Summers with Memaw

Summers are hard for us. I have a hard time finding babysitters that are willing to watch an autistic kid. And even harder to find a daycare to accept him. There aren’t enough staff members to manage the regular kids plus one that adds a challenge the way an autistic child does. (Or maybe that’s just my experience) when he was younger it was a little easier because toddlers are pretty much all the same so grouping him with other toddlers didn’t seem that hard. But the older he gets the harder summers are for us. I’ve been calling daycares to get on the wait list since January. And once they finally did open enrollment we never made it up the list… how was I not further up the list with me calling for 4 months before summer enrollments even started??? Let’s not go there yet. That’s a post for another time.
This post is about how amazing my mom is! Seriously she helps me every summer with several weeks so that we can make it from school year to school year without me losing my job.
She has saved me so many times and to see how much my boy loves being with her is the best feeling ever. She has her hands full on a daily basis, raising two of my nephews she’s pretty much a super mom. But then she willingly takes Atticus for me over the summer for a week and sometimes two weeks at a time.

She’s not like everyone else or even me for that matter. Atticus being different doesn’t change anything for her. Whatever she’s doing with the boys she makes sure he is part of it. Even if those weeks are exhausting for her, I know she would still do it. The love she has for my baby is so beautiful.

Swimming? No problem let’s go.

Dinner and games? Let’s go!

Dance parties? Let’s have them!

Believe me when I say this, summer time at Memaws are memories that will never be forgotten.
I know a lot of parents with autistic children do not have a person that will step in and help, especially for a week at a time, but for the ones that do I know you understand the importance of having that person.
From a mother’s perspective- Rachel