Long Days, Well Worth It

*The main subject of the post is......who would of guessed it Josiah, swimming, and autism. I do apologize for any thing that might not make any sense or grammar mistakes(not my thing), but we can just use the excuse that I am tired, yup, tired. *

TIRED

Okay, just a little on the being tired. Josiah sleeps anywhere from 5-9 hours, the latter being less common,  (supposed to get 12-14 hours and I know I could use about 10) a night with getting up 3 or more times a night. then nap time is always up in the air if it is going to happen or not, has been happening lately on a bus ride to swimming (which I promise I will get to-the bus and swimming...). We are waiting to hear from a sleep specialist to get an apt with them. If we do not get a call by next Monday, two weeks from when we got the referral through the pediatrician, then we will be calling the ped back to get things moving hopefully. *fingers crossed, praying, and hoping*

Bus, Swimming, Amazing

Last Thursday, Josiah started swimming with Michael, his swim instructor, again.

The Bus

Since it is at a latter time I take the bus both their and back. Last time it was earlier and hubby would drop me off on his way to work and I would just take the bus back, Josiah loves the bus so either way he is happy and I do not mind (we were taking the bus back and forth to the Kroc center for a while, too and that is a longer trip and latter at night). I was told through someone telling Josiah that I must really love him a lot to take the long bus ride just for a 10 min lesson. I have never even given it a thought of being that out of the ordinary. I just want Josiah to be happy, if it is possible to make him happy. We leave at about 3:55. Today it was more like 3:25 because Josiah was getting impatient and could not wait to go swimming. He kept saying Michael, please! and going to the door and saying "bus, bus". I told him he needed to wait, which turned into crying/tantrum/meltdown. After getting him to calm down a little I decided since last time we left at 3:55 we were late(the first time we were early), that we would just leave at 3:25 and that maybe he would just take a nap on the bus and I could actually study (test tomorrow). One fact about me, you might not know. I HATE being late for anything. Specially if it is something scheduled. I will get a pit in my stomach, horrible feeling, just for being late. Does not matter if the other person(s)/place has no problem with it, it still does not go over to well with me (was late TH, first day too because my sister brought us). Back to the bus. We have gotten there from about 4:40-5:23 when leaving at 3:55. Our swim time is 5:20. Today just like most days Josiah passed out on the bus ride there and was able to nap for a bit before it was time to swim.

Swimming/Amazing

Getting out by himself

If you do not know by now Josiah's favorite person in the world besides certain family members is Michael. There is no doubt in that one. He is the only person besides family that he requests when they are not with him. Most of the time he LOVES swimming. Today was not his best day, we will blame the tired/teething mess he was all night long for that one too. Josiah is really good at swimming, too. If you are familiar with my blog or FB page I am sure you already know this. In that way HE is amazing. His bond that he has with Michael is amazing as well. Even after a day like today when he cried the whole time and even a little after, what does he do when he gets calmed down and Michael is not busy with another little swimmer? Well, he gives him a high five, hug, and a kiss. That is just SO awesome. It took forever for us to get him to hug and kiss back and Michael has been the first non family member to share in Josiah's expression of love.

One happy swimmer

Oh, but that is not all. Swimming with Michael again just brings out so much more in Josiah. He loves to swim with him so much more then Mommy (who is normally harder on him then Daddy, when it comes to swimming) and/or Daddy. We just can not replace his buddy. I think Josiah has adopted him. Beyond his amazing swimming and bond what else could be so amazing about swimming? To start social interaction with other's besides M. All the other kids around. I have noticed at the Kroc center even if kids get interested in his swimming and follow us around he will laugh at certain things and kind of interact with them (normally results in splashing of some sort). The first time I seen this was with Lolo which was so awesome. The Kroc center it is way less the a 50/50 chance of this kind of interaction happening because most kids are busy doing their own thing and Josiah is swimming or hot tubing doing his own thing, but when he is at the pool with M everyone is there waiting their turn. Josiah has copied some parents with clapping and cheering for their children. One day he was copying moves M was teaching an older child to do while swimming. He follows some kids around. The other kids prompt him to interact with them which is great. Specially the older of the two boys who goes right after Josiah. He loves to say hi to Josiah and talk to him. These kinds of interactions happen before and after swimming, but there is still more. Just after his lessons he enjoys laying down calmly with his two towels under him and the other wrapped all around him other then his head. First, the calmly doing something is amazing in its self, but there is more too it then that.

Watching

He watches M teach the other kids. His eyes follow him around the pool. He is people watching and in a way interacting by doing so. For this reason he gets to lay there as long as he wants to. I am not going to rush him to get ready and stop interactions that could happen. How these little things are so AMAZINGLY significant is hard to explain. They are just new social interactions that most kids probably do on a daily bases and they just are not in the complete norm for Josiah. I am sure they have been working on this in ABA, but it is just so great to watch it is person. The little things that most people probably do not see as special or even notice. I notice and I celebrate the little victories and the big ones, too!

OH, OH and I get to take pictures. Which has been interesting to get right with the lighting.

watching Papa

Showing off for papa