Last days of summer

Where did summer go??

How on earth is it almost over and school is about to begin in 1 day?

I'm so conflicted about how I feel about school starting up- I know it will be easier for Ty

that part is good, it is just so hard for him to have all of us in the house - it's just too overwhelming

but my girls, will be off to school, littlest in Second grade already and oldest eighth.... how is that possible?

I feel like we didn't get enough time to just "be together" this summer, we were always kind of managing each day, to try and maintain some civility in the house

and I hate that- but it is what it is

that was the summer.... kind of a lot going on and it absolutely affected Ty

Gretchen helped him out so much in so many situations, but the reality is

his brain continued to misfire and run wild with over stimulation

and I"m sure the fact the my boy is now 10 and beginning to enter "pre-puberty" doesn't help all the things happening to him, all those hormones- ugh!

It's the reality, but yet makes things even more out of our control to help him, since he is still struggling so much to help himself!

The roller coaster ride has been very up and very down

and he's very hard to keep up after when it's that way

However, I feel very confident that with the girls going back to school, us doing a trainer to trainer model of ABA and not having people in and out of the house every day of the week

he and I can get focused and really bond and work together!

I'll just miss my girls-

But the kids did have a few good moments today-

Megan and Ty set up a "boutique" in our family room for Sarah to school clothes shop (from all of our hand me downs that are stored in buckets in garage.... love hand me downs!

and so does she, so she thinks it's the greatest thing in the world!

They spent well over an hour setting up, putting clothes on hangers, setting up different departments for the different items,

including a dressing room

and although Ty was absolutely trying so hard to control everything, Megan too was trying to control at least something- and therefore

the explosion occurred and Megan opted out of the "play"

but I was proud of her for that- she had every reason to not want to participate, Ty was being very controlling

so she was out of there!

Despite Ty's later plea to sort of try to compromise which to him is a compromise, but in reality his proposal was still very controlling every aspect of the play

but he was trying

Sarah loved it all, she loved pretending to shop, and try things on, and I think for her, knowing her,

she loved participating with her brother- because she (unlike Megan) really tries and tries and will give Ty multiple chances to figure things out

and only after many attempts and usually him being very mean to her does she finally decide to walk away and not want to play

but boy she is forgiving and really tries to help him so that they can play together- but some day's it's just too difficult

but today, the school shopping play went on for about 45 minutes which in my book is pretty good !

So, it is nice to have had a good positive experience today, I enjoyed it, and this also makes me a bit sad because this is pretty typical

things historically start to settle down for him in August, it's rough after the school year ends, then the holidays, then finally August comes rolling around and things start smoothing out, falling into place, kids laughing more, smiling more, getting along more,

and then BOOM school is back in session and we are back to another transition!

and then before you know it, Halloween, Christmas, and then New Years.. and well, it's hard to sometimes catch your breath when it's going by so fast!

So tomorrow, on the last day of Summer vacation for my kids, I will just breath, and enjoy the last moments we have before everyone is off to school!!!!