Night to Shine

On Friday night, I got to take part in an unforgettable event.  I got to be a buddy at the Tim Tebow Foundation's Night to Shine, a prom for people with special needs.

My coworkers did it last year, so they knew what to expect, but I had no idea.  It was magical.

My buddy was named Brian, and he knew nearly everyone there.  He is attending a college program for adults with disabilities and had a big personality.  We got along great!

He was not interested in participating in the limo ride, the balloon artist, or the photo booth that were available.  A man after my own heart, he just wanted to DANCE!

We spent the evening dancing with his group of friends that were also guests at the prom.

At the end, after over an hour of dancing, his friends decided it was time to tear up the stage for some karaoke.

I had such a wonderful time being Brian's buddy, making sure he had a blast.  I'm not sure which of us had more fun!

The event was in Gulf Breeze, so my coworkers and I got a hotel in Pensacola for the night.

After a quick outfit change, we hit the town, first with some line dancing and then on to Seville for more dancing.

This was my first night EVER away from Xander, not to mention I am usually in bed by 9:30.  I wasn't sure how long I would last before needing to head back to the hotel.

The girls were such a blast, though, and I love dancing so much (plus I had a little help from an Advocare Spark), we stayed until last call and then headed to Waffle House.  I may have nodded off at the table once or twice, but somehow I made it until we returned to the hotel at 4:30 in the morning!  I slept until an impressive 8:30 Saturday morning.

Daniel and Xander spent the evening at Uncle Bryan's and both survived the night without incident.  Luckily Potatoes has been sleeping straight through until just after 6am for nearly a week now.

Milestones:

Xander is a bit of a hot mess right now as he goes through a growth spurt and a leap in his mental development.  He is in the leap of principles, meaning he is figuring out rules, so he is constantly testing his limits.  He is fussy during the day, unlike his normal happy self, and wants to be held a lot.  He is still my happy boy when we are doing something new and around a lot of people, so we have been going to new playgrounds and being very active to help us all keep our sanity.

This guy is a LADIES MAN!  Leaha was out with her class on the playground one day, and spotted Xander standing between two girls from his class.  She said he turned to one, hugged and kissed her, then let go a turned to the other and did the same thing.  What a stud!

He is fairly competent with a fork and spoon when he is focused and motivated.  He loves to use them to catapult food as well, though.

He still loves his blankies and uses them to self soothe, helping him to sleep from between 7:30 or 8pm until about 6:15am

He still nurses before bed and on weekends also in the morning so that I can stay in bed until nearly 7am

He is a great eater, and often goes into the snack drawer on his own to pull out his favorites- anything daddy eats!

He talks all the time and has an incredible receptive language vocabulary.  He makes sounds for ducks and, most recently, for gorillas (in honor of Harambe), but his favortie animal is the owl.  He always pulls out my owl autism shirt for me to wear, and recently grew into his owl shirt from Aunt Jan and was thrilled to have one of his own.

No need to mention the superbowl other than to show off his dance to the awesome halftime show.