More Tweetsie shots...

Tweetsie Weetsie...oh what fun!

Greyson and I went to Tweetsie today to see Thomas the Tank Engine. he has always loved Thomas but lately he has taken to really playing with his trains alot again. He did this secretly though thinking it was taboo for him to still love Thomas. He is soooo funny. We headed up to a lovely chorus of him asking.."are we there yet?" "are we there yet?"...only to be asked by me, "have we stopped yet?...do you see a train yet?" hahahahaaaaa Whew....We got there and played, got temp tattoos, bought lots of new train stuff including a train whistle shaped like Thomas. May I add that the whistle is loved by him....he blew it continuously after we bought it. I had to carry all of our stuff because...according to him...."Mommy Lynn, Can't you see I am full handed!?" He has a special language all to himself which totally cracks us up. he is one great guy and we had one great day together. Even if he was full handed!

A Fun Birthday for Mom and a Great Day for Greyson...

Old pic and some wishful thinking! :) Oh how I long for the peace and serenity of the beach...well...maybe not the entire time...huh Susan?

Today is my 47th birthday and I have had a great time so far with Greyson. My mom came up and took me to lunch and then we headed out to the spray ground to play with Ginger and her kids + Ian. :) We just got home and mom headed back to Monroe. I am tired too. Michele's brother and nephew are in town working with her so not sure what tonight will bring. I could use a drink with friends but maybe soon. We shall see. Saturday we are supposed to go to a friends house to celebrate many June birthdays, mine being one of them so that should be fun. Tonight though I could use a drink for sure. Greyson has been doing well. I don't notice his struggles as much as I do when others that aren't as used to him are around. When mom was here today I seemed to notice some things more since she isn't as used to him as we are dealing with it daily. Funny how that works. He had a great day and gave me some wonderful things. I have two new rocking chairs that he hand picked from Lowe's with Michele. She said he sat in them all to find just the right ones for me. He explained some of them were just two "shakedy"...and he needed them to be smooth for me. hahahahahahaaa We now have a wii fit too. I am excited and offended all at the same time. They must think I need to whoop myself into shape or something. It's all good. Mainly because I do need to. Anyway...lately I have been more focused on how much I need to watch each thing I say to Greyson. He is so so literal and I have known this for a long time. Unfortunately I still tend to open my mouth and insert my foot so far in it's pathetic. I have tons of moments and I do mean tons...where I say something only to be immediately thinking..."come back....get back in my mouth!" Reason being, he will be calling me on it. My lesson here is clear people...I need to listen and think before talking. and yes....it is extremely hard for me as most of you already know. Whew...I am going to start writing all these down when I do it...It alone will lead to a book one day. One that will make you pee your pants. You too Susan...the creatures in the sea water incident is right up there with this sister! I am not alone! Thank God! hahahahahaaaaa my concern is...Will I EVER learn? I want to so I must dedicate myself to creating that possibility for me and for Greyson. It would be such a win for us both. Choose your words carefully. "I am my word" so I must be careful what words I choose. Right? We are what we think. All that we are arise with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make our world.-Buddha

It's Sunday June 7th...Sunny Day!

We headed off to Denver NC yesterday to celebrate our friend Sue's birthday. they have a pool so Greyson got to go swimming. He had so much fun even thought the day started a little overcast. The sun did come out and burned us all really good. I have3 got to do a better job with the sunscreen. I have been slack here lately with it and we have been getting a little red in color. hahahaaaa. (Much to Greyson's dismay.) Today we are looking for some fun and I have yet to figure out just what we will do. He is always happy to stay inside but I am lobbying for an outdoor adventure. Good luck to me. Momom is working as usual and we are here hanging out together trying to come up with a plan. I may just say get in the car and see where we end up. Hopefully somewhere free or cheap. Greyson is doing well. Our friend Diane yesterday noticed a huge difference in him. She had not seen him in months and was surprised at the difference in him. We have all seen it but I know it is drastic when someone who hasn't seen him in a long time notices the change in him. It's harder to notice when we are with him 24/7 but it's there and it has been a wonderful blessing. Seeing him transform into a more confident boy who listens better. (there are times when I full on eat those words but he is much better) hahahhaaa He is a great guy and we love him dearly. I still tend to want everyone to understand him because I don't want them passing judgement on him but I do know I need to stop that. I get sort of over protective about his Asperger's and want everyone who encounters him to understand why he sometimes acts the way he does. Not everyone can understand and not everyone cares or wants to understand. I do know that...but I still throw it out there sometimes. I need to stop. I am sure it is done for him and for us trying to make sure people know...he's not a bad kid nor are we bad parents. Michele doesn't like me doing it and doesn't think I need to explain to anyone our business. I get that to some degree although at times I think it is very necessary. That is one I will have to do some soul searching about. Anyway...i can't wait to have some great adventures with our school friends this summer. We are planning to get with several of them to go fun places and have a grand time. It should be fun and there should be many a story to tell. Good day everyone. Until next time...Hugs.

