DW and I made an emotionally draining visit to our Older Son yesterday. The ride up was unpleasant due to Younger Son's tantrum after we left him with the sitter -- his behavior was so bad that we turned around to go back. However, he calmed down in time for us to turn back around again. All the turning around made for an unpleasant ride for the first hour or so.

We arrived in Alexandria, LA, after 4+ hours in the car, only to find that O.S.'s dorm was on an outing. We hung around for an hour or so before somebody explained exactly where they were and when they would be back. We drove to the restaurant, only to find no kids. We went back to the school and the kids were being unloaded from the van. O.S. saw us and began crying. The crying didn't help us feel any less guilty for placing him there, which might have been his point.

O.S. looks pretty good, but he's lost enough weight that he actually needs a belt now. Neither of the belts we sent with him were in his closet and his pants were falling down. I made a hoo-ha about the situation and the trainer who came on after the shift change was apologetic. She got busy looking for a belt right away. Meanwhile, I dug out some shorts with a drawstring and put them on O.S.

O.S. began crying again when we got back to the school after our little outing. I had to change his clothes due to a poopy incident at McDonalds. DW told me that while I was in the bathroom trying to figure out what to do with the dirties, some of the other boys in the dorm came over and hugged O.S. to help calm him. One misconception about autistic children is that they are incapable of showing affection and positive emotion. I've not seen that with my boys, and we're seeing quite the opposite in the dorm at the St. Mary's school. Another example -- yesterday, one boy who is considered to be extremely autistic walked up and shook my hand when I called him by his first name.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Y.S.'s sitters took him to the beach in Mississippi. We had taken him there Saturday, so he's getting bronzed for summer. One of the sitters told us that they took Y.S. to his favorite beach spot, then took him for french fries at a Burger King that's right on the beach. When they finished there, he made it clear that he wanted to go back to the beach, so they took him to a different spot. At first, they wanted to take him to the park on the way back to our town, but when one of the sitters noted the time and said it was time to go home, Y.S. reportedly said "home!" If that happened, it's a miracle. He's been totally nonverbal up 'til now.

Got back just in time for "The Sopranos." Nobody got whacked, unless you count Tony's cars. Tony himself totaled one, and Christopher shot the other one up in a fit of rage.