It's The Summer

     When I say life is hard during the summer, that is the understatement of the century. It's hard for me and Jacob plus I'm sure it's hard for Caleb. Jacob thrives on structure and during the summer there is no structure and I'm not the best at providing what he needs. He gets so bored and therefore starts doing things to entertain himself. I know, I know...you're thinking "entertain himself" isn't that a good thing? Hahahaha, NO!!! The things that he does to entertain himself include the following: hitting Caleb, head butting me in the back, opening and shutting all the doors in our downstairs, grabbing my arm constantly while I'm trying to do anything that doesn't involve him, whining and making messes...oh and begging for junk food constantly. I know this is a long paragraph of nothing but complaints, but it's my blog and that's why I started writing in the first place. This way I don't have to pay a clinical psychologist to hear me whine :)

      This summer has definitely been crazy and not all of it is full of complaints. Erick interviewed and landed a job with CoachComm!! It's a company that makes headsets for football teams. (high school, college, and pro teams) Not only is the job super cool but it's only 15 minutes from our house versus an hour!! We've been able to have lunch with him and he's home an hour and 15 minutes earlier in the afternoons than he used to be.

      Caleb is finally paci free which is a huge relief come bedtime. I no longer have to turn the house upside down to find his beloved paci that he can't go to sleep without. It wasn't necessarily planned but it was beneficial to the discipline that was needed as well as the fact that I could blame it on him for him not having it...I know that's terrible but oh well.

       Caleb is also officially potty trained. It really didn't take long once he realized that he could wear big boy underwear like big brother!! This is another feat that I was dreading. It took a good 4 years until Jacob was completely potty trained and that was the only frame of reference I had. FYI training a kid with autism is WAY different that potty training a typical kid.

       Jacob did really well in his Autism summer school. He excelled in everything that he did. I love summer school for many reasons but the main thing is that it gives him the structure that he needs plus it helps him retain everything he learned in the previous school year. Even though Jacob is doing great in school, we've decided to hold him back. We will be re-doing 1st grade this next year and are really excited about the possibilities that this will bring. Plus, it's looking like he might have the same teacher that he had in kindergarten 2 years ago!!

       We've been able to make a few trips to the beach this year and hope to make it down again before the school year starts. Jacob surprises me every time we go!! Two years ago the kid was afraid of the sand and this year he was in the water almost waist deep, playing in the waves. He was also very interested in catching sand crabs, and looking at them.

        Summer's may be hard, but it's in the summer that I'm stretched. It's the summer that God teaches me patience (and not the easy way). It's the summer that everyone else in the world looks forward to but I dread so bad. I know they say that pride comes before the fall...but for me, Summer comes before the fall!!!