"If you build it, they will come."

OK, so a cheesy title but hey it's an Iowa thing.  For those who don't know, it's a quote from a movie made here in Iowa; Field of Dreams (Dyersville, IA) with Kevin Costner.  It's an oldie but a goodie.  Anyways.......That saying held true for me after a successful weekend in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  This past weekend I organized an event for the NODCC; a regional gathering for families affected by ACC.  I knew from information given to me by the NODCC, that Iowa didn't have many families affected by ACC.  If they ARE out there, they just haven't connected with the NODCC and we aren't aware of them.  It's a little lonely here in Iowa so I knew I would need to plan the event in a bigger area where more families with ACC were located if I expected to get anyone to attend.  I ended up choosing Minneapolis, MN and what a great choice it was!

I arranged for our event to take place at the Radisson by the Mall of America.  We were able to get a meeting room there which gave us the view of the huge indoor water park at the hotel; the Waterpark of America.  We set the room up with some informational materials and a play area for the kids with some of Beau's toys.  We had a buffet style lunch along with some goodies for dessert. 

The last ingredient for a successful day was the people!  Naturally on the day of our event a main roadway and exit to the hotel was closed, but people still managed to make it through the big city traffic jam.  Including our family, we had a total of 11 families there to share in the fun afternoon.  Everyone was so friendly and easy to talk to.  We were all in the same boat that day.  We were complete strangers with one thing in common; ACC.  OK, make that two things; ACC and a huge love for our children!  We're all in different stages of dealing with the ACC.  Some are more willing to talk about it, others not so much; some have young children with ACC, others have grown children with ACC and so on.  No matter what, I feel like some great strides were made this weekend.  All of the families with the exception of ours, live within miles of each other in Minnesota and they never knew it.  They never realized they had a support system right there!  How rewarding to see people finding out that they have other families that "understand" so close by. 


This is a group shot of all of the families that were in attendance this weekend. What a good looking group!



Topics of conversation included discussion about the IPAD 2 and using it as a teaching tool as well as a communication-like device.  Above is a picture of Max's dad, Greg, with their service dog Zadie with Andy and Beau checking out the IPAD 2 that Max uses. 

One of my favorite memories of the weekend has to be a friendship that I saw occurring between two young gals with ACC, Jessica, 13 years and Madeline, 12 years.  My husband and I both looked at each other late into the day after observing the two girls and both recalled a memory from our trip to the national conference in San Francisco.  There were 2 girls that were in their upper teens, that had met through the conferences of the NODCC and had become such great friends over the years.  They had ACC in common and they had obviously built a strong relationship as a result.  Andy and I both recalled how inseparable they seemed at the conference and how heart warming it was to see them together.  We watched the very same thing happening this weekend and I hope their parents don't mind that I shared this story.  I just know that as a parent of an ACC child I've heard so many stories about how hard it is for these kids to develop and maintain friendships.  I worry so much about Beau not having friends or feeling isolated because he is "different".  Watching these young ladies come out of their shells and have such a fun evening made the whole planning of the event completely worthwhile. 

One of the other topics that came up (once again thanks to Max!) was the service dog.  Max and his dog Zadie were a huge hit this weekend and it was great to see a service dog in action.  We have thought quite often about the benefits of a service/seizure alert dog for Beau.  Heaven knows it might allow me to get better sleep at night!  Below is a great picture of Max, his dad Greg and Zadie.

After our time ended in the conference room, some of the families stuck around and played in the water park.  It was another opportunity to talk, play and laugh.  Beau loves water, so he had a great time.  If you combine that with cute girls, he was in heaven.  I think his face in the picture below says it all.

Beau with his new friends from the NODCC gathering.

The next morning we slept in a little bit, trying to recover from our busy day the day before.  We decided to visit the Como Park Zoo on our way back home.  We met up with the Prusi family at the zoo and enjoyed 2 hours of animal watching and talking about our two young sons with ACC. 



