Well, again, I’ve let too much time go by so I have to backtrack a bit and try to remember everything that’s happened so I can fill you in.  Some important good things have happened; I have to try to focus on them. 

First off, YAY sam.  We saw GREAT progress from him in vision therapy on Friday.  He was manipulating the therapy switches (toys, basically) to get a response, and his response time on everything was 1 to 5 seconds!  That’s big big news.  Let me try to explain a little better.  First off, here’s a picture of a toy I bought him:      The motions are similar to the therapy toy, and he can actually play with this toy as long as we put his hand on the lever.  Most toys like this don't have enough stimulation - all they do is pop up, but this one has a lot of sounds, and apparently, that's what he was waiting for.  If we put his hand in place, he can pull the lever back, or to the side, or whatever, to make the toy respond properly. In the past, it would take MUCH longer, and even then, we couldn’t be sure if it was a random movement or not.  These responses are clear and definite.  BIG BIG stuff. And this is the first toy he's had that he can actually play with.  Oh, you can't imagine how that feels.  Man.   

Oh, and Ben reminded me that he reached up the other night.  And he is still “playing” with his legs as he sits and relaxes with us at night, lifting one leg, then the other.  Now he’s lifting one leg as he straightens the other, then switches. I can’t see any other point than playing around with his legs on that move, and it has to feel good. 

And then, I guess I had my real live initiation to life as the mom of a special needs child.  This weekend, as part of our effort to act like normal people, we decided to take the boys to Adventure Island, which is a pretty cool water park.  We used to take Ben there all the time; Sam has never been.  The water was pretty cold, but it was still good and crowded.  I knew there was no way Sam would ever forgive me if I put him in that cold cold water, so we just hung out and took in the sounds and the sights; he was generally content to soak in the loud music and laughter.  I, however, was blown away by the utter lack of compassion by the other people, even the MOMS, in the park.  It was incredible, and so hurtful. (I don’t think anyone smiled at us the entire day, except one well-raised young man who smiled broadly at Sam as we were leaving.  I looked for his parents to thank them but couldn’t find them.)   You know, not only did they not smile, they actually looked at Sam with horrified looks on their faces.  I mean, they actually had looks of horror!  My boy is many things, but horrible?  I've never thought he was scary looking before.  I wanted to cry.  Or smack somebody. 

Then there were times that I must have appeared to be a single mom: trying to keep one eye on Ben, who was hopping around in water park delirium, while I had one hand steering a baby in a wheel chair, wrangling an enormous beach bag and medical equipment.   Tim was looking for a chair for me or someplace I could settle with Sam.  While this was going on, not one person offered a chair, a hand, or even a kind word.  They were busy tanning.  Unbelievable.  

It was one day I wished he wasn't as aware of things as I know he is.  Maybe the sun was in his eyes and he couldn't tell.