New Friends!

In a bubble fortress of solitude

Over the years this blog has been crazy important to me. It's my therapy, my soap box, & my confessional. People e-mail me or facebook message me to let me know how much I've helped or how much just reading has be cathartic for them & I'll be honest I'm not sure how that works! I guess that's how I know I'm a blogger, I put it out there WAY more than I take it in. Don't get me wrong I have blogs that I read regularly & I've grown very attached to the people who write them &, as creepy as it seems to me at times, their families that they write about. It's kind of like seeing facebook "friends" at the store that your not really friends with! You see them...they see you...neither one of you say anything to each other & instead make the creepy "Yeah, I know who you are" eyes at each other OR you make awkward small talk with them realizing that you know WAY to much about whats going on with them because of facebook! I feel like, when I get into a blog I find myself reading it & getting super into what's going on in their life. Then I run to my wife & tell her the story about whats going on in the bloggers life like I know them & they live down the street! Meanwhile my wife is giving me this look like "Who are you talking about?" I'm creepy like that! Anyway, my point is I'm creepy attached to my readers & the people I meet via this community/subculture of special needs parents! I like that we are mostly all sarcastic, have an odd sense of humor, & are generally all a bit twisted but most of all I like that we all understand how hard being a special needs parent is at times but also how awesome it is!

Jayden & His New Friend Nicole

All that rambling out there & aside; I had the opportunity to photograph a great family recently who found my blog shortly after their daughter was diagnosed. After following my blog for a while & realizing both our families live in the same state (about an 45-hour apart) mom sent me a message via our Photography Studio's site to ask about a family session. I visited them at their house & we had a great photo shoot. While I was there we set up a time to all get together & visit a local children's museum. I was excited to get Jayden together with another kid with Aspergers with the hope that they could find common ground. Man did they find some common ground! It was great! Not only did they all have fun (siblings included) but it was great to see the two of them migrate to the same interests in the museum like the "Ball Maze Machine"..... yes, I'm aware that sounds like a really bad Sci-Fi movie. Anyway, they really hit it off. Usually we spend like an hour & a half in a place like that until we are all ready to get out but today we stayed almost 3 hours & had a great time! Jayden got a bit overload stimulated & shutdown right before we left (got a bit testy) but so goes life! We had a blast.

I think when Jayden talks to other kids, even kids that really like him, they sometimes get tired of what he is saying &....stop. It was nice for him to meet someone who's mind works more like his & listen to them talk & talk & talk & talk & talk. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't snuggle fest 2013. It was more like "Okay, when the next ball comes down, if the pendulum swings to the left be ready to pull the lever." & "Lets build up all 7 balls to get the whole release valve filled before releasing it!

See...Ball Maze Machine!

They had a great time trying to arrange the balls to all drop at the same time.

Replacing the muffler...if it were Velcro in real life I'd be way more of a car guy!

Deano Blowin' bubbles like a boss!

Probably his favorite part!

A very content kid at this moment.

Oil & Gas Deano!

Judge Jayden!

 I have to add that Jayden really wanted to take Nicole outside to the maze but I told him it was just to hot today. (Almost 100 degrees) So I told him maybe next time. Flash forward an hour late while he is dressed as a judge, he asks me to sit next to the bench on the witness stand. When I ask what I'm charged with he slams the gabble down & proclaims "Daddy, for the charge of not letting me & Nicole go outside to the maze, I find you guilty." All the while having a creepy smile on his face. I thought, okay, I'll bite "What's the punishment?" I asked. "Execution!" He laughed. I asked how & he said "You will have vinegar & baking soda mixed into your belly....you're going to explode!" Funny....a bit disturbing....but funny....kinda scary....but funny.....seemingly a lot of thought put into it....but funny, wait not really funny just scary.

On a bed of nails