Owen, Maren and Beau at the zoo.

I can't thank the great ACC families of Minnesota enough for welcoming our Iowa family to the state.  In my mind it was a huge success and each year can only get bigger and better.  Next time, you Minnesotans may have to come south and visit the great state of Iowa! 

This thing called ACC has brought all of us together; people who never would have met otherwise and for that I'm grateful.  I've met some wonderful families not only at this event but when we were in California.  Each time we do something like this I feel blessed and re-energized to do more to help those affected by intellectual disabilities. 

I will end this with one of my favorite poems.  It was written by Edna Massionilla and is titled Heaven's Very Special Child.  After meeting such great parents it only seems fitting. The main thing I want to get across by using this poem is that God chooses great people to be the parents of special needs children.  We were chosen for a reason and are so lucky.

HEAVEN'S VERY SPECIAL CHILD

A meeting was held quite far from Earth!
It's time again for another birth.
Said the Angels to the LORD above,
This Special Child will need much love.
 
His progress may be very slow,
Accomplishments he may not show.
And he'll require extra care
From the folks he meets down there.
 
He may not run or laugh or play,
His thoughts may seem quite far away,
In many ways he won't adapt,
And he'llknown as handicapped.
 
So let's be careful where he's sent,
We want his life to be content.
Please LORD, find the parents who
Will do a special job for you.
 
They will not realize right away
The leading role they're asked to play,
But with this child sent from above
Comes stronger faith and richer love.
 
And soon they'll know the privilege given
In caring for their gift from Heaven.
Their precious charge, so meek and mild,
Is HEAVEN'S VERY SPECIAL CHILD.
 
 
by Edna Massionilla
December 1981
The Optomist- newsletter for PROUD
Parents Regional Outreach for Understanding Down's Inc.

People are starting to notice.....

I have to preface this by saying that I am in NO way embarrassed by my son - I love him and am so proud to be his mother.  Here's the thing - I've started to become aware of the fact, that people are starting to notice.  They're starting to notice that Beau may be a little different.  Ever since Beau was born, if you'd look at him, you wouldn't physically see anything that would make you think he was different somehow or had medical problems.  He's a beautiful little boy that looks just like any other little boy his age.  When he was a baby and we'd carry him around no one would know that he couldn't crawl or couldn't walk - they just assumed we were carrying him to carry him, after all he was a young child.  Other times we'd be places and he'd be in his stroller and once again, no one could tell that anything was wrong.  He'd be in the cart at Wal-Mart and he wouldn't speak to a stranger or the cashier when they spoke to him - they'd assume he was shy and that was the end of it.  No one knew that he wasn't talking to them because he couldn't. 

Adults don't realize that their comments or their stares, that come strictly out of curiosity, can sometimes hurt a mothers feelings.  I am the first one that is OK with talking openly to people about Beau's brain abnormality and educating as many people as I can, but sometimes I don't always have the energy to do that.  Beau is a good sized kid for his age of 3 1/2 years.  He is tall and looks a little older than he is.  It throws people when they hear him cooing, babbling and making different sounds when we are out places because they know that he should talk and yet he sounds like a baby.  We have a bad habit of carrying him quite a bit, especially during times like now, where his balance is horrible and he falls so much.  I  know people wonder why we are carrying this toddler around. 

I guess what I'm getting at, is that we are hitting another crossroads and transition period.  We are going from baby stage - where no one could tell anything was wrong with Beau - to late toddler stage where it is becoming more obvious that something is wrong.  Children his own age don't necessarily realize that anything is wrong with Beau.  They see him as any other child, but it's adults that pick up on it and they stare without even realizing it.  I hate to be sensitive to the stares or comments, but when it comes to my son, I'm a mother bear and want to protect him.  I've toughened up a lot over the last several years and seem to be able to handle a lot - maybe more than one person should - but it still gets me to think about what he faces in the future as it relates to stares, glares, bullying and mean comments.  I remember how hard it was in junior high and high school and how cruel people could be.  I was a typical child with no disabilities and I was teased so I can't imagine what lies ahead for Beau in the real world.  My only hope is that I can continue to talk, educate, advocate and create awareness so that a few less people out there will stare or tease or use terms like "retard" or "short bus", etc. 

