A Day at the Beach

So we had quite the busy weekend. I ended up being in a wedding as and served as a Matron of honor for the first time. All went well, and I was especially pleased that my dress fit and didn't explode half way down the aisle. In fact, it fit pretty great all through the night. Due to being so busy with all of the hullabaloo of this past year, we really haven't been able to devote many days as a full kids day. So on Sunday, we drove out to Grand Haven and celebrated with a day at the beach and the park. With Isaiah and being on the autistic spectrum, we have to prepare him for everything. Aria, you can pick her up and go any where and she is quite pleased. With him, he wants to go, but it's like something inside him hinders him from wanting to transition easily to a new thing. Thankfully due to school, aggressive therapy, family, friends, and even our church, he is doing leaps and bounds better. The doctor's have even suggested that he may grow out of this, due to our hard work and early intervention. So one of the new things for us is taking him to large, over crowded places. It's very overwhelming for him. It tends to be a sensory overload and since he isn't able to decipher anxiety from excitement, he tends to react in frustration. For these bigger tasks, you need two adults, so you can have a one on one ratio or else both kids will reach their breaking point quickly along with the adult who is accompanying them. I admit, I was a little nervous to try, as it's always in the back of your mind, is it worth it to drive all that way, just to have him get terribly upset and have to turn around? So we talked about the beach all the way there and seemed very excited. We got to Lake MI and his eyes were huge. He has only been to the beach a few times, due to it being to much so this was a first for this year. As I applied about a gallon of sunscreen on all of us, he began to beeline it down to the water. We didn't bring swim suits as I thought it would be to cold. I should have thought that all the way through as he ran as fast as he could into, yep you guessed it, the water. Being a germaphobe, it was really hard to take them in the first place as the beaches have E Coli advisories that aren't available until the day after (kind of pointless) but in my own little therapy of my mind, I reminded myself they are kids and they need to have these experiences. So it was a double whammy for us. We set up our little place and Aria began to plow through the sand like it was gold. Isaiah decided his job was to put all the sand back into the lake. He did wonderfully, other than going further and further into the water (what kid doesn't try this?) and did really well. Aria decided to exercise being two and had a few tantrums about not getting her way, but all in all did great. It was gorgeous, the sail boats were out and the lake was just so peaceful. There were people all around and yes, I even got to see my dreaded fear, a child peeing in the water less than 20 feet away. I just sucked it up and even laughed as the child had to have been 3 and was thoroughly fascinated with watching. Ah kids. After we decided to pack up, Isaiah began to get upset, but we continued on with the plan and followed through that he had to obey. He sobbed all the way to the car, but he came without one of us having to pick him up, this is a huge break through. We then thought since they did so well, to take them to this really great park. Of course, both of them thought the party was offer, but alas were amazed at what they saw next. We pulled into the parking area and without us saying a word Isaiah looks up in a amazement and says "OH MY GOSH, IT'S A PARK!! OOH MY GOODNESS!" He has his hands on his face like the kid in Home Alone and just a look of like he won a million dollars. This park is very elaborate, so it was so cool to see his expression of sheer amazement. They both did really well, he acknowledged other kids and even asked them to play. He transitioned easily and they both left the park willingly to go eat. I was so amazed! Seth and I were very pleased. We have now decided to try bigger and bigger outings each week to help improve his progress. It's good for us as well, as have been pretty cooped up in the house. While Isaiah seems to really be doing well, Aria is learning to be 2. She is throwing temper tantrums over her not getting her way and drops down to her face at the drop of a dime. So she is now experiencing the wonderful world of time outs. Thankfully, for now, she seems to be responding to them. She is starting to earn the nickname "Diva," But hopefully this too, shall pass and she'll go back to her sweet self, but man alive she is a spitfire. It's been quite interesting watching their personalities develop. Isaiah and Aria wrestle, build blocks, play little people, and even pretend to cook together. Isaiah seems to not understand some social cues, but Seth is sure if anyone messes with him, Aria is going to deck them. They seem to work well together. For now, Isaiah has a fever that we haven't been able to shake. So we are home bound for now. So hopefully after he shakes it off, we'll be out an about again. After our big outing, I was able to end my day with a lovely two hour mowing of our lawn. It was so relaxing. Seth and I are in the process of praying to G-d for a business idea to go into together. Kind of seems far fetched right now, but with G-d all things are possible. Aurora's birthday is rapidly approaching and she'd be the ripe ole age of 8. Wow. Seeing Aria sure has brought me closer with my ideas of Rory. I bet they would have ruled the roost together, the boys in our house wouldn't have had a chance! Well, my daughter needs some cheese to go with her whine, so I better go. Kids are hard work, but man they sure do make life so interesting! We are blessed, truly blessed. Praise G-d!