Bucket List: Father / Son Campout

My wife deserves all the credit for this one.  Many LDS Wards / Congregations have a Father / Son Campout.  I remember my first one with my dad was at Camp Maluhia on Maui and it was awesome . . . until I cut my ankle open at 1am and my dad had to take me to the emergency room.

Big helpers setting up the tent

 

There was much deliberation on my part whether or not I should take the kids to the campout. . . . I am honestly not a great outdoorsman and the thought of spending a Friday Night sleeping on the ground and possibly, having to work through breakdowns or fights wasn’t my idea of a fun night.

However, the boys really did fantastic.  The campground was in American Fork Canyon and is literally 15 minutes from our home.  The boys were SO EXCITED – my wife took them to the store to pick out a special ‘camp candy’ and off we went!  The boys helped me set up the tent, carry everything from the car, and off they went to chase one of their friends.

Being a stay-at-home dad, one of my biggest pet peeves is being at a public setting (gym class, water park, etc) and having non-attentive parents who, pardon the phrase, but lack of parenting put their kids and mine in tough situations. . . . parents who are too busy talking on the phone to notice their kid is pushing and cutting in gym . . . . or pushing all the other kids off the water guns at the park and my kids patiently waiting their turn.  Life isn’t fair . . I get that . . . but this really gets under my skin.

Well, imagine 20 kids around a campfire with 3ft long sticks in the fire and each of them checking their stick . . . .or running to meet a friend . . . or putting the stick in someone’s face to ‘blow out the candle.’  Ugh!  I guess dads aren’t any more attentive than their spouses.  :)

Enjoying their tent candy

It was cold that night and as soon as the boys were in bed, they were out cold.  We woke up the next morning and Twin A (momma’s boy) wanted to go home to see mom but I held him off for a few hours so they could eat breakfast and hang out a little longer.

Post camp results. One happy mommy & two tired kiddos

I’m glad my wife really made it possible for us to go on the campout . . . encouraging and pushing me to do this.  I’m thankful for the kids that include my twins and have fun with them . . . . some of the others don’t and that’s fine but there are some kids that are exceptional and for them, I am truly grateful.

Looking forward to our next Father / Son Campout.

Perfect 10 – our year in Gym!

The boys have been preparing for and anxiously waiting for their Gymnastic Show that happened this past Saturday.  We’ve had the boys in gym class for the past 6-7 months and while it has been a struggle at times, it has definitely paid off for the boys.  During the first classes, we had breakdowns every few minutes . . . tears from each every class . . . and I was ready to just call it quits each time we went.  However, here we are six months later and I can leave the class for 15 minutes and come back and both boys are still happy.  Wow . . . . .

The Rope Swing! What kid doesn’t love this one?

I can’t remember who suggested we try a gym class but the lead teachers at this class have been exceptional.  When I approached the main instructor about the boys and mentioned their autism, she suggested putting the boys in a morning class since it would only have a handful of students, and I’d be able to watch and help (if needed) in the morning – the afternoon classes are ‘drop off only’ since the classes are so full and the noise level is tough to tolerate. . . . not to mention the chaos of having so many kids doing different activities at once.  She said the boys will probably do well in the ‘structure’ of gymnastics but have to learn to deal with other students since they are all waiting for a turn.

And DONE! Final practice before the ‘big day’

Sure enough, we’ve had our challenges . . . . excited little boys tend to ‘skip’ stations and both of our boys get very upset when some of their classmates do that.  We’ve had bumps and small run-ins, one twin being picked to ‘lead’ the class and the other doesn’t . . .  all of these are ‘real life’ things that they will have to deal with and while it has caused tears and frustration, it has gotten considerably better over the course of the year.

Congrats Boys!

