Today is a pretty sad day for me since it is my last. Time has literally flown by over the past year for me. I simply can’t believe that Tony is the same little boy I met last September. Today I took him on a walk…all the little things that are routine now seem so extrordinary compared to last year. I can say, “Tony, do you want to go on a walk?” Tony responds with a clear, “Yes” as he runs to find his shoes. When we get to the door Tony hands ME the bug spray and tacts it. When I finish squirting him down he belt out a good “open door!” I know everyone here knows how long we worked on that phrase!

Outside, Tony tells me which direction he wants to go: “that way” of course. We walk around the tree and out to the back where Tony sprints off singing lines from one of his favorite Wiggles songs. When I catch up to him, Tony takes ME by the hand to lead me to a small area of rocks. He plops down a grabs a handful of rocks and carefully lines them up next to him. He starts singing “C” is for cookie and then follows up by pulling them up to his mouth, pretending to eat them, and then going “ArgArgArgh” [the sound of Cookie Monster eating cookies]. I think I’ve asked this before but, aren’t autistic kids supposed to have a hard time initiating pretend play?

With our walk complete, Tony looks at me and says, “House?” “Mom?” “Dad?” I say, “OK, we can go back to the house now.” He takes my hand and we stroll back together singing “The Wheels on the Bus.”

It’s hard for me to even really write about all this. It’s been such a privelege to work with such an awesome kid like Tony and with a family that cares sooo much. I am still going to come back about once a month to see Tony (because I don’t know if I could go without really) and I will keep a close eye on the blog of course. Although I am so sad about leaving, I know that I’m leaving Tony in good hands with an extremely capable team.

So…so long for now (until next month that is).