Isn't everyday autism awareness day???

Hm, guess not.  It should be.  We are well aware of autism in our household everyday.  ;-)

So today is.. yep.. World Autism Awareness Day.  Everyone is lighting it up blue today.  April is Autism Awareness Month, in case you didn't know that either.

Today the boy got himself up, showered and dressed for school all while I was in the comforts of my own bed sleeping through my annoying alarm clock.  I had planned on putting a blue shirt on him, but somehow he managed to pick one out on his own.  As he's watching Minecraft videos on YouTube, I tell him today is World Autism Awareness Day and it's pretty cool that he's wearing blue.  I tell him I'm wearing a blue shirt in honor of this.  So he stops watching the video and asks me if his school is doing anything to celebrate this.  I tell him no and he says well they should.  I told the boy to ask SpEd teacher lady about it.

After he was off to school and I was done running around there taking care of PTO craziness, I went and mentioned it to principal lady.  We had a nice chat (for once!) about the new statistics recently published.  1 in 88 children is insane.  1 in 54 boys is tragic!  1 in 54.  The boy is 1 in 54.  These new statistics really make me wonder what the new statistic for military kids like the boy will be.  It was 1 in 88 military kids were diagnosed with autism.

Back to principal lady, she told me "well if it's important to the boy, then let's see what we can do about it!" After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I said thank you and came home.

This afternoon I was back at school for more PTO craziness, and lo and behold, there were signs in the hallways mentioning April being Autism Awareness Month.  I love that!  I love SpEd teacher lady and how awesome she is.

So the boy was thrilled because why shouldn't he be celebrated?  He's so much more than a staggering statistic.  He is awesome, funny, smart, amazing, loving, caring, helpful, and an all around wonderful kid.  Yeah, he has his ups and downs like any other Aspie kiddo might, but he's awesome.  The boy is growing into a pretty darn awesome pre-teen and I hope we can keep him doing as well as he's doing right now.

So yes, we celebrated World Autism Awareness Day today, but really, we celebrate it every day.  Autism is a part of our lives now and forever until death do us part.  I didn't ask to be married into this exclusive club.  I didn't ask for my child to have to work ten times harder than his classmates.  I didn't ask to be so defeated it's all I can do to keep from curling up and crying when he's having a meltdown.  But it's what I got and I wouldn't trade it for the world.  The boy has taught me so much and teaches me more and more every day.  I wouldn't change him for anything.. even at our darkest moments.  EVERYTHING we've dealt with so far in his life is what has brought us to the point we are at today.  I'm thankful for everything we've been dealt and can't wait to see what else gets thrown at us!