Now Riddle Me This: August 2011

Yesterday the kiddo was able to participate in Surfer's Healing for the second time. For those who don't know, here's a little snippet about them from their website. Surfer's Healing

Surfers Healing was founded by Israel and Danielle Paskowitz.Their son, Isaiah, was diagnosed with autism at age three. Like many autistic children, he often suffered from sensory overload-- simple sensations could overwhelm him. The ocean was the one place where he seemed to find respite.

A former competitive surfer, Israel hit upon an idea--with Isaiah on the front of his surfboard, and Izzy steering from the back, the two spent the day surfing together. Surfing had a profound impact on Isaiah. Israel and Danielle decided they wanted to share this unique therapy with other autistic children. They began to host day camps at the beach where autistic children and their families could be exposed to a completely new experience of surfing.

This was our second time going. The first time was 2 summers ago. The kiddo loved it then and loved it even more this time!!!! Surfer's Healing is an amazingly awesome day at the beach. First of all, you're surrounded by families who deal with autism on a daily basis. No one cares if your child is laying in the sand throwing a fit. No one cares if your child is running into people because he's so excited he's got tunnel vision to the beach and doesn't care who's in his way. No one cares if your child is screaming his head off because he doesn't want to leave the beach. NO ONE CARES! It's all normal to them. No judgement, no snide remarks, no dirty looks. That in itself is absolutely awesome considering we deal with all that on a daily basis.

Second of all, the water is the kiddo's favorite place to be. The ocean has such an amazing effect on him. He wants to stay in the water all day long whenever we go to the beach and begs to go to the beach often. (This is not doable normally because we moved from the beach 2 years ago) He loves just standing in the waves and letting them batter him. He loves the push and pull of the waves. He loves the sand under his feet and even the bright sun doesn't bother him when he's in the ocean. He was not happy at all when we had to leave the beach yesterday to begin our what should have been 3 hour drive home.

Back to the actual event itself. We arrived at the beach around 930 am. Later than I wanted, but we did have to pack the car up after our stay at my sister's house before we could head to the beach. We got signed in, got our goodie bag and tshirts for the whole family. The minute our toes touched the sand, he was ready to be in the water. He had a 1030 surf time, so we dumped our stuff off and left my Mom in the shade and headed to the water. Immediately he was in. Wave after wave toppled him and he could have cared less. I let him play for about 20 minutes before heading back to my mom. We checked out a few of the booths they had set up and then it was time for him to go surf. (after of course he started freaking out because I was being too slow and they were going to call his surf time soon... and all I did was smile and laugh and say goodbye to the person I was talking to.. no apologies necessary!)

We go get him suited up in his life jacket and wait for his surfer to come get him. Out he goes into the water. His surfer (whose name I did not get, but wish I did!) was awesome. He was very aggressive with the waves, just going for it, not waiting around.. LOL The kiddo had the most amazing time ever. He caught 5 waves I think. He got to do the paddling out for most of the waves, which was absolutely amazing to me. He has such low muscle tone in his trunk and arms, and seeing him paddle the surfboard out while his surfer was standing on it was simply awesome. My mom, sister, sister's best friend and I all cheered for him the whole time he was out there. They totally wiped out a few times, but the kiddo didn't care one bit. When he got out of the water he said "I got sand in my mouth one time, but I didn't care" HAHA!

As soon as he finished surfing, he wanted to go back in the water. So my sister and her bff took him back in the water for some more time in the water. He got to play some more and then it was lunch time. Back in the water again after eating. Then it was time to leave. Of course he didn't like that too much, but it was the last day of our vacation trip to Va Beach and we needed to get home to celebrate the hubby's birthday, since he couldn't join us on the trip. We reminded the kiddo that he had souvenir money to spend and he happily stopped complaining about leaving and off we went.

All in all it was an absolutely amazing day. I wish we'd gotten a chance to meet Izzy Paskowitz because he is just an amazing person with such a huge heart. I wish I'd gotten the name of our surfer. I wish we could have stayed at the beach all day. I loved watching all the kids surfing. I loved seeing the joy on a child's face when moments ago he'd been terrified of heading into the water. I loved seeing families hold their breaths as their child was carried out into the water and then moments later burst into cheers when their child was surfing a wave. I loved being somewhere that having autism is the norm and no is judged.

Here are some pics from our day yesterday...