"Can Rock come to the spend the night party Friday"?

Wait. Let me pick my jaw up off the floor. You're asking me if MY rock can come to YOUR typical son's house with he and 2 other typical kids? Do you know what you're saying? You know this kid has autism, right?

The Rock sits next to a sweet little boy in class every day. Andrew is typical, but is always so nice to Rock and LOVES the Transformers. His mom (who also happens to be a friend of mine) wanted him to have his "first spend the night party" last week - just like all his big sisters do. She said sweet little Andrew wanted Rock to come.

I swear I almost cried. So did #1 dad. Not because we wanted to have a date night. Not because we needed a break. But just because he was INCLUDED in an activity with his school friends. Like a normal kid. I didn't think Rock would ever really be the "spend the night party" type.

We talked about it to him all week. How he was going to spend the night at Andrews house, sleep in his sesame street sleeping bag, eat pizza and ice cream, popcorn, and stay up late. We practiced all the stuff you do at a spend the night party. And I silently prayed that he wouldn't pee all over himself during the night.

During that night, Andrew's mom sent me pictures of stuff they were doing and it looked like they were having a great time! I was so happy! I showed them to anyone who would look - random people at winn dixie, my neighbor, anyone. The next morning, #1 dad went to pick him up and she said he did great! The other boys all gave him hugs when he left. #1 Dad said he had to choke back the tears.

So I think Rock will host the next party! I'm sure the other kids will wonder why there are labels on everything in the whole house, but we'll pump them full of so much junk food they won't care.

The Rock has a friend. Actually now he has a few. I don't know if he "knows" they are friends, but they understand that he's different and they don't seem to care. Dream come true.