The 4th of July, it's usually a time of on edge ear holding while watching the fireworks. I'm not sure what clicked this year, maybe it was his cousin being there that help give him drive & confidence or maybe it was the fact that he is ten years old. While Autism is a beast that can stop him from doing a lot of things in life the inner workings of a ten year old boy who REALLY wants to blow something up were just a bit stronger this time! Some parents let their kids run wild, some parents trust their kids to do the right thing, & some parents are "helicopter" parents that hover over their kids. Not only am I a helicopter parent, I'm a freakin' backpack parent! I would shove this kid in a fanny pack so he never did anything on his own if I didn't have a wife who was good enough to slap me in the back of the head & say 'Hey! He's 10, I think he can do that himself! You have to let him go a bit!" So, while I was excited he wanted to shoot a roman candle like the big boys do & shocked at the idea that he had already prepared himself for it, he was sure! I was, at the same time, just about 30 seconds from wetting my pants event though I was just far enough away to pop up the camera & snap the pic above. It was terrifying & exciting all at once, for both of us!All that being said, we started the day with maybe one of the hardest situations we've found ourselves thrown into in a good long while. I've blogged about the kids from the neighborhood who come by to play & it has been such a great thing! Most all of the kids are very respectful & we love having them over. The morning of the 4th a couple of kids stopped by to play just like they have done many times. Both my wife & I have to watch the boy a bit close because he plays a little rough but that's okay, our kids a kinda wimpy & its good for them to play like boys every once in a while but none the less we keep a pretty close eye! I passed by the play room to get something out of the kitchen & noticed Jayden laying on his belly on the floor with a look on his face. Not a mad but not really sad either, it's that look that he gets when his mind is in overload & he is still working out what is happening. It's not normally a good thing. I asked what happened as he stood up & he said "He put food in my pants." I was a bit confused by this & didn't really know what the heck was going on so I told them to give it to me & I was handed strawberry Swiss roll wrapper that had a bit of cream residue on it. While that was probably inappropriate it didn't seem crazy out of the realm of kid play. I figured the kid probably touched it to his back or even slipped it down his waist band. As I said, inappropriate but still not drag the kid back to his house by his hair crazy if you get my drift. {Admittedly my first thought was to take that wrapper & hold the kid down to make him eat it! But self control & the realization that I would NOT do well in prison got the better of me.} I told the kids they needed to leave & I told my younger two boys they needed to go get their shoes so we could have them when it was time to head to the 4th of July party. When jayden & I were alone in the room he broke down & started to cry. After a bit more looking I found that the rest of the Swiss roll was in the back of his underwear smashed all over the top of his butt. My heart immediately sunk, I can only think of one other time in my life I have felt sad enough to cry & mad enough to fight all at once but that story involves the boys biological mother & that's a story for another time.
I tried my best to comfort him & then let him go to his room so he could start to change cloths (& so I could catch my breath). I picked my jaw up off the floor & put it back on my face, then I headed to his room to give him a hand. Slipping through his door so his brothers wouldn't follow I found him naked & sobbing alone, still covered in Swiss roll cream. He ran to me, hugged me, & as we stood there all I wanted to do was make it better right & make sure it never ever happened again! At that same time, as I ran my fingers through his hair comforting him, wiped him clean, & dried his tears I had the sobering realization that this would not be the last time & theres not a damn thing I can do about it!
Okay, so now that I've had a day to think about it I realize that while the kid that did it was WAY out of line, if the same thing would have happened to Deano (our 5 year old NT kid) he would have told the kid to stop or moved or very possibly decked him! I'm not saying it was okay but I am saying I had to stop, think, & take my 'Killer Dad' goggles off to realize that while we need to watch what goes on we also have to talk, work with, & equip OUR son with the tools to speak up to say NO! Don't do that! Jayden just laid there & let it happen. In fact he was laughing. I know that was a fake "I'm overloaded & don't know what's going on" laugh but this other kid didn't know that! I'm sure all he heard was jayden giggling. Not a justification, just a realization! I made sure he knew that I was there to protect him, we had a good talk about what a friend is & what to do in situations like that, & as you can see by the pics from the big 4th of July party all this passed very quickly turning into smiles! Not to say that for the first hour after it happened I didn't want to do horribly mean things that may or may not have included a city wide rampage of destruction "Rampage" style! *Geek-tastic 1986 Video Game Reference Score!! * Live & Learn I Guess!
Massive Water Slide! Yes, I did think about getting on...No, it wouldn't have supported my fat butt!
OOOHHHH! AAAAHHHHH!
Good Show!
Started off with smoke bombs & worked our way up to big stuff!
The Big Show! We watched from the patio while the Manly Men blew it up out by the pond! (I'm with the kids, I'm not a manly man! I'm the guy that fixes the manly men when they burn themselves)
THE END! The fireworks go so quick no matter how much you spend on them! This is Dean's 'What the hell do you mean there's no more fireworks' face!
