to participate in some wonderful challenging classes and activities. He now works well with his peers and has developed excellent leadership qualities. He is still not in love with thunderstorms, but they no longer bring life to a grinding halt. He's getting there on that one.
His fuse is a little longer than it used to be. For instance today at school some kid called him chubby and he didn't go ballistic. He didn't go running to a teacher either. In fact, he didn't say anything. It hurt his feelings enough to tell me about it, but he readily excepted my explanation:
"Sometimes middle-school boys are just rude and silly. There will be a fare share of name-calling mostly because they are insecure and want to make themselves feel better. You just have to try to ignore it, unless it makes you really uncomfortable, then you let them know."
"That's why I am so glad I have you, because you love me more than anyone," he responded. My heart absolutely melts.
I told him I still remember the teasing I got in middle school when my nose was much bigger than the rest of my face. They called me "Sir Nose". Lovely! My nose is still on the grander side of life, but I have learned to live with it. I even have my days when I think I'm pretty darn cute! Make-up helps a lot!
This weekend he will have an all boys birthday party here at the house. They will play games, eat pizza and just hang out. The party will include a friend he has known since 1st grade who has since moved on to another school. He will also have the twins that he has known since pre-school and a new friend he made this year. For someone with Aspergers he's doing pretty darn well in the friendship department. Of course, some of his friends also have special needs but they all get along great.
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| Birthday Pancakes 7 a.m. Thanks Mom! |
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| Home-made fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, salad and finally Birthday Cake! |