As a mother I hurt for my child but find peace in the fact that he is such a happy little boy and doesn't seem to let the worst of circumstances bring him down.  He wakes up every morning smiling and cooing and eager to start his day.  He seems to be finding beauty and joy in the life that has chosen him.

A little about me.....

I recently read another mother's blog and she mentioned how she liked it when the blogger wrote a little about themselves to help others get to know them.  I enjoyed reading about her and thought maybe I would share a little about myself.

I grew up in a small Iowa town not very far from where I live now.  After high school I went on to get my bachelors of science in nursing degree.  I never was a fan of hospital nursing, so for 8 years I worked as a registered nurse/branch manager and clinical nurse manager for 2 different DME (durable medical equipment) companies.  I loved the work I did.  I traveled a lot for my job all over the state of Iowa and southern Minnesota.  Being able to see patients in their home environment and get them set up with the proper equipment to stay in their home was very rewarding.  I moved a few times for the job but eventually decided to come back to my home area in 2006 when I bought a condo and started up another branch for the DME company I worked for.  I met and married my husband in 2007 and in 2008 we welcomed our first and only child, Beau (pronouced "Bo"). 

After having Beau I was able to stay home for the first year thanks to my husband and his job.  After the year was over, times became difficult (as it did for many Americans) and I went back to work.  My position had obviously been filled and I wanted something different.  Nursing just wasn't my passion anymore.  I ended up getting a job in a law firm.  The owner, our lawyer, hired me and that's where I've been ever since.  I love the challenge it's given me. 

One day I'd love to be a writer, writing articles for magazines or writing a book related to parenting of special needs children.  I wish I had some sort of a connection somewhere but until then, I'll keep dreaming and keep blogging :)  One of my other passions is non-profit organizations.  I'd love to work for a big non-profit organization having to do with children.  Nothing like doing what you enjoy and are passionate about and getting paid to do it - doesn't seem like work really.  I started my own non-profit last year and hope that one day it will be bigger than ever.  It's hard to get it really big when working full time, but I'm always up for a challenge.  It's called Beau's Beautiful Blessings, Inc. and we raise money for intellectually disabled children in our community to help guarantee that they get the things they need, especially when insurance won't cover it.  Things such as uncovered medical equipment, therapy dogs, camp scholarships, etc.  Our Board of Directors meets later this month and I'm excited about the money that we will be able to give away!

I love playing with my son or napping with my son, reading a great book, pop music and country music, bowling with my husband (although it's been a few years), going for walks, the movies Dumb and Dumber and both Grumpy Old Men and Grumpier Old Men, reality television (The Real Housewives), pizza, Nascar, Jimmy Johnson and taking pictures. 

So there - that's a little about me.  Nothing too exciting but decided I would share just a few pieces of information.  If nothing else, the most important piece of information you can know about me is this; I'm Beau's mom.  I'm most proud of that title and I am so lucky to have it.

Letters of Love from Mother to Son....

