Thankful...

I left this post a little late to write.

I come to this post after having a great meal with a great group of people.  And I thought this would be a great time to write this post.  Unfortunately, it went down hill very quickly.

We did have a fabulous meal with part of our homegroup.  We had some great conversation and just a generally awesome time being with friends.  Our children, all 8 of them, we together having a good time...things were going wonderfully!  It was time to eat and Wesley came to his daddy and said "Time to eat."  This is huge.  Wesley has a handful of things that he will eat, some of this being the McDonald's the we fed him on the way over because we knew he wouldn't eat anything while there.  I got him a plate and he picked out mashed potatoes, a piece of turkey and a roll.  I didn't really expect him to eat any of it, but I was optimistic that he would at least take a bite of the mashed potatoes.  Instead, he took his plate and went and sat down with the rest of the children.  With tears in my eyes, I watched him look like the other children...except he wasn't eating.  :-)  I really think he just wanted to do the same as they were doing.  I was so happy at this!  This is a huge thing for a child with autism.

What I missed was the fact that he was zoned out for most of the meal, staring at the fish tank.  This should have sent me a red flag, that things were overwhelming him and that I needed to watch for a good and easy transition to leave.  I was too excited about the progress that I saw.  Instead, I enjoyed myself and let him get really into playing Mario on the Wii...it's the latest obsession, anything to do with Mario.  Then, I sprung it on him..."Time to go!"

"No go! I no go!"

I let him play one more level...that usually helps...and we got sock on pretty well, but that's where he was drawing the line.  No shoes.

Our homegroup is a great bunch of people and they know that we deal with Wesley's autism...they've just never seen a full blown meltdown.   Until tonight.

At this point, this post is exactly what I need.  I need to remember all the little things that I am thankful for.  So, here goes.

my Savior

my husband and how much he loves me

my children

my parents

the fact that I can be a stay at home mom

having such great friends

my church

my bed

Wesley being diagnosed early

Nick being such a gifted child

Rich doing what he loves

the food that we eat

living in such a beautiful state

tea

the therapists and teachers that love my son

the fact that he can say "I love you"

Rich's friends that can give him someplace to go away from the craziness

coffee and coffee goo

awesome tv shows that I zone out on at night

my blog and its readers

Coke Zero

chocolate

the smiles on my kids' faces when I walk into a room

Nick's love of reading

McDonald's

the hugs and kisses from my kids

I could go on...but this post has been successful.  Yes, there was not a great ending to the evening, but my life is so much fuller than what happened tonight.  There are so many things I have to be thankful for.  Thank you for coming by to read this.  You have no idea how much I appreciate it!  :-)