Summer Blues

So, summer was tough. We didn't have any awesome and exciting vacations. We don't feel we can do that type of stuff with Andy. We feel strapped to the house. I can't really look at Facebook. Seeing everyones photos of their weekends away, and trips to the beach makes me sad. People also don't understand that we CANNOT and do not have the freedom to just do whatever we would like to do like THEY do.

Even having people help us with Andy, we feel we still need to be here. When he gets out of control, we take him up to his room. Or I put him in the van and go for a 30 minute drive.

We tried to keep Andy busy with our mother-in-law, and by me driving him around to places to make him happy. I drive to my mom's and bring him inside, and then the infant, and try to hang there for two hours. Andy plays happily on the floor with toys, but then after two hours of that and a snack, we are ready to head back home.

Overall, Andy hasn't done well on most days. Meaning he is crying and upset and bored. He has a few good hours, and a few bad hours, each and every day. I wanted to plan for a better summer for him, but the baby was here this time around and was very consuming.

Next summer, I'd like to have therapy appointments and things scheduled for him. We are also trying to network more and find out about things for him to do. The problem is that this year we didn't want to put him in any summer camps, because we don't trust people with our completely non-verbal son. We are always concerned about possible abuse, even now there was an incident of a special needs boy being raped at Novi High School last year. He was put into a seclusion room with a 200 pound special needs boy unsupervised and was raped. This kind of stuff paralyzes us with fear of who we can and can't trust with our son. He is basically like a helpless infant.