O-O-AH-T

Last night my husband Jamie took our two older boys for a camping overnight on our boat.

They are 10 and 8. One loves to fish and be outdoors and one loves watching his favorite shows on his iPad and snuggling up in a really comfortable bed with loads of blankets and temperature control.

And my husband, he used to go on camping trips to really remote places in the winter in Minnesota when it was 20 degrees below zero. I called him crazy many a times.

See, he adores the outdoors. Same as me. But a lot changed after we had our oldest.

Along with his autism diagnosis came other things. Like no understanding of safety and wandering and no fear of walking off the end of a dock into water.

Our outdoor activities seem to stop overnight. Suddenly we needed door alarms and locks and fences.

And it took ten years for our older son to tell us he wanted to camp overnight.

He’s nonverbal, which means it’s hard for him to communicate his wants and needs. But there was no question about it last night when he grabbed his blanket, his bag of 300 DVDs, and iPad and stood by the door. When asked where he wanted to go he brought his arms to to his head and let out a pretend snore and then in his own language said BOAT.

It came out as O-O-AH-T. And then pointed to his dad and brother.

He wanted to sleep in the boat. He wanted to go.

I don’t have any pictures yet.

Just this one of me hanging out with our two littles. We played dinosaurs and went to bed early and got up early.

Nothing too wild over here.

Finding Cooper’s Voice is a safe, humorous, caring and honest place where you can celebrate the unique challenges of parenting a special needs child. Because you’re never alone in the struggles you face. And once you find your people, your allies, your village….all the challenges and struggles will seem just a little bit easier. Welcome to our journey. You can also follow us on Facebook, subscribe for exclusive videos, and subscribe to our newsletter.