I'm so Proud!

Tomorrow is the last day of Camp Club Med without the Alcohol! I can't believe how fast the last six weeks flew by. I remember how scared I was when camp began! I wondered how my daughter would be able to handle all the activities when she was so clumsy and prone to zoning out while doing things. I wondered how she would interact with the other kids and not tantrum without a behaviorist to help her out.

Today, I wonder how we're going to handle having five more weeks of summer vacation without all of the fun of camp! I couldn't believe how well my daughter ended up doing at camp. She tackled all the activities with joy and excitement. She even excelled at things I wouldn't have dreamed were possible for her. Her counselor gave her a certificate when she scaled the huge rock wall on her own. This thing is the size of a mountain! Usually, my daughter just goes about 25 percent of the way up then gives up. But that one time, she quickly climbed up the whole thing! Her counselor was amazed! Another thing my daughter tackled was swimming! This week, she passed her swim test and earned a blue bracelet, which means that she could hang out in the deep end and go down the water slide without assistance. This was something she worked on during the whole summer to achieve. She did it! I'm so proud of her!

The biggest area she tackled at camp was her social skills. In the beginning, she didn't appear to be interacting with the other kids much. But now, she has made numerous friends including one BFF! I met her BFF and it appeared that the friendship was mutual. The BFF seemed extremely outgoing and nice! My daughter also did a great job at managing her emotions on her own. She did have one tantrum in the beginning, and some tears here and there, but it seemed like she blended in with the other kids perfectly. I don't think anyone at the camp even suspected for an instant about her special needs.

Something else that's really exciting is that my daughter has been able to have long conversations with me about camp. In the beginning, she was pretty good about telling me everything that they did during the day. But lately, she's been talking about her friends, and the things that they did. She's been able to tell me about the antics the counselors did. Yesterday, she told me about an elementary school friend who won a really cool prize and how she ran up to congratulate him! She also told me about how two of the counselors, Stretch and Patty Cakes, went out on a date. She was going to talk to Patty Cakes today to see how their date went.

Never, in my wildest dreams did I ever think she would do this well! I can't believe how mature she seems and how well she blended in with the other kids! I am beyond proud of her and all of her accomplishments.

Her journey has been an interesting one. Sometimes she makes great leaps forward. Sometimes she'll take two steps forward and one step back. Other times, she'll just take 3 steps back! The journey is not always a fast one, but it's one that definitely appears to be heading in the right direction. The skills she's learned in the almost two years since her diagnosis has definitely helped her immensely. I can not say this enough...I'm so proud of her!