Much have changed, not just in my personal life, but also for Kyson.

From the very start, I always feared that he wouldn’t be able to have a social life outside of the family. Although I do very much adore the way he loves his cousins (with a preference for older cousins) and the way he tolerates them, I often wondered if he would have a friend that wasn’t family. Not that there’s a problem with that, we all know majority of your first friend is usually a cousin.

In school, no one is called student anymore. They’re referred to as friends. So like any mom with a child who is autistic know how tough it may be to see your child try to socialize and engage with peers. Many times before I’d ask myself,

“Will my Kyson ever have friends…let alone a friend?”

We have a friend

When in-person classes finally started this school year, Kyson often came home and I would ask him if he saw his friends. He would quickly say yes just to have me get off his back with questions. Then a month or so after, I started to ask what his friend’s name was and he gave me a name! Of course, it was just a name so I had my doubts thinking, oh yeah, everyone is a friend at school.

Finally, after putting it off and not questioning Kyson anymore, it was only then during parent-teacher conference, it was confirmed. We have a friend!

His teacher was happy to share how much Kyson and his friend play together during recess. Kyson will wait until he sees his friend so they can run off to play together during recess and by playing together, Kyson has also learned how to take turns. Yes, waiting for your turn to go down 5he slide takes patience!

Let’s just say my heart was filled with joy to hear this. Oh, and his friend is 3 years older than him which doesn’t surprise me. Kyson always liked to hang around older kids more since they were more predictable. I mean, I don’t even care about the age…heck, we have a friend!

No more questions

I no longer question Kyson’s day, instead, he comes home to tell me how his day was with his friend. The other day, they raced. Today they played on the see-saw.

It was over spring break that he really missed going to school and seeing Friend. He asked me every day if there was school tomorrow and if there wasn’t he’d ask if we could go to Friend’s house. Apparently, Kyson knows where he lives. Actually, he knows a lot of the school bus friends’ homes. He’s always had a good sense of direction. I recall a few years ago when we were walking and he pointed out a house on the corner telling me that that was so-and-so’s house. Later just confirm, it was indeed! How in the world does a 6-year-old remember a part of town he doesn’t even live near? Amazing!

Friend-off

That completes Kyson’s friend story I wanted to share today. As I mentioned in the beginning, much have changed for both of us, hence the long pause of blogging from us. No, we were not quarantining the whole time, but we both worked on ourselves and grew together as a family. Sometimes you just need that in life. Take a pause and remember why you started.

As always, thanks for reading. Take care and love each other.

– Anna MV