Spectrummy Mummy

Pudding gripped the GPS in her hands as one would a steering wheel.  As she drove around the room, she tilted it this way and that, turning corners.  Finally she parked on the chair beside me and said,

“You have reached your destination.”

…

This entire imaginative play scenario was devised by Pudding without any assistance.  Inventing, using her imagination, making toys out of ordinary objects has increased leaps and bounds since we arrived here.  With most of her toys and playthings on a ship heading this way, Pudding has had to find new ways to entertain herself, and she has stepped up to that challenge in an amazing way.
Naturally, I had been concerned about what would happen to Pudding and Cubby’s development when we moved.  With their environment completely altered, with their routines destroyed, with no school, no therapies, I feared their development would stall- or worse- go into reverse.

But from her why questions, to playing with her brother, to imaginative play, Pudding is going from strength to strength.  And Cubby?  Cubby is just happy.  I never thought of him as being unhappy until I witnessed the change in him since we arrived.  He is bolder, more chatty, and excited.  He is interacting more with both children and adults.  We signed him up for a football class (or soccerball as he would have it) and though he was by far the youngest child there, he surprised the coach and the other parents with his ability to follow directions and cooperate in a team.

Spectrummy Daddy is enjoying getting back to what he does best, and is happy to trade in the hours of commuting by bus and metro for a short walk home.

And me.  We hired the housekeeper who worked for the family who lived in our house previously, and she now bears the brunt of the housework.  I’m free to actually enjoy my kids.  Currently without school or therapies to get to, we are just  enjoying our time together without having to be somewhere else.  I feel lighter and happier.  I’m even making plans to join the gym once the kids are at school in the mornings.

Everyone has noticed the change in me.  I feel that for the last couple of years our family was stuck in an endless traffic jam.  We’ve taken a detour on the “road less traveled” and we are finally able to get our foot down on the accelerator.  I’m warned that this is the honeymoon period, but my actual honeymoon only lasted 5 days, and here we are after 3 weeks, every day I feel happier and more settled here.

We haven’t yet reached our destination.  But for the first time in a long time, I feel like we’re really getting somewhere.  I can feel the sun on my face, and the breeze in my hair, and I’m enjoying the ride.  We all are.