Halloween

Sometimes after my buddy has a birthday, I get caught up in the cycle of all the things I thought he would be doing at this age. Like how my 8 year old is still mostly unintelligible to strangers. Or how he still pulls his CPAP mask off 4 times a night forcing me to wake up and put it back on him so neither of us is sleeping through the night. And nothing gets me more depressed than every single time I change his pull-up. I also flash back to all the time he spent in the hospital when he was born.



Halloween always seems to turn things around. For one, that is the day he came home from the hospital. Plus Halloween is fun! This year, I celebrate the positive milestones. For the first time ever, my buddy told me what he wanted his costume to be and had an opinion when we picked it out. He also anticipated the big night - asking to put on his costume, or go in the car, or simply say, "Halloween please?" He LOVED trick or treating. My buddy was perfectly age appropriate - trick or treating like a pro. He always just took one candy and said Thank You every time. He wasn't scared of the decorations or costumes. He seriously loved the entire evening.





My buddy is also having a good school year. He is maturing and they are reaping the rewards at school... not that he is perfectly behaved or anything. One thing that I've seen this year that has never happened before is work has come home marked with '100% independent'. This is a HUGE milestone. My buddy is listening to instructions, focusing on what his task is, following the directions and actually doing all the work - reading the question and circling the right answer. I don't care what level the work is. He is actually doing it. I couldn't be more proud of him.




My last story really shows his maturation. The kids love to use my keys to unlock the door when we come home. One day after school, I was the last one into the mudroom and I heard my buddy ask for the keys so I handed them to him. Rara started crying saying how she asked first. I told her I was sorry and I didn't hear her. She still cried. Normally at this time my buddy would shout at rara and say, "No crying!! Go to your room!!" But this day, he walked over to her, handed her the keys and said, "OK rara?" I almost fell over in shock. It was the single kindest selfless act I've ever seen him do. I praised him so much and gave him ALL the attention.

I think 8 is going to be a good year.