I'm not sure where I came up with the idea, but when I found out I was pregnant with Beau, in 2007, I started to write letters to him.  I wrote these letters at pivotal points throughout my pregnancy and beyond and put them with pictures (of me and my pregnant belly) from that time period in a scrapbook for him to enjoy when he got older.  I figured that he would love to look back at it when he had his own children.  We didn't know of Beau's brain abnormality when I was pregnant; he wasn't diagnosed until he was almost 18 months old.  I wrote to him like any mother would write to her child sharing my joy for his presence and all of the wonderful things I hoped for him and his future. This came to the forefront of my mind very recently when I was given an article from a family member.  They'd read it in the June/July 2011 National Right to Life News.  The title of the article was Sarah Palin: "Every Child is Created Special, with Awesome Purpose and Amazing Potential".  I won't talk politics on this blog - so please set aside your political views or personal views of Sarah Palin and take a moment to read the article.  If you have a child with special needs you'll "get it" and you'll appreciate the letter.  It made me think so much about my letters to Beau.  Her is a link to that article. http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/NewsOnline/June-July2011/SarahPalinEveryChild.html In all of the Palin emails that were recently released they came across an email she wrote in April of 2008, just a few days before the arrival of her son Trig, who was born with Down Syndrome.  She wrote it to their family and friends as if it was God writing a letter to their family about the journey they were about to embark upon.

All of that explains to you why I chose to blog about my letters of love to Beau.  It shows a little about me, my innermost feelings and pure love for my son.  I seem to do better with expressing things in writing than I do talking sometimes.  I'd like to share an excerpt from a letter I wrote to Beau at the end of the first trimester.

........Within just seconds of Dr. Breitkreuz placing the doppler on my abdomen we heard the most amazing sound we've ever heard - your heartbeat! I knew the second he had found it and immediately looked over at your daddy sitting next to me.  Your heart was beating so fast and it was music to our ears.  When I looked at your daddy his smile went from ear to ear and mine had to have looked the same.  I didn't know whether to laugh with excitement or cry at how precious the sound was.

.........Boy or girl, we'll be excited either way, we just want you healthy.......Your daddy and I love you more than you'll ever know and we haven't even met you yet.

The letters are very similar throughout.  I talk about the ultrasound results and how perfect everything looked and our joy and excitement at our precious gift from God.  I looked forward to writing those letters each month to Beau.  After the major seizure he had in July of 2009, I wrote Beau another letter.  I wrote it in August of 2009.  I pulled it out just recently and I broke down reading it and as I share a bit of the letter with you, it brings me back to that moment and brings back some tears with it.  I can't share the letter in it's entirety, as it was written to only to Beau, but I want to share a piece of it.  Here goes....
My dearest baby Beau,

I've struggled this month to come up with the proper words to write to you.  My heart has been broken so many times this month.  You've reached another milestone in turning 18 months old this month.  We almost had to deal with you not being here to celebrate that milestone. 

I explain to him all that had happened and I go on to say....

After a stay at the University of Iowa, a return home and a follow up seizure, your life has become a medical drama.  Your father and I would do whatever we could to take away any pain you've had or are having.  It's so hard because you can't talk to us and tell us what's going on.  After numerous tests it was discovered that you have partial agenesis of the corpus callosum, an absent posterior pituitary bright, global developmental delay and epilepsy.  It's a mouthful isn't it?

Later in the letter....

You have this way of charming people so quickly.  It seems that one look from those beautiful big blue eyes is all it takes.  I don't think I'll ever forget how you blew kisses to all of the medical students when they lined up in your room in Iowa City.  It was completely adorable and everyone just melted when you did it; certainly not a shy little boy.

I closed the letter with....

After all that has happened this last month, you need to know that so many people are praying for you and so many people love you.  You are a true blessing and miracle from God and you have been since day one..........You are going to do great and your father and I will do whatever it takes to help you......God and His angels have been close by you lately and I know that they are protecting you.  It wasn't your time to leave us and we thank God every day for that. 

Since his diagnosis, I've often thought about how sad I feel that maybe he won't ever understand the letters or ever be able to read them on his own.  I know that it seems like such a silly thing to be concerned about in the grand scheme of things but nonetheless, I have thought about it.  I've tried to tell myself that when he gets older, he will understand some of those words that I wrote to him.  If nothing else he'll hear the words of love.  In a letter I wrote him in May of 2010 after another really bad seizure I address this concern......

