my son the jet setter

Brody left Australia yesterday for a 6 week jaunt in Canada visiting his grandparents, aunts, uncles & cousins. At 14.5 years it's his first time going without his dad. We're so proud of him.
He arrived in Boston a few hours ago where his uncle Jean picked him up for the long drive home to Quebec (flights to Boston are much easier to get on frequent flyer points). He is looking forward to going fishing with his grandfather & (to my unspoken horror) trapping. must be his hormones going haywire, hunter/gatherer & all that. This was a little boy a few years ago that was in a rage when I considered getting mouse traps when the little critters started taking over a rental property we were living in!

I don't know if I've mentioned yet (& if I take the time to go back & check, this post won't get finished) but Brody left school about 3-4 months ago. He has been so unhappy for 2 years & everything became way too much for him & he just refused to go. We've been to therapists, psychologists, etc, all to no avail. What I've realised in recent months is that his behaviour is very typical of a teen with Asperger's. I've spent a lot of time reading & researching over the last several months & it makes me think back on Brody's life & realise how many signs he's shown us that Asperger's should be considered. Nobody has ever alerted us to it but as the school counsellor at Korowal said when I asked if she had considered this "oh yes......but it's not my position to talk about that".

So he's gone from homeschooling to doing not very much at all over the last few months, not coping with any pressure placed on him. We've gone for the de-schooling approach as nothing else has worked. I'm kicking myself for not going there sooner as he does seem to be slowly moving forward to a better state of mind. We were surprised when he agreed to a trip to Quebec as he has hardly left the house for the last few months (or his dad's house, he's been staying with Mario a lot of the time).

So I hope he has a wonderful time, I know his French Canadian family will dote on him & give him some much needed attention over the weeks he'll be there & I'm glad for that. He needs it & deserves it. He doesn't get much attention from me these days I'm afraid, not from a lack of interest but lack of time. Which brings me to the house....

Since my last post our house has a roof. Finn has turned 4 & yesterday I turned 41. My dinner is awaiting me now & it is 9.07pm so I must go eat. Hopefully I will post again soon. I definitely have plan to catch up on my blogging soon!