The gym classes have focused on a number of skills (hopping, somersaults, pullups, balancing, etc) that the boys are working on in their APE (Assisted PE) classes and I’ve noticed that they’ve progressed at school as a result of their gym class.  I’ve been trying to get to class a few minutes early so the boys can run around and talk with the other kids . . . it has been fun to watch their play and interaction with others.  They are now SO EXCITED to go to the gym and from a parent’s point of view, it’s considerably less stressful.  :)

A Proud Mom with her Boyz

I do get a little defensive when I hear other boys tell my boys to ‘hurry up’ but I know that’s just little kids being little kids.  I also know I get anxious and nervous when I see how good some of the kids pick things up and how long it’s taken my boys to do a fraction of it. . . . . However, I remember something I learned serving a LDS Mission when I was 19.  I was talking to my mission president (our adult leader) about a particular missionary in my area that just couldn’t / wouldn’t focus on certain activities that were expected of missionaries.  After venting my frustration, my mission president calmly told me that sometimes, we need to consider how far someone has come.  It’s easy to hold everyone to the same standard and get frustrated when people don’t meet that expectation . . . however, sometimes we need to take a step back and realize how far people have come . . . .and how much work it’s taken some people to get to where they are.

What a Fantastic Day! Congrats Boys!

I think of that conversation often with my boys and realize, they really have come so far and they both exhibit so much courage in a world that is considerably different than and exponentially more difficult to navigate than when I was little.  As they stood on the podium raising their hands and receiving their medals, I couldn’t help but realize that these two little boys have come so far . . . . do so well . . . and are examples to me in so many ways. . . . proud day.  Thanks boys for being my idols.  I love you both and want you to know that just like I watch and cheer you on during your performance, I will do that every day of your life.  It’s a privilege to be your dad.

Communicating with Autistic Kiddos

My wife and I had a conversation the other night about how ‘literal’ our boys see things and view the world.  We have fabulous friends up the street who have an older boy (11 yrs old) who is autistic and they have him mainstreamed.  She has shared some of the growths . . . struggles . . .triumphs . . . and challenges they’ve had along the way.  Sidenote – this is a really amazing family and I’ve noticed how thoughtful and considerate they are of others . . . great examples for me!  :)

GGGGOOOAAALLLL!!!!

Anyway, our daughters are on the same soccer team and they’ve started the spring schedule with two tough games and really got smashed both games . . . . . though they did win today 5-0 so it’s either hit or miss with our team.  Our friends mom, A mentioned that her daughter (let’s call her “C” for this post) felt ‘deflated’ after the past game.

On hearing that, the autistic 11 yr old mentioned that, “yeah when ‘C’ (sister) was a baby, she was pretty chubby but she isn’t chubby anymore, huh?”  Interesting how he understood ‘deflated’ and thought of it that since his sister is running around and exercising, she is losing weight  versus how the moms were talking about it in terms of spirit and morale.

Found this on google – had to chuckle at it

Got me thinking a lot about communication nuances and  what it’ll be like when the boys get older  and we have those types of nuances come up in their social conversations.  There are simple ones now that come up that we explain and I’m not sure how much of it really comes across to the boys but I’m sure we’ll have some fun ones along the way.  I was extremely impressed that our 11-yr old friend had, on his own, thought through what “deflated” meant and how it could possibly relate to this situation and had made a very good inference to it’s meaning.  That was fantastic to see!

Have any you’d care to share?

Utah Valley University – Light It Up Blue Balloon Launch!

Man it has been a BUSY 24 hours . . . . it’s 10:30pm on Saturday Night and we still are waiting for one more person to arrive before we can hit the sack!  It all started last night with a ‘team and family meeting.’  We are on a Ragnar Relay Team (12 crazy individuals running something like 250 miles over a 36 hr period) and had the first get-together last night which included kids and families.  It was great to see the boys running around playing hide and seek with friends. . . . .  late night and it just kept coming from there!  Here’s how today turned out:

8:30AM: For the past two months, we’ve been meeting with students from the education dept at BYU – participating in their studies of families with special needs children.  Today was our final meeting and we are grateful for their help and advice over this research period.  The three ladies were fantastic!  Awesome ideas . . . great social stories and charts . . . . pictorial to use as well . . . . fabulous!

