December 7, 2016

This was less than a week after Jonah was “officially” diagnosed with autism.

Jonah was completely nonverbal and could only say one word consistently: “done.”

You know how you tell yourself not to compare journeys or set any “expectations” for your Ausome kiddo and that “as long as they are happy, you’ll be happy?”

…but then there’s this whole list of developmental milestones you “lock away” with secret hopes they will someday achieve, but you try not to dwell on it because there is no guarantee of ANY progression on this journey?

…and so you tell yourself you will just be content with ANY progress?

(Or is that just me?)

I must confess that hearing Jonah say “Dada,” was at the top of MY list.

This is the first time Jonah called me Dad. The first time he said my name…

And he gave me a huge hug to boot.

I have watched this literally hundreds if not thousands of times.

It’s a reminder that good things—even AMAZING things—can still happen, sometimes when we least expect it.

…even when we are too afraid to hope.

#smALLVICTORIES #ausome