I am quite certain that this small event is not blog-worthy, but it's important to me. It shows me that Sam is thinking through and following through in his routines in daily activities, checking up on himself, caring about his environment, and something his dad appreciates... learning to be neat and clean.

Tonight I ran away from home. Literally.

I'm sitting here listening to my two boys run around, play, and fight.... half laughing "You can’t get me, Batman!" and half yelling at each other "I told you to stop!!! MOM!!" Sam (7 1/2 years old, Asperger’s) and Luke (3 1/2 years old) are BUDDIES..... they play dress up together, chase, hide & seek, the Wii, wrestle, sword fighting.... usually ending in both laughter AND tears. My mom keeps telling me "You have been praying for a "normal" brother relationship.... and here it is!"

...my husband, Kent Potter, for catching Luke's vomit in his own hands, twice, at Target.... chunks and all.... and then trying to help the snack bar boy clean it all up (after dumping out the vomit in Luke's crocs, thank goodness for the holes in those shoes!).
And for Best Aim, we have Luke Potter.... who then came home and tried to demonstrate for Sam & Mommy what he did at Target, and, luckily, made it to the toilet this time. He is very proud of himself and will be happy to share and act out the entire story with you ("Mom, I threw up just like this!") once fully recovered.

While I'm at my parent's house this weekend, I am cleaning out some files that I brought along.... including birthday party ideas, natural cleaning product recipes, Christmas, "dream house" (we won't be using that file anytime soon!) and the largest file of all- Autism. I have every single piece of paper from every single developmental pediatrician appointment, ARD meeting, therapist evaluation & notes, school notes that Sam has ever received... plus I have bulging files on contact information, biomedical interventions, therapies to try, education, stories of hope, etc...

My mom had knee replacement surgery 8 days ago. We have been told that this type of surgery has one of the hardest recoveries. Fortunately, once the surgeons started to operate they realized they only had to do a partial replacement. Mom was not looking forward to the surgery itself, but she was looking forward to finally having her knee stop hurting so much.

I love creativity.... painting, coloring, scrapbooking memories, craft projects, decorating for parties, wrapping gifts, even organizing (sometimes that involves a lot of creativity!). I love being creative and nurturing creativity in my boys. Luke has always loved an art project or an "un-project"- just playing with play-doh, stickers, or paint.... the most important kind of art that is unstructured and free.

I don't think I have ever seen my husband as excited as when he saw his Father's Day gift from the boys.

My 3 1/2 year old Luke is a lover of anything sweet. He loves cookies, candy, gum, cupcakes, chocolate... anything made with sugar, and sprinkles make things extra special.
Last week, he found a new bag of mini chocolate cookies in the pantry when he was rustling through there looking for a snack. I found this yummy new product at Whole Foods the day before. He brought the bag to me and asked "Can I have some of these for my snack?". I poured about 8 in a bowl for him and he wanted the details...
"What are these called?"
"When did we get these?"
"Is that all I am having?"

Having a child with autism is all consuming. You are constantly thinking about their progress, their regressions, their therapies, their perseverations.... their recovery.