Birthday Party Success

On Tuesday September 6th I received a text message from a number I didn't know.  The message was from Megan, a parent of one of Beau's classmates.  The message included a picture of an invitation to a birthday party which was happening that Saturday and it was letting me know that Jasey was wondering if Beau would like to attend her party.  He was the only boy from the class invited and Megan wondered if that would bother him.  Ha!  The part of Beau's brain that loves the ladies is fully functioning.  Now this isn't the first party that Mr. Beau has been invited to.  Often times he has received an invite when the entire class is invited to attend the party.  Timing has never been right, I didn't know the children or their parents for that matter and you never can be certain with Beau if he will have fun at something like that or break down and shut down. 

I recognized the little girl in the picture and remembered reading a letter Jasey had written us last year when classmates wrote letters to Andy and I for school conferences.  I sent a quick message to Beau's para to confirm that this little girl was in fact one of Beau's friends.  She confirmed that Jasey was one of "Beau's girls". 

I decided to step out of the comfort zone and see what would happen if I took Beau to the party.  We bought a gift, discussed the party for the couple days leading up to the event and talked with him about what kids would be doing at the indoor inflatables park. 

Saturday morning came and Beau was ready to go and jump!  We got to the party location and as I tried to get Beau out of the vehicle, he signed "all done" and shook his head "no".  I told him that it would be fun and I walked (pushed) him into the building. 

I was excited to see that the family had rented out the entire location so no other kids would be in there.  This is just one of the many things you think of when you know that certain things can stress your child or become a safety issue for him when his balance and knowledge of what is safe/not safe are not the same as a typical child. 

He quickly spotted a basketball game so any anxiety he was having disappeared.  He started shooting hoops and was having fun just shooting baskets with me.  Not everyone had arrived yet but I was worried that maybe this is how the party would go; Beau would play by himself.  It wouldn't bother him because he was in his own little basketball world, but it would sadden me to see him playing by himself. 

I should have known it wouldn't take long for the scene to change. 

It didn't take long before 2 of "Beau's girls" really stepped up and made Beau have one of the best mornings imaginable.  This is what I witnessed.

 

 

I watched from a distance as these sweet 8 year old girls, Marie and Adrie, sacrificed their own play time with other girl friends to play 100% with Beau.  Keep in mind that because of Beau's developmental level, he likes toys that are typically played with by younger children.  These young ladies went right along with it and played with those toys and entertained Beau.  I was there, but they didn't act like I was there.  They weren't doing this to help me or to "do the right thing", they were playing with Beau because they genuinely wanted to play with him and they genuinely cared about him as a friend.

The group even got a surprise visit from their teacher from 2nd grade; Mrs. Schulte.  When the old crew is back together you have to take a picture!!

 
From there Beau convinced the girls they should ride bikes (bikes that, once again were meant for smaller kids but they still rode because Beau could ride them) and he even made them park in a "garage" area. 

 

And then there were the trampolines......If you know Beau, you know his balance isn't the greatest.  Watching him play on the trampoline with his friends and watching him manage to stay upright (most of the time) was pretty entertaining.  He looked a bit like a little drunk man but I tell you what, he LOVED every minute of it!!!

 

Basketball and Jumping - what a perfect combination!

Jasey showing she can tackle with the best of them :)



One falls down, we all fall down!



One of my favorite parts of the day would have to be when they were playing in the small bouncy house.  One section of the house had soft pegs as well as hand straps to assist you in pulling yourself up to the slide that was connected to it.  It quickly became evident that Beau lacked the coordination to pull himself up onto the top of the slide.  In the picture below, you can see Marie pulling Beau's arms as Adrie is below pushing Beau's legs up.  Despite their strength and excellent effort, they couldn't get him up.  Adults weren't supposed to get into the houses, but I went in and helped lift him up so he could go down the slide. 





It was a little later on in the morning when Marie came running over to Adrie after spotting a step type cushion she had found.  She quickly found a second one and told us what her plan was.  She said they would take the steps and put them in the small bouncy house so that Beau could climb up to get to the top of the slide.  As my 4 year old would say, "Teamwork makes the dream work".  At this point my heart was melting.   The pictures speak for themselves....

Ecclesiastes 4:10 - If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.  But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. 

 

 

The fun continued with more basketball and running around!

 

Next up it was time for cupcakes.  I had to laugh because if you've never eaten with Beau, it's an experience - a very messy experience.  I was wiping off his hands and I said something about how messy he was with the frosting and Marie didn't miss a beat and said, "You should see him when he eats at school!".  I started laughing so hard because it's so true.  He just looked at her and smiled (with blue frosting on his teeth). 

 

 

I ran downstairs while the kids were preparing to watch Jasey open presents and when I came back up I found that they had helped Beau get on to the picnic table to sit and watch the presents being opened. 

This picture and his expression sum up a lot about his morning.

Here he is saying "truck" to Marie.  He thought every present would naturally be a truck. 

I was never really certain how school would be for Beau.  Every year I just become more and more amazed.  God blessed us with Hansen Elementary and his team, and He certainly blessed us with some wonderful classmates for Beau.  There is nothing wrong with having lots of female friends.  These young ladies will be fierce in protecting our son and no doubt will make him feel loved throughout his school days.  I cried (happy tears) on the way home from the party and looked at these pictures over and over again and just smiled.  Thank you sweet girls - for loving my sweet boy, being his friend and making him feel like a king.