Last Day of School...so sad & happy all at the same time!

You've come a long way cowboy!

Today was Greyson's last day of school and the kids had a blast. They did a special poem and dance for Suzy & Cymnatha, watched movies, ate McDonald's hamburgers, and played outside. Oh what fun. Greyson had the best year and I can't believe how quickly it went by. He grew by leaps and bounds academically, physically, and mentally. Most of all his self esteem & confidence level, thanks to Suzy and some great therapists, has grown the most. He is like a whole new boy. It amazes me what a difference a nurturing and loving environment can make. When a school truly focuses on the individual child, and where they are, so much can happen. I think the teachers and the children grow from that. Everyone benefits from the growth that occurs. In life you should never let things become to comfortable, for when you aren't facing the challenges you are not growing. If you are complacent to things being good, happy, and comfortable and you want to be rid of those who throw you curves, then you my friend are missing something important. We all, at times, would like to stay in our comfort zones but where would that leave us? Where is the room to learn and grow? When you stop controlling things so that they all fit into your perfect comfortable world and allow some things that don't to enter, you open yourself up to limitless possibilities. So many of our schools are missing that fact. They want kids like Greyson to go away. They are too much trouble to deal with because we will have to think of new ways to handle these children. God forbid we have to think outside the proverbial box! Well guess what? More of them are being born each day and the quicker you learn from these children the more you have to gain. It's not always about what's easy. There is so much more there to gain if you would be open to the gifts they have to offer. Well, CCS is open to the gifts. The gifts of all these children. Is it easy for these teachers? NO. But thankfully they are up for the challenges and they give it there all. The school and it's staff are better for it. Thank you CCS and staff for a job well done. A job most people would rather someone else do. That's what truly identifies the great teachers from the ones that are just there plugging along day to day. Teachers jobs are hard and they NEVER make enough money, but some of them are there each day invested in the success of each child there. They rise above and they are the cream of their profession. Obviously if you follow our blog you know I believe Greyson's teacher to be one of the best.

Thank you Suzy...you are one of them and all the lights you just set free will shine for years and years to come. You are one of the teachers they will remember even upon graduating college! They shine only because you do my friend. You light up the room with your love and we all see it.

Hooray for summer. You deserve a break to renew, refresh, and replenish your soul. Kudos! Love & hugs...Happy summertime! Go enjoy your little lights now!

As for Greyson guys...he is ecstatic that it is summer but he is missing his great school. Lots of play dates everyone!

Last week of school so far...

We shall miss the "red door" over the summer!

I will start with Monday. Greyson headed off to school and had a fun day. Things are winding down and they are having alot of fun there at school. I don't think there were any grand stories here he was just being his normal Greyson self. Yesterday I sent him off and it was Imaginon day. Yay...he loves that. After school we headed home and he got to relax before his Karate class. I am taking a seminar with Landmark for a 10 week period so each Tuesday evening form 7-10pm I am there. Greyson and momom get time for love and bonding while I go off to work on my reaction time if you will. hahahaaaaa (Remember the Speed Park?) Michele said he did awesome at Karate Tuesday night so I was very proud of him. What a guy he is. So...after I got him he was passed out and Shel and I stayed up a little and talked. We decided to go to bed around 12 or so and obviously we missed all the action on our street. Someone was shot about 5 houses down and is in critical condition. We slept through that somehow. Seriously? Sirens, police, fire, medic....scary huh? (Us sleeping through all that is what scares me most) But I am concerned about the extra curricular activities at the house down the street too just in case you were wondering. :) So...today was Wednesday and it was field day at school. I showed up and tried to help out some. The kids were having fun but it was extremely hot. They played lots of games, drank water, ate orange slices, and other fruit. We played and played and then came on in for lunch. I had a gift for Greyson's awesome teacher and I didn't want to wait until the last day to give it to her. She is and has been such a blessing to us. I will miss being in her class but I know we have a good teacher for next year as well so I am happy with that. I will try not to be comparing her to Ms Suzy since those shoes will be hard to fill. :) Have I mentioned that Ms Suzy is teacher extraordinaire? Probably not huh? Do you all get it that I think she is right up there with Grandma Griffin in the world of teachers? That is HUGE! OK...I will let it go for now. So....today....we had so much fun at school. I was there all day, and then we headed home to throw our bags down and head back out to OT. I knew it would be a challenge since his day had been a work out already. He did OK but did have some moments of not being so cooperative. Go figure...I was not surprised nor was I disappointed. I know when to cut the boy some slack at least. Maybe not at the Nascar Speed Park but I can at least do it today. Now it is bedtime and he just came into the room begging for my hugs. He had a bad night while playing with the neighbors. Their dog bit at this leg and scared him half to death. He was balling so he is very needy tonight from that incident. I am off to snuggle with him now. He is fine but scared none the less. Goodnight all and hugs to you...we shall check back tomorrow with Thursday fun.

