Who Put the Thank in Thanksgiving?

Lately Thanksgiving has been a tough time for my family. I’m sure most families with sick children (or other stressful situations) understand what I mean. Holidays are tough. They make you reflect on the things you have, AND even more so on those things you don’t. That is what we have dealt with over the last several years. When Matthew started really showing signs of Autism our holidays began to be very stressful. It was so very hard for us to watch his cousins developing normally and know that our little boy was not. He couldn’t do practically anything that his cousin (who is very close to him in age) could do. He would get overwhelmed and begin to flap his hands. He didn’t know or care that people brought him presents. He would yell and spin, and break our hearts. Just last year, after the holiday party was over and my husband and I were driving to the house we were staying at, well we just cried. We cried because of what we didn’t have, and we cried because of what we did have. It was a very hard holiday.
But fast forward to Thanksgiving 2008! Oh, now I know what it means to have a family gathering where your child has fun with the other people at the party. Matthew amazed us this year. He flat out amazed us. He played with the same cousin and at the same level; they pretended to talk to each other on the phone. This little gem was Matthew’s idea; he initiated it! He even played with her Barbie Dolls. His imagination was there and it was shining through. He even let us take him to the Children’s Museum where he slid down the winter wonderland slide which goes from the second floor to the first floor of the building. He did this by himself; no need for Mommy! He rode the carousel, he even sat on a horse. This was a major accomplishment for him. Not more than a month ago he wouldn’t even consider sitting on a horse and six months ago he wouldn’t even get on a merry go round. The Children’s Museum has a small play house built by Eli Lilly (irony much?) for his daughter and Matthew absolutely loved it. He couldn’t get enough of this play house. And the best part of all was he was actually playing in it. He didn’t stim, he played.
The only rough patch came on Sunday when he just couldn’t calm down. He had had a very full week which included but was not limited to a ten hour drive, new surroundings, seeing and playing with his cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles, going to a Thanksgiving/Christmas party, my in-laws family reunion party, the Children’s Museum and just general fun. On Sunday he and his cousin were playing and he just couldn’t calm down. But the amazing part was that he looked at me and said “Mommy, I can’t calm down.” My husband and I were shocked. He could tell that he was overloaded and he could tell us. What a major breakthrough. We then tried some deep pressure/ proprioceptive movements such as log rolling, deep pressure hugs, jumping and joint compression. Within ten minutes he had calmed down and was playing nicely with his cousin once again.
I certainly know who put the Thank in Thanksgiving this year. My husband and I. We put the Thank in Thanksgiving, becaue God is putting Matthew back into our son.