9:30AM: Out the door!  The boys had their first soccer game of the season and my daughter was at her game a city over!

Boyz sporting their UVU Fair T-Shirts!

11:30AM: Leave straight from soccer to the Autism Awareness Kickoff at Utah Valley University (read the press release here).  There were festivities, food, games, and the highlight was a blue balloon launch at the start of the baseball game this afternoon.  We stayed for two innings of baseball (and almost watched a mom get hit on the head with a foul ball).

Some ‘friends’ at one of the booths . . .snakes, turtles, lizards and other fun pets!

2:30: Somehow, we ended up leaving the game with one of the boys’ school friends with us so . . . . . even if it isn’t ‘spring weather’ this weekend, we ended up at the park for an hour.

Light It Up Blue!

3:30: SmashBrothers Tournament on the Wii begins!

5:30: Dinner and the arrival of five neighborhood kids that we are babysitting tonight 

7:00pm: School friend goes home

8:00pm: Take other neighborhood kids home

9:00pm: Kiddos in bed – begin cleaning the house for an unexpected house guest staying the night

9:30pm: FINALLY SOME FREE TIME!

 It was a really awesome day.  It was nice to ‘be busy’ all day.  The kids all did well at their soccer games – my wife said the boys game went so well. . . . . the other coach needs to take a few chill pills but she said that the boys really did ok . . . ran after the ball . . . got a few kicks in . . .cheered each other on . . . AND NO BREAKDOWNS!  I’ll post more about soccer in a future post and the struggles we’ve had but at the same time, the amount of growth we’ve seen in the boys.

The UVU Fair was great – we ran into the boys teacher and school facilitator . . . their teacher this year has been extremely helpful in coaching me on different ways to handle things with the boys, something I definitely have learned from and appreciate!  We ran into past teachers who have worked with the boys, facilitators at past schools / programs that have seen their programs blossom and EXPLODE (which we are extremely excited about).  We found out there are pictures of the boys used in pamphlets and some posters at one of their past programs, Kids on the Move,  and we were happy to hear that.  Here’s one of the pics.

Models!

I don’t think any of them read the blog (or even know it exists) but I’d like to tell them all how lucky we are to have them in our lives.  ”Paul,” who was also instrumental in setting up the Peter Pan Ballet Performance we went to a few weeks back, bear hugged the boys and picked them up and had them laughing and cheering . . . . . seriously awesome stuff.  Time for bed!  Hope your weekend was great as well.

Surfer’s Healing – This Picture Made My Day

Volunteer for Surfer's Healing a program "seeking to enrich the lives of people living with autism by exposing them to the unique experience of surfing" ~ you guys rock!

Utah Librarian Starts One-of-a-Kind Program Aimed at Teens with Autism

I came across this story when reading Teri Harmon’s blog and let’s just say, this is awesome!  First, to have a program specifically targeted at kids with special needs.  Also, the article goes into detail on some simple suggestions on how to get your child with special needs reading more ~ check out the story here or by clicking on the picture.

Finally, the librarian, Carrie Rogers-Whitehead also received the Librarian of the Year Award and Distinction in Utah!  CONGRATULATIONS and thank you so much!

Utah Librarian Creates Special Needs Reading Program

Music To My Ears

My favorite time of night is when the kids go to bed!  Disclaimer ~ it’s because not only do I finally get to breathe, but I also get to listen to Gorgeous (one of da boyz nicknames for their momma) play on her cello or piano.

Gorgeous & her Cello

The kids love music, Twin A especially, sings along in the car with a number of songs he hears on the radio.  Recently, we’ve had a few occasions at night where one of the boys has an anxiety attack and they ask for mom to play piano so they can fall asleep.  I thought that was particularly sweet.

He’s so excited

They always pound on the piano with us but today, they got to play on the cello!  Gorgeous got clever and started playing the “Imperial March” from Star Wars.  As you can see from the pic above, Twin B was in HEAVEN!  Fun afternoon.  Thankful for a talented wife.  :)