One of our greatest desires for MANY years has been for Dominic to make a friend that he could hang out with outside of whatever environment they were in (school, camp, mommy organized play dates, etc). He's 12. This has been hard on our hearts for a Long Time.
Tonight when I picked him up from the YMCA day camp this happened.
An older boy, 12, came up and asked to speak with me. I listened out of one ear while doing sign out and asking the counselors to retrieve Dominic for me. this is how the conversation went:
Him: "My name is Giovanni. I have come to this camp for 6 years and its my last year. I have hung out with Dominic every year. I watch him and when the other kids pick on him, I tell the counselors."
Me: *trying not to cry* and now also giving him my full attention
Him: "Today is my last day staying with my Grandmother, I have to go home to Arizona now, and can my grandma have your number because next year I'm too old to come back to camp and I want to see him again"
Me: "Of course"!
Him: "Dominic did the sweetest thing today, he gave me a hug out of the blue"
Me: "he's a sweet kid"
Him: "I'm going to miss him"
Me: "we will make sure you guys get together next summer"
And then Dominic gave him a big hug before we left and i about melted into a pile.
I really wish it had occured to me to give him my email address so we could've had the boys email each other, but I was so flabbergasted at what was happening I wasn't tracking well.
this is the culmination of so much work - all the years of therapy that allowed Dominic to learn the proper way to interact ina group, the hundreds of thousands (not kidding) of dollars in treatments over a decade... the iep's, the supplements, the research, the tears. It took us so much to get here and I am so excited to see where this goes. Of course, we probably won't hear from him soon, but i'm hoping!
Tonight when I picked him up from the YMCA day camp this happened.
An older boy, 12, came up and asked to speak with me. I listened out of one ear while doing sign out and asking the counselors to retrieve Dominic for me. this is how the conversation went:
Him: "My name is Giovanni. I have come to this camp for 6 years and its my last year. I have hung out with Dominic every year. I watch him and when the other kids pick on him, I tell the counselors."
Me: *trying not to cry* and now also giving him my full attention
Him: "Today is my last day staying with my Grandmother, I have to go home to Arizona now, and can my grandma have your number because next year I'm too old to come back to camp and I want to see him again"
Me: "Of course"!
Him: "Dominic did the sweetest thing today, he gave me a hug out of the blue"
Me: "he's a sweet kid"
Him: "I'm going to miss him"
Me: "we will make sure you guys get together next summer"
And then Dominic gave him a big hug before we left and i about melted into a pile.
I really wish it had occured to me to give him my email address so we could've had the boys email each other, but I was so flabbergasted at what was happening I wasn't tracking well.
this is the culmination of so much work - all the years of therapy that allowed Dominic to learn the proper way to interact ina group, the hundreds of thousands (not kidding) of dollars in treatments over a decade... the iep's, the supplements, the research, the tears. It took us so much to get here and I am so excited to see where this goes. Of course, we probably won't hear from him soon, but i'm hoping!
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