A Little Dilemma and Endings.

The many faces of Liam (Mt. Evelyn SDS)





Liam had his last day at Mt. Evelyn SDS last Friday. He had a lovely time there and we will all miss the place and staff there. I felt quite sad. One poignant gift from there was a disc with photos of Liam at the SDS set to the song "The Rainbow Connection"


Tomorrow is his last day at Kinder (MECEC). This too has been a wonderful place. I cannot recommend the people there Or at Mt.Evelyn more highly. Both places have been good for me too. In a way I had kind of closed off to the "normal" (how I hate that word) world...afraid of rejection. I couldn't have been more wrong. A few Mums at the Kinder have told me how much they felt their children had benefitted from Liam's presence and how much they had seen him grow. His teacher said he had been a pleasure to have, especially as she had no prior experience of autism and her introduction to Liam was a report that was written to get funding for an aide (and these jump to worse worse case scenario)



Liam and me (he's watching whats going on through the window) . Kris loves this photo.



I have to share a message in a Christmas card we received from a Kinder Mum & her son...
It says :

What a wonderful little man!!
M (her son) just adored Liam this year and I have to say the "moments" I had with him were just gorgeous! he is a darling little boy and I wish
nothing but all the health and happiness in the world for your family.
Keep Smiling - S (her name)

I have to say that Liam's pre-school years, from starting early intervention at 2 to now have been filled with some wonderful people, who have helped Liam, Kris and myself enormously. I have gone from virtually knowing nothing about autism to (the more I've learnt) so much more, yet understanding how little I know. There have been tears, shared laughter, hugs and dismay...yet bonds have been formed that I cherish. The psychologist at Irabina (autism early intervention) once said to me "the best thing we can give you is another parent"...she is soooo right, but at the same time she and others have given so much too, even if at times it has felt like the blind leading the blind ;)

Now for my dilemma
I have 4 people who responded to my last blog. None of them guessed the correct duplicate, though one picked it as her second choice. I'm not sure what I should do with the giveaway under those circumstances. Any ideas? I mean I could send it to the one who picked it second, draw a name out of the hat or....

In the meantime, the camera has been recovered though its battery may be failing.

Give those you love a hug :)
Sharon