The night of the third I charged the battery to my camera. Did I take one picture all day on the fourth? No. No, I didn't.
The fourth of July began with going to a parade. Josh loves parades. And like any kid, if they throw candy in the parade, things have gone from fun to a party. Now it has been about 2-3 years since Stacy or Bekkie have come to a candy throwing parade with Josh and me. And I don't know when it happened, but kids getting candy at a parade has become a selfish contact sport. Add in Josh: he has trouble concentrating with large crowds/noise, he has visual perceptual problems and can't find things easily (i.e. candy on the ground, the towel hanging behind him, a toy in a drawer, etc), plus he moves slowly and clumsily compared to other kids. You may think that this would create a recipe for disaster, and it would except for the fact that I have the best little boy in the world.
So people in the parade are throwing candy and the kids are scrambling. Josh has to take a moment to find and hone in on a piece and then clumsily run toward it, stop fully, then bend to pick it up. More often than not, the only piece of candy that hasn't been grabbed first by other kids is a tootsie roll. He brings it back to me smiling and cheering for himself. He puts it in the bag and turns back around. I show him another one on the ground and he goes to get it only to have a kid next to us see him going towards it and as he is bending down they snatch it from under him. Pretty often we skip the first steps and go straight to the other kids grabbing the candy that he is obviously trying to pick up. Other kids will pick up 3-5 pieces from one throw/float, arguing and pushing. If my son manages to get a piece, he bounces back to me grinning and giggling, shouting "Yes!" and pumping his fist. If he doesn't get a piece that time he still comes back to me grinning excited to have been a part of the action. Now I am used to this. But Stacy and Bekkie were not. They slowly got more and more upset. Bekkie even gave Trevor the job of kid control/blocker for Josh. Let me also state that the real problem children were not the cousins but the kids next to us. Anyway, I had to calm them down and remind them of what I keep telling myself, Josh is happy. He doesn't need handfuls of candy to be happy, he just needs to be a part of the fun. And when you start getting upset with the other children, he may notice that there is a reason to be upset. And really what does that say to him? I don't need him holding that candy in as high a regard as those other kids do. It is not something to fight over, it isn't something to get angry about. It is a gift from the people on the float and if you get one you should be happy. So I continued cheering over each small tootsie roll and he kept smiling. One float threw out candy by the handfuls...literally. All the other kids were coming back with literal handfuls of candy then going back to get another handful or two. Josh brought me back 3 pieces. This is the most he has ever gotten at one time. He spent so much time celebrating he didn't have time to get any more than that. I was so proud of him.
We came home and had a BBQ with friends and Chantelle and her girls. The kids played in kiddy pools we set up. They play so well together. Anything Josh did Livey had to copy. It was adorable. Josh came up to me and pointed to Casey (our neighbor with Down Syndrome) and signed "friend". It is the first time he has signed that and I was happy for my good memory and that I took ASL in high school. He is pulling out new signs all the time now.
Cul De Sac of Fire is my neighborhood firework show where everyone brings fireworks to set off in the middle of the cul de sac and a treat to share. It is great fun and usually mildly terrifying because someone manages to tip over a large shoot up in the air firework and since we are literally all sitting in a circle around the fireworks, one or more people get shot. Last year that was me and I have to say, it was pretty darn painful. No burns because the thing is expected to shoot at least 100-200 feet into the air (total guess-timate) and it only traveled about 30 before bouncing off my well cushioned hip while I squealed like a stuck pig. It must have exploded somewhere after it bounced off but I was too busy writhing in pain while my husband laughed (it's okay, I would have laughed if it was him too). Usually there is a live band but this year there was karaoke. Josh keeps watching the karaoke people (mostly teenage girls) but when I ask he says he doesn't want to do it. About halfway through I hear a familiar wail....no make that two familiar wails floating over the crowd. Josh and Casey (my neighbor, remember) are singing to the Gorillaz "Feel Good". I jumped up and ran over. I screamed like any adoring fan, held up my "rock hands" and even gave him a couple of good head bangs. I got a couple of looks, some people commented later that I am "such a good mom". Odd, don't you people support your children? It was his first public show, of course I would be there cheering him on. He would have karaoked all night and honestly, who kicks the CP kid and the Downs kid off the karaoke machine? They would have gone all night but I made them take turns with the girls. It was a blast like always, and there weren't even any casualties.
I am the luckiest mom. My boy sees excitement and opportunity where other children see competition and public embarrassment. He loves life, he loves people. Why do people not see how lucky I am to have that? I love this kid.
