Today, for the first time ever in public, Bear said "bye bye" loud and clear, and waved enthusiastically as we left his OT group.
Those therapists work hard on the kids' social skills, and they always sing the Goodbye Friends song at the end of each session. And we always try to get him to say bye when we leave. But social graces seem to be lost on him, and he's usually much too focused on running into the busy parking lot to say a proper goodbye. Besides, with his processing issues he rarely registers that you prompted him to say goodbye before everyone's already gone.
It's just like Bear to wait until he may never get to see them again to have a major breakthrough. He said it twice - once inside as we were leaving and then again outside, he yelled it at their door.
As I was putting him in the van, he said "Mommy, I like talkin bye bye my friends."
I'd already been holding back tears all morning, trying to explain to him this is the last week that he gets to see his friends who bring toys and play with him in the mornings. It was all I could do not to totally lose it right there in the darn parking lot.
At least we might get to see his group again. Our insurance has been (reluctantly) allowing it (so far), and he still absolutely needs OT assistance. So after we find out what the school district has to offer (or not), we'll start figuring out if we can get him back in the group that's done such amazing things for him.