So we finally moved. Enjoying the “new” house. It’s not really a new house, we have owned this home for 5 years, and rented it out while we lived in California. Chase lived in this home for the first 2 years of his life, but doesn’t remember. Today he calls it the new house, and is thoroughly enjoying it. We have a play structure in the backyard, a park half a block down the street, great neighbors, and a very good, kid friendly setup.
Moving can be stressful, and I can assure you, ours was full of it. Our flight from San Francisco to Detroit, was cancelled… after we boarded and pushed off the gate. You see at about 11:30am on July 6th, after we just pushed off the gate, Chase was looking out the window and said: “Look Dad, a firetruck.” That truck was on its way to the end of runway 28L, to provide emergency services for a fatal accident… also known as Asiana Airlines flight 214. So we got rebooked for a flight 2 days later. On that flight, we were about 20 minutes from landing, when the pilot comes on the PA to tell us there is a ground halt at Detroit airport. After circling Grand Rapids, Michigan for about 40 minutes, the pilot comes on the PA to tell us we are running out of fuel and going to Chicago instead. Once there, they had to bring two different fuel trucks out, because the first one was incorrect (side note: how does airport ground crew, not know what kind of fuel a 767 takes?). We finally get to Detroit, horribly late, on our way to Canada, cleared customs, about to go, only for my wife to interrupt that we had to start the process to give my yankee son (youngest) Canadian citizenship. After 13 hours of travel, we finally arrive. All this with 3 kids, and 2 cats. Stressful!
Our furniture didn’t take too long to arrive, and I can say all of our goods are with us in Canada now. For the most part we are unpacked, only a handful of boxes left, and setting up a few more things around the house.
So this is all fine and dandy, but with the move, means the routines we were used to before are all gone. Chase did regress a little, and that was to be expected. We did start ABA therapy, but it is minimal compared to what we had in the US. Also buying gluten free food, is very difficult in Canada. Take chocolate Cheerios for example. In the US, the ingredients list does not have any wheat (gluten) in it. In Canada, the second to last ingredient is wheat starch. Really!?!? You couldn’t use corn starch? By using wheat starch, General Mills just made their cereal not edible by anyone that needs to be gluten free, which is also gaining quite a bit of traction as a diet for many benefits (not just those with Autism). Luckily we live in a border city, and I travel in/out of Detroit airport quite a bit. Meijer has a fairly large gluten free section so they will be getting my business.
Even though Chase did regress, we did notice his attitude has improved. He’s happier now. Gets to and loves hanging out with his Papi (my dad). He has gone to the car races 2x now, and loved it. There’s a small oval dirt track by our house, that races each Saturday. Chase being in cars, absolutely loves it! We are researching a DAN doctor (one that works with supplements and diets for Autism), and found quite a few of them, but it will be a 3-4 hour drive. We only visit a DAN doctor a few times a year, so that’s not bad. Better news is since we are in Canada, my benefits package now has some level of coverage for this, and some of his supplements are treated like prescriptions, which gets total coverage, so our weekly spend will be substantially lower now. We can use the money saved, to afford other private therapies, better equipment for home, maybe even a mini-vacation for super mom and her sidekick (me).
Chase is talking much more, and starting to ask questions now as well. The conversations aren’t exactly riveting, but it is certainly great progress. Compared to where we were 8 months ago, this is HUGE progress. We went out for dinner last weekend. For the most part it was OK. Chase did have a couple of mini-outburst, but nothing we couldn’t handle. He really liked our waitress, and each time she walked by he would stop her, and ask her a question. The first couple of times it was cute, but by the 10th time it was getting quite awkward. At this point… I’LL TAKE IT!!! We can work on his awkwardness later.