We Survived Spring Break 2018

We made it, kids! Spring Break 2018 is in the books, and we finished it better than when we started it.

This is the first year that I can remember that Carter has had an entire week of Spring Break. An entire week. Of Spring Break.

An entire week.

I knew that if we were going to have a successful week, I'd need to be prepped for it.  Success won't just happen on its own.

So we prepped, and then we dove right in. Here's our Spring Break, in photos. iPhone photos, because, well...Spring Break.

Thanks, Panera, for offering a dairy-free smoothie option. We're grateful.

Meet Silas Jacob. the first kid in our family that has me actually considering baby-locking all the cabinets and cupboards. Little babes is persistent.

And then there's this:

"Macy, what are you doing?"
"Mom. Nuffin'."

We did a little bit of this.

And a little bit of that.

And quite a lot of this.

"Mom, I'm pwayin' at the table so Siley can't touch my stuff!"

We even had time for a little of this, thanks to a little 24 hour bug that Macy had.

Oh, and this. Coffee date with mom (orange juice in a coffee mug works just fine!).

Looking back on our week, it started out a little bumpy. I think I texted Jake 10 times on Monday. But by Wednesday or Thursday, we were in a good groove.

Lots of tiny moments of sharing, ordering food from 'waitress Macy', turn taking, playing games, building magnet tiles, peeking out windows, lazy afternoon naps, play doh rolling, and rolling paper (a favorite pastime of Carter's!).

There was also plenty of toy-grabbing, sibling rivalry, cupboard emptying, mess clean-ups, crayon chomping (a favorite pastime of Silas's!) and on and on. 

And then there's this: Carter's moments of mischief actually look like the very beginning stages of helpful independence. As I was changing Silas, I heard Carter tinkering around in the kitchen. When I came out, I expected to find spilled food or toys in the sink. But instead I found this:

It was intentional and purposeful - the water was contained in the sink, the soap had been squirted on the sponge and then placed back in its place.

Another day, I came out to find he had taken all the towels out of the drawer. I was about to be stern and tell him "put these away now!" but he was putting them away. Folding them, first - and then placing them in the drawer.

Okay, bud. I see you. I get it.

Growing and changing, he's becoming a thoughtful little man. There was a time I thought Carter had no capacity to think of others before himself. I think I was wrong.

"What is this, and why doesn't my mom ever use it?!?!"

All of that would be enough for me to sit back and call Spring Break 2018 a win. And I almost did. But then...

Jake and I have been tossing around the idea of investing in bikes/trailers/helmets for the whole family. We thought that IF we could get Carter to cooperate, bike riding would be a great family activity for us. We live in an area with many opportunities for riding, and we're always looking for productive ways to get outside.

So the week before Spring Break, we took the plunge and purchased a bike for both Jake and I, a trailer/jogger for Macy and Silas, a WeeHoo for Carter, and helmets for everyone. The bikes arrived towards the end of Spring Break, and we prepped Carter as best we could.

As we headed out for our first before-dinner bike ride, Jake and I had a pep talk. "Carter is probably going to hate it - and that's okay! He'll get there! This is the first ride of many, and it will probably grow on him! Whatever happens in the next hour, everything will be okay!"

(If you have a kid on the spectrum - I'm betting you've given yourself this same pep talk 100 times)

What happened next, you ask? Carter is what happened next.

"COOOOOOOL!!! New bikes!!! Cool!!! Helmet!! Dad pull!!! COOOOL!!!"

Happy, confident, brave, relaxed - all words to describe Carter on his first ever bike ride.

Jake and I looked at each other multiple times throughout our ride in amazement. Who is this kid? Is this really happening? How did we get here?

(I've got answers for all those questions. That's how we got here.)

Carter Benjamin, killin' it since 2008.

We survived Spring Break 2018. And we can't wait for summer.

**Intrigued by the WeeHoo? Check them out here: rideweehoo.com