Happy Halloween!!!
So we started the day a little dubious. I woke up and trudged down the hall to wake the grumps, I mean the girls. They both have alarms...and they both hear them and turn them off. So I go in and make sure they have feet on the floor to make sure the girls are awake. On my way to Sydney’s room I hear a racket outside...it’s the wind! All I could think was “No, no, no...not today!” The idea is to keep Bradley out of the wind, he gets sick when the winds get to him, but today there’s a costume parade at school. Ugh!!! But as Walt Disney used to say “Keep moving forward.” Once Bradley gets up, it’s time to dress in his costume for school. He went with Ironman again...loves him some Tony... actually, he loves the gloves that came with the sui; so much so, when he lost his gloves from last year, we purchased a clearance costume, (next size up) just for the gloves. Turns out he still loves the gloves and despite how much he has grown, still wore the smaller sized costume from last year...apparently, he hasn’t grown THAT much.
His teacher calls me about the wind. There is a Halloween parade at school...is the wind too much? I tell her I’m on my way so I can decide when I get there and if it’s a no, then I can be the bad guy and not anyone from his class. She just laughs at that...and it makes me wonder, are you laughing because you don’t care if you’re the bad guy, or...because I’m funny? Anyway, he is doing great in class until he sees me there, then he is over by me and not wanting to do anything but leave. I don’t know if he remembers the costume parade and so knows what to do, or if he thought I had come to bust him up. So I bust him out and we follow his classmates to the blacktop. Once there, he sees his old class and I watch him move his way through people until he finds his favorite aide and reaches for a hug, and then his besties, and he hugs them and just stands near them for a few minutes. And then he sees his old teacher, and he walks through the others to get to her and hugs her too. But then he moved away from them (they were busy after all) and he sat on the ground near me and just played with my hand and tried to stay awake. I can’t help it, I think he was sad. Once the wait was over and we were able to walk, he perked up and got in line, ready to join the parade. Again, I think he remembers doing this last year. Halfway through, he even started waving to people, and they were waving back to him, it was nice. We did our lap, but then he was done. Winds were picking up and he asked me for water, by then his teacher decided everyone was done and led the way back to class.
So it was different. Some parts were the same, but it was so clear that he was not a part of his other classroom anymore, and I think that today might have been his first real understanding of that change, and I think it made him sad. A busy day, so no written feedback today, but they had prepped a break area so he could have the option of a small rest once we got back to his class, considering he was just wiped out from the winds and the heat, I think he probably took a nap today.
We were slow to head out tonight since we weren’t quite sure who was doing what. Sydney was still recovering so she didn’t plan to dress up. Madison wanted to go to her friend’s house so they could hang out, eat, and enjoy a bonfire. So we dropped her off and took Ironman and Sydney trick or treating. We practiced at home without an audience and got some pretty good “trick” “treat” approximations, but we weren’t sure what we’d get out in the world.
Last year, with just Eric and I, Bradley said a lot of Hi’s and thank you’s. Given a year to grow and develop, we didn’t know what to expect. A pretty good memory was definitely not on the list of expectations. Eric took Bradley next door to trick or treat, then brought him to the car...Bradley really wanted to keep going and wasn’t pleased to be put into the car instead. So he remembered that part. And this year, most people were sitting outside; which was great, unless you are an eight years old and want to ring the doorbell. But he got over that, eventually. The first house, he made an almost clear “trick, treat” to a woman who remembered him from all the other years he’s come by. He told her Hi, thank you, and bye. Almost a full conversation!
For the next few houses he kept trying trick, treat...sometimes both, some times one or the other. Sometimes he was so interested in the decorations he couldn’t do more than point and kind of say ohh. The best was him waving and saying hi to the ghost decoration in the doorframe behind a woman. He was thrilled to see dogs and babies, commenting: puppy or baby while pointing at them. He was infatuated with all the Stitch costumes, and really aware of his peers as they approached or
passed by him, telling them Hi and Bye. He still believes that if he comes to your door and you give him candy then you must be a best friend so we should go inside and hang out. But we kept taking his hand and guiding him back to the sidewalk. The neighborhood we were in had a lot of slightly raised stoops, so Bradley always had to climb a few steps, so that was tough as it got darker because he couldn’t always judge the steps; but between the three of us, we kept him from falling down or missing a step, and what great practice.
With Sydney walking beside him (Dad for the scary houses), Bradley survived the scary side of Halloween, and the fun side for about an hour before he started to get tired and was done. We walked him back round to our car, the went to dinner, where he managed almost half a chicken enchilada and then fell fast asleep at the table. This Halloween Trick or Treating is exhausting! We picked up Madison on our way home, got him in and into his jammies, and he’s been lights out ever since. Sweet boy was tired!! I don’t blame him, we’re all pretty tired at this house.
It was great to have one of the girls with us tonight. Bradley loved having Sydney come along. But then, everything is more fun when he has one of his sisters with him, tonight was a glowing example of that. For Eric and I, we wish there was some way to have Halloween every night, just so we could hear his little voice more often. It was a lot of fun for all of us!
Anyway, that’s it folks. Tonight wraps up the last Blog of the 31 For 21 Challenge to bring Awareness and Acceptance of those with Down Syndrome for 2018. Another year in the books. It’s been quite the journey this month, lots of ups and downs (no pun truly intended) but then that’s just the way life goes. There are ups and downs, triumphs and disasters, joys and sorrows. An extra chromosome doesn’t change any of that, because that’s just living. I think though, when you accept that extra something special brought by a third copy of the twenty first chromosome, you accept the acknowledegment of the wonder and joy that comes in the simplest steps, the smallest words, the most magical moments of just living, and being, and loving. No one said it would be easy...they only said it would be worth it. Learning to make life happen, celebrating the smallest victories, loving the people God gives you: see THAT each day, live in THOSE moments, and maybe you can live your
best life every day - and THAT would be worth it.
Until next time! Good night and Happy Halloween! Perfect timing for Bradley to be up for the first time tonight. Sigh.... Darn scary clown anyway!
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