You amaze me every day with your strength and determination.  One day, I hope that you are able to read these letters I have written you and know how much love I have for you and how much love your family has for you.  You are an inspiration for so many and you're too young to even know that you have impacted so many lives......Your passion for life is contagious and even though you're only 3 feet tall, I look up to you every day.......I love the little man you are becoming and I can't stress enough how proud of you I am.  All my love, Mommy.

I still feel that way today.  Proud, blessed and inspired by a small little man, I call my Beau Beau. 

"You've developed the strength of a draft horse while holding onto the delicacy of a daffodil ... you are the mother, advocate and protector of a child with a disability." -Lori Borgman

Learning Tools....

A few weeks ago a good friend (a fellow ACC family) asked me what we used for teaching toys with Beau.  Sometimes it's nice to see what other people are using and compare notes.  I'm interested in knowing what other families use with their ACC children so I'm hoping maybe this will help others.

The 2 board books shown in the pictures above have been used and used and used by Mr. Beau.  He absolutely loves these books and has really learned from them.  As you can see from the cover they are offered through Scholastic and we have a family member that is a teacher and was able to order them for us.  These are the only 2 books that these particular authors have out. One title is My First Signs and the other is What Do You See.  What's worked good for Beau is that there are real pictures of real people, cartoon characters and real children doing the sign. Beau seems to understand learning signs/words when using real life pictures.  The authors are Michelle Anthony and Reyna Lindert and you can find more about them at www.signingsmart.com and you can find other products there as well.  Below are the flash cards that we ordered from the same company and these are pretty nice cards and fairly inexpensive as well. They are on a ring and have different themes to each pack.  They show an adult and a child doing the sign.

  Some other items that have worked good for Beau are ideas that came from watching his therapists do their work with him.  Below are some items that I was fortunate enough to find at garage sales - items that I have seen his teachers and therapists use. 

Above are 2 magnetic books that I found brand new, never opened at a garage sale and paid $5 for the pair - one is a Zoo book and the other is a Farm book.  Beau's speech therapist uses these at EDI.  The one she uses is actually a classification board and you place certain magnets in certain sections of the board.  For example, the apple magnet goes in the food section, the socks magnets goes in the clothing section.  Each magnetic board that I got includes a small book that describes each of the magnets, plus lots of different magnets.  What we often do is put all the magnets to the side where he can't see them and I pick up two different magnets.  I'll ask Beau, "Which one is the cow?".  I will also sign the word I am asking.  If he tries to pick the wrong animal, I hold it tight and force him to look at the other animal and pick it up and place it on the board.  Then we go over the sign for that word once again and I try to manipulate his hands to do the sign.  We continue the process with 2 different magnets.  

The picture above is another item from a garage sale - a FREE item.  This peg board is used for a couple things.  You can use it for colors - "Pick up the BLUE peg, Beau."  You can then work on occupational therapy by using the small motor skills to stack the pegs on top of each other or to just place them in the slots.  Below are some other toys that are great educational and developmental toys that have worked well for Beau. 



 This board is made by Melissa and Doug and works good for small motor skills, colors and counting.  Beau's just getting into this as far as colors and numbers are concerned, but we've used it for stacking and small motor skills.

Melissa and Doug toys are just plain GREAT!  These are just a few of the puzzles that Beau has.  The noise ones are great.  There are so many ways to learn using the puzzles.  These puzzles are good because they have the same picture below the puzzle piece making it easier to put it in the right spot.  Again, small motor skills are used, especially using the pincer grasp with the small pegs on the top 2 puzzles.  The bigger knob puzzle worked really well early on for Beau because it allowed him an easier way to lift the pieces since he didn't do well with manipulating smaller pegs.  You can learn colors, numbers, shapes, recognizing animals, instruments, vehicles, etc.  We have a large collection of Melissa and Doug puzzles.

