Walk With Me Success! Part 2

Overall, the Easter Seals Walk With Me event was....in a word.....

AMAZING!

It was so fantastic to see so many "special needs cheerleaders" in one place. I overheard on the intercom system that our event had over 900 participants, and we raised over $51,000!!!!! How great!!! Everywhere I looked, I saw faces of compassion & love, and that isn't always the case for our family. We were hearing words of support & stories of inspiration. Most of our family was there. Many of our friends came as well. It was very overwhelming to this mama.

I was having a great time. As much as my guys would NOT socialize, that's how much I enjoy it. I loved meeting so many new people as well as being surrounded by a lot of our personal support system. I never cried through the entire thing. I was just grinning from ear to ear. So many times, we don't quite fit in.......but not this day. On this one day, Ethan was a ROCK STAR, and I was so thrilled for him!

After it was mostly over, and our team was saying their goodbyes, I sat down on a bench with Ethan as we looked across the baseball stadium. That's when it hit me. Waves of tears & emotion came. Sitting there with my child who has stolen my heart, I was overcome with the amount of support that had just been demonstrated in actual walking. These family & friends were not just saying they were supporting us, they were physically doing it. Not just talking the talk, but walking the walk. And the support from the Easter Seals organization was unbelievable. And I instantly connected with the other Easter Seals families that I met that day.

Living with autism is not the easiest thing to do, and there are some moments when it seems like we won't get through it. But then I remind myself of how much Ethan has developed & grown since his diagnosis. I replay in my mind the victories that I have witnessed with my own eyes. And I imagine each of you is with me, saying your words of encouragement & seeing your kind faces. And I gotta say......this Easter Seals Walk With Me event is gonna be a day that I bring to my mind many times. This day will help take me through any tough times ahead. And it's because of you.

And I want to thank every single one of you for your support, your donations, and your friendships. It has meant so much to me & my family and to Easter Seals as well. More than you will ever truly know. THANK YOU!!!!!!

Thank you for supporting our family! ~Jessica, Ethan & Corey

Walk With Me Success!!! Part 1

Oh Friends......There really are no words to describe the Easter Seals Walk With Me event that our family participated in last Saturday. It was in-describable.....but I will do my best.

First, a few of us met at our church to organize carpools & have some donuts...tailgating style. :0)

We left the church about 7:40am, and we left in a caravan of 5 vehicles. We arrived in Bloomington about 8:20am, and we pulled up to the place to find several parking spaces with this sign.....

After we parked, Ethan & I headed into the stadium since we were a few minutes late. When we arrived, we were greeted with incredible warmth. You see, Ethan, as an Easter Seals ambassador, was given a special color shirt to wear so everyone would know that he was a special kiddo. Here is Ethan wearing his green shirt! (And green is his favorite color, too!)

Here is what everyone's tshirts looked like

As an ambassador, Ethan's shirt was green! Everyone also received name tags saying, "I'm walking with Ethan!"

After we signed in, we were escorted by super friendly volunteers to a tent set up just for our team!

 They had a gift bag just for Ethan! As you can see in the next picture, he was very eager to open it!

Trying to open a stuffed Lightening McQueen! He was so excited to see CARS!!

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These magnets were in his bag.....and of course he lined them up!

We even saw one of Ethan's Easter Seals therapists!!! How WONDERFUL! Hi Dona!!!

As we were doing the Meet & Greet, we were given Thank You notes to hand out to our team....made especially with Ethan's picture & information on it!!!

Front & back of the Thank You cards

 Here are some more pictures.....

Corey & our friend Cindy (camera man Matt's wife)

Corey & I laughing at who knows what!

Ethan playing with his new McQueen toy that our friend, Bill, brought him! Thanks Bill!

Ethan waiting for the walk to begin!

Look who was there!!! Sonic!

At some point, it all got to be a little much for Ethan, so Corey took him to look at the baseball stadium.

 

My cousins decorated a sign for our team name! How fun!!!!

I love this picture! My guys!!!

Here goes our team! The walk begins!!!!

Beginning our mile walk!

As we left the stadium, everyone was cheering, so Ethan asked to be carried.

And Daddy obliged.

Walking for Easter Seals!!!!

They were rotating the ambassador's pictures up on the big screen! How cool to see Ethan up there!!!!

About 1/2 way through, Ethan was done walking....so we had to make it a bit more fun for him!

Our little family!

Resting after the walk

Daddy & Ethan resting & playing with the new hat!

How anyone got my husband to do this, I'll never know!....But I love it!!!

Ethan & I playing with our sensory items from home.

I love this boy!!!!

Me & my kiddo!!!!!

The next post will include more pictures, our group photo, and final thoughts! It's too much for just one post!!!

Need A Few More Reasons To Support Easter Seals?

What a great day we had yesterday at Easter Seals! I can't wait to tell you all about it!

When Ethan & I first got there, we were approached about completing Ethan's end of the program evaluation. It was a yes/no type quiz that I answered at the beginning about 7 weeks ago, and they were administering the same quiz to see where Ethan has improved. Before the administrator of the quiz got to me, the director of the preschool program spoke with me. And guess what....

Ethan will be able to continue in this program throughout the upcoming school year! YEAH!!!

I figured that this would just be a great program to do during the summer months while Ethan's Early Intervention program was on break for the summer & help keep his "skills" sharp. However, they told me that they still have some openings for the MORNING session, and then Ethan will still participate in our school's early intervention program in the afternoon! YEE-HAW!!!!!! I was so excited that I almost started crying right then & there!!!

Why am I so excited? Well, recently someone from the Easter Seals Walk With Me event asked me to jot down a few of the improvements we have seen from Ethan since starting there this summer. Well, you know me, I had to go on & on about Ethan! Here are the amazing changes we have seen from Ethan in the last 2 months alone!

