First playdate in over a year!

So... Lucas was invited out on a fun swimming session by a new friend today! we had to cut short our counselling session and rush over to the pool,  but it was SO worth it!

Lucas has been talking about this new friend, James, who seems to be a real boy, while Lucas struggles a bit with rough play, and gets upset when anybody bumps into him. He's come home a few times with stories of things James has said that has upset him. But he still seems to be talking about him, and playing with him quite a bit.

Today, out of the blue, James' mum asked if Lucas could come to a fun swimming session after school tonight, I was so thrilled! It's the first invitation he's had to play with somebody since he started in this school. So we rushed over there, and I got in the pool at first to make sure he was settled in, as soon as James arrived, they started playing together, and were really happy, so I exited to chat up James' mum!

I had a lovely chat with Kate, who's moved here fairly recently after breaking up with her husband. She has a younger daughter a year younger than Pippi, and another daughter a year older than James. She was really lovely, and we had a great chat, she's a laid-back mum like me, as far as I can tell. And she invited Lucas for tea on Friday, and an open invitation for us to drop him off at the weekend any time we want!

This is really unprecedented stuff for us, I was a bit overwhelmed, but of course I acted like this was all everyday stuff. I haven't got into the diagnosis, as we were in quite a public place, but I've arranged to pick Lucas up on Fri, and if the opportunity arises, will have the chat then. It's never caused any problems before, but that was mostly with people who already knew Lucas. I haven't had to do this before, and I'm a bit nervous. Maybe I'll wait a little bit longer. I don't want to wait too long, I know it'll get harder to have the conversation the longer I leave it!

Today is a success story. Actually there's successes every day! But today was really special. I don't really care how well Lucas does in school, as long as he can be around people and be happy, and have friends to play with in the playground. He's so much happier these days, I could almost forget the dark distant days when he didn't have any friends, and played alone every day.

Must remember that strength comes through adversity!