Don't Forget the Kid Inside

Happy May Day!  I knew it was May 1st today, but actually celebrating May Day with the boys didn't even cross my mind.  Not until I picked the boys up at school anyway.  They were excited about celebrating May Day in school today and learning all about sharing it with neighbors.  You know the drill....make up cute little goodie baskets with treats, sneak over to the neighbors house, leave it on their doorstep, ring the doorbell and run so they can't catch you.  Me and my siblings did this as kids but it wasn't at the top of my mind today.

Charlie came home today with a hand-made May Day basket in his bag and was so excited about filling it with candy and leaving it at the neighbors house.  I admit, I admired the cute little basket, but then I immediately dismissed it and went on with the tasks I was working on in the house.  Seriously, it has been cold, rainy and windy all day and I had been out in the dreary weather more times than I'd prefer.  Plus I had a list of things to get done; finish the application for the service dog, 300 loads of laundry (ok, maybe not that many but it felt like it), cleaning bathrooms and getting dinner ready.
But like many things, Charlie had this on his mind and he wasn't going to easily forget about it.  He begged to leave it for the neighbors as he told me over and over again the steps that would be required to pull off the perfect May Day surprise.  I reminded him that the neighbors have 3 children and he only had 1 basket.  He didn't see the problem.  I also informed him that once he left the hand-made basket at the neighbors house he wouldn't be able to get it back.  Again, he wasn't concerned, but I know how he works and I knew he would be upset about a half hour later when his basket was gone for good.  I knew he wasn't going to give up so I offered to help him make up some baskets out of colored plastic cups that we could leave as May Day baskets.  No turning back now.

The neighbor kids are all younger so we talked about snacks/treats that would be age appropriate for them.  Charlie helped fill them and mom wrote a message on the cups.  Easton wasn't interested in helping but Christian said he would help deliver them.  We put on our shoes and jackets and snuck next door.  We found a dry spot to leave them, rang the bell and ran.  Now, I have to admit that I giggled the entire was home.  I felt like I was playing ding dong ditch on our wonderful neighbors. And I'm sure they saw us run away, wondering what the heck their crazy neighbors were up to now.  Back at home the boys laughed, I laughed and the joy on their faces were priceless.  I was blissfully reminded that we sometimes need to put our to-do lists aside, go run in the rain and remember the kid inside all of us.

*To our neighbors: if you are reading this, I apologize for ringing the doorbell when I know there was a chance one or all of your littles were napping.  You see, they obviously talked about how to leave a May Day basket at school today and one of those steps must have been to ring the door bell vs. knocking.  There was no way he was going to knock on the door when he was told to ring the door bell.  Autism rigidity in it's finest!


Also, don't forget we have an online fundraiser to help raise funds for Charlie's service dog.  The cost is upwards of $12,000 and we can't do this alone.  Find his fundraiser here https://www.youcaring.com/charlieking-801310
And always feel free to share our blog or the fundraiser page with anyone and everyone you know!