Fisher Price also makes some great toys that double as learning toys.  Below are the gumball machine, the piggy bank and the block giraffe, shape sorter cookie jar, and shape sorter box.  These are pretty self explanatory.  Shape sorting is great for small motor skills, the gumball machine worked great for cause and effect.  It took him quite some time to figure out that you had to pull the lever to get the gumball to release from the machine. The piggy bank was a huge challenge for Beau when he first tried it 1 1/2 years ago.  I remember how he hated this toy and hated it because it was so hard for him.  Practice, practice and more practice, and now he's a pro at it! 



 Below is another wonderful Melissa and Doug toy.  These are blocks designed to be strung onto a string.  Because the string is too flimsy and difficult for Beau to use, we use a pipe cleaner instead.  It's firmer and gives him a better opportunity at success.  Don't get me wrong, it's still very difficult but he is doing better than expected.  We just tie a knot at one end of the pipe cleaner and then he holds the pipe cleaner in one hand and holds the block in his other hand. 

Below are pop beads and they are good for colors, counting and small motor skills.

Below are counting cans I bought at our local university book store.  The university is a big teaching college so the book store carries tons of teaching tools and developmental toys.  These are made by Learning Resources.  These cans are great and Beau loves them!

Above is a sample of one of the cans.  It's great for counting, sorting, colors, item recognition, etc.  This was a more expensive toy at $42.  This toy gets kept up in the closet and only gets used when we are working on learning.

Above are some more items I purchased at University Book and Supply.  Each box of flash cards was only $2.99 each.  They show the picture on one side and the actual word on the other side.  They have it in English and Spanish.  We've been working on cards with Beau in different ways.  We started with holding out 2 cards and asking him to pick up the card that has the cup on it.  He would have to pick up the picture of the cup and hand it to me.  The next phase after a few weeks of the previous phase was saying, "what do we drink out of?".  There are many different types of cards and you can do lots of things with them. Beau's speech therapist also has ones that show the complete color on one side of the card and the word of the color on the other.  The cards I have are made by Trend Enterprises and their website is www.trendenterprises.com . 

HiHo Cherry-O is a gift that an early developmental intervention educator gave Beau so that he could work on the pincer grasp as well as sorting colors.  This requires direct supervision as the pieces are very small.

Below are more cards that I purchased from University Book and Supply that are approximately 5x7 in size and show lots of different scenes and actions.  You can use these in a variety of ways.

One thing I've learned about Beau is that we need to use things that he enjoys and use them to our advantage when trying to teach him something.  He LOVES Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars.  I try to teach him when he doesn't know he's being taught.  I will pull out his cars and work on colors based on the color of the car or truck.  He thinks we're just playing cars, he doesn't realize he's being taught at the same time.  We can also work on counting using the cars.  We can also sort the cars based on color.

We are lucky that we have a college senior, Erin, that babysits for Beau and works with him.  She is an elementary education major with a minor in severe and profound disabilities.  She brought some small trucks, paints and small wooden trucks to our house the other day.  She had him run the Matchbox trucks through the paint and then onto the white paper.  He used them as a paint brush.  It was easy for him to hold on to the car and he loves playing cars so this task was perfect for him.  He painted a cool picture - the tire tracks made for a neat design.  She then got him to paint using a paint brush on some small wooden cars that she had purchased at Wal-Mart for $0.99 each.  She used what Beau enjoys to teach him. 

These are just a few ideas but hopefully you can gain something from them.  I'm always looking for new ideas - as most of mine come from watching therapists.  Let's face it, teaching a child with an intellectual disability is a struggle but when they accomplish any of these tasks, it's like a mountain has been climbed!  Good luck and happy teaching (and playing)!

Beau's Afternoon at Adventureland

On Thursday afternoon, our little family of three headed to Altoona (here in Iowa) for a fun new experience for Beau.  Adventureland is our theme park here in Iowa and it had been many, many years since Andy or I had been there.  One of our downfalls with aging has been that amusement park rides aren't as much fun as they were when we were kids.  Something about spinning in circles while upside down and falling from the sky just isn't the same when your in your 30's!  My stomach and head don't seem to appreciate the joy the aforementioned sentence once brought me! The great thing about Adventureland though is that they have quite a bit to offer for little ones.  Beau loves to people watch and he loves things that "go" so that combination seemed to be good ingredients for a fun time.

