We were very hesitant about purchasing this one because, obviously, it was more than we had ever spent on a keyboard for him. But he needed it.

During his 5 years as keyboard owner, I began to notice that he was trying to actually play. I remember it was last year, Christmas '05 time. He just opened his new keyboard and plugged it in. (He got 2 that Christmas) He was pressing all of the buttons and listening to the preset tunes. I think there were 5 of them. Suddenly he began to play one of those tunes. Just like that! It took him only 2 tries to learn how to play the first measure of each of those tunes! We were floored.

That was when I decided this was more than a toy for him, he needed to take lessons. So I signed him up and he has been going for almost 3 months now.

He is fantastic! No Savant but still amazing for a child of seven, Autistic and who still wears pullups. His teacher says he has perfect pitch. He can pickup anything right away. He prefers classical music. Fur Elise is his most favorite. He enjoys Chop Sticks too!

Since he is taking lessons-we decided that he needed a good keyboard. Neither my husband nor I are musically inclined, so we started researching and compairing prices. EBAY!! Gotta love Ebay. There were so many to choose from. So we did. Since we ordered it over the web, we were uncertain of what we were getting. 

Fast forward 2 days later...

We got home from work last night and this huge box was sitting in the carport. We were so excited. It is much bigger than we thought. He will certainly not be lugging this one around. There are so many options. This is going to keep him VERY busy for a while. His piano instructor teaches on her Baby Grand Piano. There is a button for that specific function. It has beautiful sound. It does not sound like a keyboard. It sounds just like a piano.

My favorite part is that it does not get so loud that I will get a headache. He also loves loud noises. One of his toy keyboards got so loud, we took it apart and muffled the speakers. He would'nt play it after that.

I have been busy downloading classical music pieces from Napster for him. I think I am more excited about his birthday than he is.

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So to continue with my Easter Story.

Side note: My husband was just standing over me while I was typing this. "What are you doing" He says. He does not get why we blog.

Anyway...

After the rocky start to our trip, you will be surprised to hear that the rest of it went very well. We stopped only once for lunch and potty.

We stopped, somewhere on 64 close to the VA/NC border, at a McDonalds. This must have been the only McDonalds in town because everyone was there at that moment. After circleing twice, we found a parking spot and squeezed in with my big Suburban.

When I open up the back door, toys and trash come spilling out. Of course no one had shoes on. Since both Scott and Laura are potty training at the same time, I did put them both Pullups before we left. The 3 year old was doing the Pee-Pee dance, as was I. Scott does not hold his as well as Laura.

So we make it into the McDonald's restroom. I try and get the 3 of us into the big stall, so that I can keep an eye on them. My oldest waits for us. Scott does not go potty. Instead he flushes. He has a flushing feddish. I am not sure what sensory input he gets from it but he sure does love it. He can waste a lot of water if we let him.

Laura refuses to go. She is afraid of the big noisy toilet. Since neither one of them would go potty-I couldn't go either. So here we are, 2 hours away from home, 3 hours to go-all with full bladders. Thank goodness the 2 little ones have on pullups. I wish there was one for me!

We are all hungry. Of course we will have McDonalds since we are there. But I refuse to wait at the counter. I have had to stand in line with my kids before, I vowed never to do it again. So we get back in the car. Remember I said everyone in town was at this burger joint. We waited 15 minutes to place our order.

Now with food, we get back on the freeway. We make it all the way to my mom's house without incident.

I was so shocked that they were all so good. I was afraid to jinks it, knowing we had to go back the way we came.

The week in Virginia turned out to be a great time. We were very busy going from house to house. My mother has made it very easy for us to visit.

When Scott was first diagnosed 3 years ago, he was going through his distruction phase. He broke, ripped, chewed everything in his reach. We ended having to lock up everything in his room. After one of our visits with my mom during this time frame-she also leared how distructive he could be.

So she did the same. He has his very own room. Where she has placed a lock on everything and moved the bed away from the ceiling fan chain. Another feddish he as-fans! She really came through for us. I big change for her to.

During our visit we were able to coordinate a trip to Kings Dominion. I could not believe it. It was like a family reunion. Everyone was there. Remember how many cousins I said there were. All in all there were about 30 of us all together. We had such a good time.

Scott did very well. I had lots of extra eyes to help me keep track of him. Laura being the typical child-has a fear of strangers. So I did not worry about her wandering off as much. Scott on the other hand not the same.

Scott does not understand fears or many other things that require him to use the part of the brain that tell him cars can hit you if you run in the street, fire burns and you can get lost in crowds.