Nascar Speed Park Race before the last week of school...

This photo should have been a forshadowing of things to come....

Well let me try to catch you up on our past few days. I have to go back to Saturday I guess. Michele had to work and Greyson and I hung out at home. I tried unsuccessfully to get him outside to play but he wasn't having it on Saturday. She came home and we cooked dinner together. After that we watched TV and eventually headed off to be. Sunday was actually the fun day for all of us. We took Greyson over to Concord Mills to ride go karts at Nascar Speed Park. He loves that and they have been before. I, being more the worrier, had not been to witness this amazing feat. Little did I know Greyson had only ridden the slower karts in the past and for future reference...this was not disclosed to me on Sunday. One more thing...our son...and safety issues and not one. Aspergers kids tend to have no fear about certain things and do not always recognize the obvious safety issues that others may get right away. so.....now that you are up to date with this...let's get back to the fun stuff. Greyson and momom get tickets to ride the go Karts. There are several choices some for smaller riders/beginners if you will and then some faster. Greyson is also a big kid. Which due to his height, he can usually qualify for rides that he probably shouldn't even be on. So...I am ready to take pictures and mini movies while they hop on the "Family 500" Off they go and Greyson is digging this...his race kart is really fast and he even lapped momom. This was because her kart was really really slow. Rascal Scooter slow people! Hell...one of those could have lapped her! so there they were going round and round and having a blast while I looked on. Then it happened. The ride was on it's last lap and the "race boys" were preparing to let the next group go. One guy came out on the track with a whistle and motioned them into the "pit area". At that point the kart drivers come in slowly and stop preparing to get out. Well not so much for Greyson...as he rounded the last turn and the guy motioned him in he gunned it, passed 2 karts in the turn going into the pit area, and then ran almost full speed into the 5 karts lined up awaiting dismount. All this while I stood helplessly watching the whole thing...in slow motion may I add and screaming in the long drawn out deep voiced..."NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" He hit the karts and the lead kart was pushed out about 2 kart lengths while the "race boy" waiting at the pit hopped out of the way spastic like. Then I somehow turned into a mom possessed. You know the moments...the ones when you are too preoccupied with what the other people are thinking so you run over and try to prove that you have to teach your child the right lesson. Well...hello....I am screaming Greyson, "You have to use your break when coming in to stop...You cannot just slam into everyone because you could have hurt someone." So...now he is embarrassed and bummed. I am having a "not a great mommy" moment and to say the least I am not proud. And Michele who saw nothing and crawled in on her rascal scooter is saying to me, "You need to calm down!" "He didn't know. He has never ridden these fast ones before." OK....News flash to me...and lesson most important here is...if he is doing anything remotely dangerous for the first time...we can take absolutely NOTHING for granted. Especially not where safety is concerned. Good lord....I can laugh now but I thought I was gonna have a freakin' heart attack. Funny the things we take for granted...even after a year of knowing his issues/challenges. We have to be on guard to some extent at all times. Needless to say we survived the incident and no one, besides me, yelled at him for his little mishap. So...we left and headed home. Momom got some new work shorts and Greyson had the ride of his life. I learned that I have to work on how I react to things alot more than I have been. Calm...Stay calm. Later that night we cooked out with some friends, hung out for a while and then headed home to bed. The weekend complete! Next up...the Last week of school...