To the north or the south?

I've come to a fork in the road and I have to decide which direction to go. Neither is the "right" way they are just both very different. They are both going to have winds and bumps but of differing varieties. If I was just making this decision for me it would be easy but I'm not. I just know I can't keep going straight because that leads to nowhere and more frustration.

Happy Birthday Lex!

It's hard to believe my little boy is 3. It seems like we just celebrated his first birthday. I love having this little kid in my life. As tough as things may get his smile can always make me smile, his laugh makes me laugh and he's just a rough and tumble little guy. Autism may be his "label" but he is always just my Lex.

Yay for change!

Lex had his first day of special education pre-k on the first and he LOVED it. I had a hard time with the idea of getting him on the bus and him going to school and then back to daycare but Lex took it in stride. He had no problem getting on the bus in the morning (I was the only one to shed tears), his teacher sent a note home letting us know how the day went and that he will be a great new friend for the other kids and he made it back to daycare with only minimal tears. He went again yesterday and was incredibly excited when he saw the bus pull up in the morning. Today was rough for him, there was no school. When we were leaving for daycare a bus drove by and he ran down the block after it because he must have thought it forgot to stop for him. When we got to daycare he wanted to sit in the spot we normally wait for the bus at but since I had to get to work I insisted he come into the daycare with me which of course set him off (he thrives on routine and this was throwing a wrench in that routine). He was not happy to be at daycare and I can't say I blame him. We will be switching his daycare in just over a week to a home based center where he can have more one on one time with someone that has more special education/autism experience than his current teachers do.

At the end of next week we'll be losing our services with Birth to 3 since he is aging out of the system. I'm really sad that we won't have David and Paula coming into our home weekly. They have been wonderful in the last year and I know Lex loves them. I think for our "wrap up meeting" on Monday we are going to make thank you cards. It's been a gift having them to help us with the tough times and celebrate the good times it's like having a family member leave. After all, Lex isn't the same kid he was when they started with him.

Lex has started babbling and talking a ton more in the last couple of weeks. He is regularly using his signs and he's attempting many more words. Each new attempt makes me excited for the future. I dread the idea that he's growing up and won't be my baby forever but I love seeing him grow, he's an amazing little kid. Each new skill, each new word and each new moment (tantrum, happy or somewhere in the middle) makes me glad to have him in my life.