Scott is very stealth like when he moves. My husband and I often refer to him as the butler. If you have seen the movie Mr. Deeds, you know what I am talking about. Here now. turn around and he is gone.

Luckily there were only two incidences at Kings Dominion that made my heart skip a beat. My family knows that when I say "where's Scott" they quickly scatter in search of him.  

Such a good Easter Week.

We made it back home to NC just as good as we went. Rain all the way, but they were very good.

I know in my first blog I said that I would try and do a weekly post. HA! That was now a month ago. Seriously, I want to post often, because believe me my weeks are always full with something interesting to say! 

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After my first post Easter was here. Since the kids were going to be out of school that following week, I decided that I would travel to Virginia to visit my side of the family - 5 Hours -  no husband - alone - with 3 kids. Was I nuts? Yes absolutely!

Well I knew I did not want to be home with them for the entire week, alone. At least this way they could hang out with all of their cousins to. Yes there are lots. My husband says we breed like rabbits! I tend to agree. There are 15 in all. Ranging in ages from 5 months to 21 years. For each of my 3 there is a cousin of the same age. LOTS!!

I know that some parents reading this may think that staying home alone with their children would be a blessing. Your children must be absolute angels. I envy you.

I love my kids. But even the weekends are hard enough. After the first full day with ADD, Autism and a 3 year old, I am counting the time for when Monday comes.

So off we go. We left the house at 815am. I had to run in to town for a few errands. By the time I was done and ready to get going it was now 9:00am. So on our way I stopped by Burger King for breakfast. I knew this would keep them happy for at least 5 minutes. Shortly after leaving the drive-thru my 3 year old tells me "I gonna be sick." Oh no! Not 3 minutes later, up comes her breakfast. All over the laptop-we use it for movies. All over the bags, her blankie, her seat and herself. What a mess.

So we go back home. This throws Scott into a fit. If have never seen an Autistic child throw a temper tantrum you are lucky. Imagine the worst tantrum you have seen. Now add in psychotic body slamming and you have what I call, Scott. See, he was told that he is going to see G-ma. When you tell a child with autism that you are going to do something you have to tell them if it is not going to happen. Otherwise you get a, Scott.

Anyway, we get back home and I get her all cleaned up. I decided to wait a while to see if her tummy is better before I try it again. I call my husband at work to let him know that we are home again. I called my mom to let her know that I was home, again.

After about an hour Laura said that she was better. So we loaded up, again. Now it was 11am. Had I kept driving I would have been on the other side of Raleigh by then.

Whenever Scott has to get in the car he has this ritual of running around the car. I do not know why, but he does. If he is not able to run then we have another Scott episode. Since he was running around the car, Laura decided that she would to. After a couple of minutes I said it was time to go. I am telling you it was like hurding cats! One going in one direction, one in another.

Ok, time to go! Just as I get them in the car, my 10 year old with ADD decided that she needed to go to the bathroom. FINE! Because of her ADD it can take take her 10 minutes to complete a simple task, such as peeing. And it looked like that is what was happening. So I start honking the horn. She comes out, forgetting to shut the door behind her so then the puppy follows. Now we have to chase Tony Stewart around. Of course he thinks it is a game. By now I am about to loose it. We have not even left the driveway yet.

Finally! She catches him, he is licking her face. She climbs in the car. Everyone is ok. So we are off. AGAIN!

.... to be continued

I just want to introduce myself to the Sandhills bloggers! My name is Christine Garton and I have written lots of different things before; letters, flyers, proposals and even newspaper notices, but nothing as personal as a blog.

I chose to do this because I think that hearing from a mom of a child with a disability would be a good addition to the blogging world. You will also find that I actually have quite a bit in common with many families in the Sandhills area!

 We are a military family (Army) . We have been married for  eleven years and have lived in 4 states: Virginia, Washington, California, Colorado and now North Carolina. I am a Virginian and my husband is a Californian. We met while I was in the Army and we were both stationed at Bragg.

We also have three children; 11, 7 and 3.Two of those have a special need.

My ten year old was diagnosed with ADD just 6 months ago. We have had many challenges with her over the years, but when she was diagnosed, it all made scense.

Our most challenging child is our seven year old son. He was diagnosed with Autism three years ago. This was the reason why I decided to blog. I wanted to give the perspective of parenting children with challenges.

I am also the program coordinator for Family Support Network of the Sandhills, www.fsnsandhills.org and I am always open to questions, support and advocacy. I hope to add a weekly Sunday blog. But as time is valuable, I may not be able to. So keep a look out. If you are a parent of a child with a special need I hope that a look into our house might help you.