I met a new mom at J's group. Since it's summer, all the older siblings tag along. I have B and S with me and she brings her five-year-old. From the very first time he opened his mouth, he reminded me of B as a younger child. I absolutely love listening to him talk because it's like hearing little B again. :)

He talks at length about space and science and anatomy. He says things like "I'm feeling curious!" and just phrases things in the funniest ways and uses huge words. His mom and I have talked a lot and she said she likes seeing B and hearing how things played out because she always wonders how M will change as he gets older.

Her son has more behavior issues than B did. He is kind of a handful, to be honest and actually, I'm wondering if I'm looking at a picture of what J will be like right before Kindergarten.  He is is very, VERY loud, impulsive and just all over the place. If I didn't have a child(ren) kind of like him, I'm sure I would be thinking, "Why can't the mom get him under control?" Instead, I can say, "Yeah. I get it!" and help her keep him occupied while we wait for the little brothers to be finished with group. ;)

She said he has an aide in Pre-K for part of the day and will in kindergarten next year.... and that he does really wonderfully with activities that are part of his interests and then the behavior issues come in when it's something he doesn't want to do. I hope to keep in touch with her after summer because I'm interested to hear how he does in K next year. He's such a neat kid.

Part of what has been wonderful about having J involved in this group and with early intervention in general is just meeting other parents who GET my kids and whose kids have some of the same quirks and challenges. :) Prior to this, I had never really met anyone who had kids anything like mine. I thought I just had really, really hard kids.  ASD gave us name for the challenges and connected us with a whole world of people who understand.  It's really, REALLY nice. :)