We drove to Altoona during nap time so that Beau could get some rest before his big afternoon.  The Iowa heat was HOT, in the 90's with humidity equally as high - you stood still and you were sweating - but that wasn't going to affect our day!  When we got there, this is what Beau looked like.....

He was resting up for his next big adventure and shortly after arrival he woke up.  We went there wanting to have our 3 1/2 year old to have the same experience every other 3 1/2 year old "typical" child would have.  As we entered the park, Beau immediately had his eyes wide open to all the sights and his ears open to all the sounds.  He was amazed!  Our first stop was the semi trucks.  We weren't sure how he would react and this ride was perfect because an adult could ride along with their child.  Even with as enticing as the semi's looked, he wanted his Dada to go with him - just to be safe! 

It wasn't long before he realized that THIS WAS COOL!  He eventually went on the trucks with mama and then finally made it to the inside of the semi truck with mama on the back. 

It may seem like we spent a lot of time on the semi's (OK, so we did) but we DID finally make it to other rides.  I guess this is the part where we were the parents of a 3 1/2 year old child with some disabilities and we had to be careful with the rides that Beau went on.  We watched as other children his age and younger ran, jumped and talked all about the rides they wanted to get on and how much fun they'd had.  We had to be careful that the ride wouldn't be one that he could stand up on and lose his balance, because he has horrible balance issues.  The bumper cars, he would've loved but the head jerk from a tough impact might trigger a seizure (and maybe that's impossible but that's all I could think about).  He was afraid of the rides that he had to do on his own.  We went to the "infant ocean" and I placed him in a little boat all by himself. He pointed to the seat beside him and grunted, his way of letting me know to sit.  As I fastened the seat belt and stepped away, a moment of panic set in for him and he signed "all done".....

The boat started to move and I was right there just waiting for him to try to stand up and I'd run to his rescue. It took about one lap around and then......

the smile crept up and he enjoyed the ride all by himself.  I was so PROUD of him and how brave he was!  There were a few rides he couldn't do but we gave him the best experience we could for his "abilities". 

We took Beau over to another ride that involved going on it alone, but as children were being placed on the ride, I was quick to get him in his favorite - the fire truck - and in doing so I placed him next to another little boy his age, maybe slightly younger.  Beau was so excited about the ride especially when he realized he would have a partner for the ride.  We had felt a little bad that he was on rides alone without another kid.  So many children were there with siblings or friends so we felt a little guilty.  As the ride was waiting to start, I overheard the little boy next to Beau talking to him.  My heart dropped as I knew Beau wouldn't be able to respond.  Beau though, did what he does best; he flashed his million dollar smile and said "dadadadadada".  It was a word he knew and he tried with all his might to communicate with the little boy.  The boy looked at him trying to understand what he was saying and then went back to focusing on "driving" the fire truck.  Yes, it made me sad.  Sad for Beau because he is hindered by his lack of communication but somewhat relieved that 3 years old don't realize that he is "different" than them.  My heart worries about a couple of years from now, when children DO notice the difference.  I like to think that it just won't matter, especially when he flashes them that AMAZING smile. 

From the amusement park to the water park portion of Adventureland, we enjoyed every moment.  I would have to say my favorite moment was my time with Beau in the lazy river.  He smiled, literally, the whole time.  He hugged me, laughed with me, splashed with me and we made some amazing memories that day...just like any other mother and her 3 1/2 year old. 



I'm pretty sure you can tell by the expression on his face, that he enjoyed our swim together. 

Tickets to Adventureland, $23 each, gas to get there $54, the memories I walked away with - PRICELESS.