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Jamie proves to us everyday that he is a highly intelligent,
growing and perfect child who takes everything in and
has a lot of thoughts and feelings about his daily life
experiences. One special thing that my husband and I love
about Jamie is his innocent nature and his warm attitude
towards all people. When we were on vacation in California
we were at a private club. Jamie wanted to go in the hot
tub and there was an elderly man in there. Jamie got in
and scooted around the large hot tub, all the while looking
around and slowly moving until he was sitting right next
to the man. For a few seconds, there were no words exchanged,
but a comfortable silence between a sixty-year old and
a six-year old. Then the older man said, "Pretty
warm." "Yeah," Jamie replied. Jamie began
to ask a series of pointed and honest questions about
what he observed (i.e., the man's hearing aid) and the
gentleman responded without offense to any of Jamie's
inquisitive observations. It was like they had done this
a hundred times before and were just running into each
other again. Those moments may be overlooked by most and
seem almost trivial; however, moments like those will
never be lost on us.
As we become adults, we develop boundaries and become
guarded. Jamie's innocence and true awareness in caring
for other people is astounding. It only seems like a
short time ago when the only person who could touch
him was me. He would shy away from anyone who came close
to him and would begin to cry. Not anymore. He is very
comfortable sitting next to almost anyone, putting a
hand on your shoulder and telling you what he sees.
Jamie also has a definite
comedic streak. He lives everyday wanting to make sure
people are happy. He has become quite the jokester and
loves to make his brother and others laugh. He has gusto
in his daily endeavors and is open to things that are
ahead of him. He is incredibly intuitive and enjoys giving
love and affection to all those around him.
Jamie just turned eleven (can you believe it) and
is in fifth grade. I had made a point of not sharing
his past with anyone at his current school during his
first two years. I wanted to give him the opportunity
to be viewed the same as any typical student. I knew
that if I talked about his past that some teachers would
mentally label him and treat him differently.
When he was in first grade, we received his report
card and for the first half of the year it was filled
with mostly A's and B's. One thing that filled my heart
with joy was that after the first few weeks of first
grade, I asked his teacher how he was doing and she
responded, "He's doing good, just like any other
first grader!"
Jamie is eager every morning to go to school. Now
being in fifth grade, his most recent report card for
the first time was all A's. Of course, we were jumping
for joy. He loves being in fifth grade now with his
brother Jack. They're having a great time in their last
year of elementary school. Their sisters Sofia and Gabriella
are in kindergarten now, all in one school, together
and happy about it.
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Jack and Jamie are now
avid tennis players. They are playing in tournaments and
doing really well. In our recent interview with Jamie,
he describes himself as a child who loves tennis (of course),
basketball, football, rollerblading, skiing and swimming.
He loves music, including Celine Dion (many of her songs
he can sing word-for-word), U2, Cold Play, Leonia Lewis,
Beach Boys and Nickelback. His favorite things at school
are art, science and phys ed. He says that his favorite
places to visit are Hawaii and Santa Barbara, California.
He especially loves the swimming pool at the Grand Wailea
in Maui. Jamie and Jack spend hours entertaining themselves
with creating, playing, and imagining. He says that he
sees himself as a professional tennis player when he grows
up with his brother Jack.
Jack says Jamie is his
best friend. Jack loves playing tetherball and football
with him at school. They are also both becoming fast
learning musicians, singing and playing the piano together.
Jack also says playing board games with Jamie is really
great! They definitely stick together.
We are so proud of Jamie. He is such an incredible
child. We wanted more than anything for Jamie to be
a part of our world and we asked him to do some very
difficult things during his recovery. Things that seem
trivial and typical to most of us were monumental challenges
to Jamie. All of his experiences as far as autism and
his breathing issues have made him the little boy that
he is today -- resilient, loving, kind, unassuming,
and full of pure love.
I always felt that throughout our experience, Jack
was a stabilizer to our family. We refer to him as our
ray of sunshine. He was always happy and encouraging
to his brother, and sweet and reassuring to me. He is
amazing.
I couldn't feel more blessed than having had the extraordinary
experience of being Jack and Jamie's mother. I will
always feel tremendous gratitude to have been able to
bring Jack and Jamie into our lives.
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