Mutual of Omaha and my "Aha Moment"

Thursday was CRAZY!!!!!!  Mutual of Omaha has been touring the nation since 2009 gathering the stories of real people.  The stories are supposed to be "life-changing, inspirational" ones...they video tape people talking about moments that changed their lives.  The moments come from cancer survivors, Olympic Swimmers, musicians, basically everyone and anyone you can think of.  Anyway, somehow someone from Mutual of Omaha found THIS BLOG and asked me if I'd want to be part of their tour.  Of course, I said YES!!!!  They stopped in Kearney, NE on Thursday and interviewed me.  My video will be on http://www.theahamoment.com/ in a few weeks.  I have no idea what part of the interview they will put on...I'm hoping they edit it well and I don't look like an idiot!!!  My "aha moment" was the moment I realized I could tell my autistic son's story through artwork.  :)  I don't have a way with words like some people do.  And obviously neither does Derek.  So I try to speak for both of us (and for others with ASD!) through my artwork. 

What else happened this week?  Well, I decided that I'm not going to torture my son and make him ride the bus for an hour every day on the way home from preschool.  He'll still ride it on the way there--it only takes 30 min to get there.  But they have to drop a kid off in the country on the way home, and by the time Derek got home Tuesday he was a mess. He had 3 potty accidents this week.  He slept in my bed every night.  I think it's safe to say he was a little traumatized.  So...I picked him up on Thursday and things went MUCH BETTER.  He was super happy to see me and seemed relieved when I strapped him in the car. 

Tyler at the NE State Fair!

Last night I took the kids to the NE State Fair with cousins and their aunt.  We had a blast.  This was Tyler's reward for doing so well his first week of kindergarten.  He went on a bunch of rides and said, "I'm having so much fun I never want to stop!!!"  Awesome.  Derek refused to go on the rides.  I think he was a little overwhelmed.  He stayed in the stroller and looked around at all of the people, the lights, and the spinning rides.  He also wet his pants.  Oooops.  That was my fault.  I didn't take him to the bathroom often enough I guess.  Too much excitement.  And then later, when the fireworks started, he had a meltdown.  Usually we watch fireworks from inside the house--behind a window.  It was too loud.  He panicked.  We went into a building and he refused to come back out until 10 min after the fireworks had stopped.  But considering everything?  He did really well.  At least he didn't freak out the second we got to the part where the rides were.  That was what I was scared would happen.  Both kids ZONKED out on the way home.