Life Lessons, Christmas Miracles & Gift Giving Fails | #FridayFragments

It's been way too long since I've linked up with Mrs. 4444's Friday Fragments but I want to get back in the swing of (blog) things so here we go...

Earlier this week I took The Boy to a holiday party at work. We had our challenges but The Boy was being very chatty. After I left, a coworker (who met The Boy for the first time) told another coworker (a woman who's known The Boy since he was an infant) "I thought her son has autism."

The coworker believed that all children with autism are non-verbal. My other coworker (a woman who has no children or any experience with kids with autism, other than The Boy) explained The Boy's autism and how far he has come.

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December 2010

This year The Boy is especially excited about Christmas and it's one of those little things most parents take for granted. Seeing and hearing his excitement makes me think back to the holiday season of 2010 when he was just starting to get it. I wrote a post, The Moment I Forgot About Autism, (it's one of my favorite essays I've written about our autism journey and I think one of my best). It's about one our very first back and forth conversations. And what made it extra special was that it was about Christmas. I hope you take the time to read about our holiday 'miracle' moment. 

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Every year I worry about what to get my parents for Christmas. They're tough to shop for. They don't want anything, they don't need anything. They are very simple people. I had this idea to buy them tickets to a concert - a Parranda (my friend Melanie of Modern Mami explains it really well and shares a yummy recipe!). The concert highlighted 3 well known old-school Puerto Rican folk singers. I just knew my parents would love it! 

Except…I forgot to tell them. I forgot the tickets were for last Saturday (12/15). And last Saturday, there was a major snowstorm here in New York. Fortunately my friend called me around 4pm to remind me about the concert. Unfortunately by the time I got in touch with my parents - it was too late for them to travel. And I didn't want them to travel during such crappy weather.

I went to the concert and had a good time. It was probably one of the best gifts I've ever gotten my parents (aside from photos of their only grandson) too bad they couldn't enjoy it.

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Do you use Elf on the Shelf with your kids? I do and it works so well for The Boy! However, this week has been pretty hectic so I forgot to move for a few days and our mornings have been rushed because they changed the bus pick up time so we haven't been playing. Tuesday morning, The Boy asks "Hey momma where's Elfie?" He starts giggling as he sees me looking around for Elfie - since he's not where I last saw him. The Boy took it upon himself to move the Elf to another shelf.