1. He is more independent. He seems to have somehow gained the foresight to make decisions on his own (like physically getting out of bed in the morning by himself instead of us giving the "ok") as well as having a desire to WANT to more independent (such as putting on his own bookbag/shoes, buckling his seatbelt, etc.)

2. He has become a CHATTER BOX! We love it & it is hilariously different from what we have been used to out of him. Although it doesn't always mean he is conversing with us, he is still talking all day long....it is awesome! He is even picking up on slang words. Instead of a scripted, "thank you," he is now saying, "thanks." Instead of a very scripted, "Yes," he is now saying, "Yeah." We love it....although his speech therapist may not. :0)

3. He is playing with toys OTHER than cars. For years, that is all Ethan has wanted to play with for the most part. But now, cars are just one of the toys. In fact, instead of them being the first toy he gets out to play with in the morning, he is now playing with the Little People or the pretend food.....cars still come out to play, but not as the one & only toy. It is great!

4. He has initiated conversations several times....and not just with us, but with aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, and so on. He length of back & forth conversation is getting longer too. It now is going beyond the scripted, "Hi. How are you? I'm good." In fact, he had a pretty lengthy conversation via the phone with my mom yesterday....and we were both impressed because he has NEVER talked on the phone other than to say HI into it.

What really blew me away happened this same day at Easter Seals. We were waiting for the classroom door to open, so Ethan was playing in the toy waiting room. One of the other little kids from this same program came over to the area where Ethan was playing & watched Ethan. Ethan NOTICED HER, and said, "Hi Name of Girl! Will you play with me?" A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! This is HUGE!!!!!!!

I have also met some wonderful parents & some new friends. It has been nice to talk with people who understand so much of what your daily life is like because they are experiencing it as well. I have really connected with this same little girl's mom & grandma who drive about an hour to come be a part of this program. This summer program has been such a blessing to our family in so many ways, and I am OVER THE MOON that Ethan will continue during the school year!!!!! We are so blessed!!!!

Independence Day

If you ask me to pick my favorite holiday, I couldn't give you an answer. I love them all. I get excited for each & every one! Just like the four seasons...I love them all! One of the reasons why I love living in the mid-west is so I can experience all of the seasons. However, if you asked me which holiday makes me the most nervous for Ethan???? It would be the 4th of July, for sure. The typical cook-out food....he doesn't eat. The loud fireworks & firecrackers....it pushes him to the brink. And talk about a day off of a typical schedule! So....how do we still get to enjoy our Independence Day? Here's how we did it this year....

First, after a bad experience last year, we decided to keep it pretty low key. Me? I want to do it all, see it all, fit it all in! But, wanting to have my family enjoy this day as much as me, I have to adjust. So, we tried to make it as close to a Saturday-type schedule as much as possible. Plus, now that Ethan is really using his picture schedule, we were able to prep him for the day ahead. We spent most of the morning & early afternoon at home. We swam, had a cookout (Ethan ate his chicken nuggets, but outside with us), and Corey bought non-noisy firecrackers such as sparklers & growing black snakes.

Then, late afternoon, we went to my brother-in-law's grandparents house to swim with their family. They have a "real" pool, and Ethan had so much fun going down a small slide into the pool. Over & over & over again. We were even able to get him further along in his swimming skills though he still can't swim yet.

After that, we went home for a quick dinner & got ready to head out to the fireworks. This is the dreaded part. Last year, during the fireworks display, we changed our viewing location to as far away as possible so the noise wouldn't be as loud for our noise sensitive kiddo. However, Ethan was still so afraid of the sound, that he literally peed through his diaper & onto Corey (even though Ethan had ear plugs in). So, we were a bit worried. It had been a year ago, and Ethan is able to handle noise so much better now......how would he do this year? Should we even attempt it? Should we stay home & watch it on tv? Hum??????

Well, we decided to go & if we needed to leave early, we would. Plus, we were meeting some friends & my sister's family there, so Ethan could at least play with some other kiddos before the fireworks started...even if he didn't make it through the display. It was SOOO hot, but here is how it went......

Ethan is trying out his headphones & wearing one of his favorite light up toys. I think he looks a bit like an air traffic controller!

Aunt Rachel brought more glow toys! Say cheese!

 

As we waited for it to get dark, Uncle Scott was playing catch with the kids. Without being told, Ethan went over & lined up with the other children....see him on the far left?

Here, you can see Ethan is now watching what is going on....

And eventually, he got IN the line & was playing catch too!!! Unfortunately, I took this picture just as a practice firework went off, and Ethan is covering his ears. But he was playing catch with the other kids & WITHOUT being told to do so!!!

The fireworks have started!

This year, we have Ethan sound-proofing headphones, and he did GREAT!!!! In fact, he was laughing at them!!!

The city does a ground show that you can see if you get in the arena, but we could still see a lot of it from where we were sitting. These are the ones that Ethan really liked.

Ethan watching the ground show.

When the fireworks would go off up in the sky, Ethan would cover his eyes & peek through them....kind of like watching a scary part in a movie. But he never cried or got upset! He just kept laughing!

 

I brought this pop up tent for the kids to use as a bathroom, so we didn't have to walk to one.

However, Ethan & his cousin (who also doesn't like loud noises), climbed in here to watch some of the fireworks. It seems that "hiding" either in a tent or behind sunglasses/hands eases the loudness of the noises. Glad we brought it!!!

Part of our group watching the fireworks!

Ethan & I watching the fireworks. I was so happy that we didn't have to leave early!

What a great Independence Day!!!