Yesterday ws a good Day

You have to measure success in a different way when you have a child with Autism--

Its almost like the Mantra "One Day at a Time" but more like one hour at a time. If your child has one moment of clarity or completion of task or compliant behavior that is enough to break out the champagne and "close the books" for the day! When you have gone over and over a request or practiced going somewhere and all of a sudden it happens I cannot explain the feeling of joy that over comes you--- At least it does me. Down this path we travel never knowing when there will be another "hair-pin" turn and you weary,very weary. Sometimes you just don't believe that there is another human being on the planet that understands what you are going through -- Then you have "that " moment and it doesn't matter because again no one can experience the "high" from the accomplishment ------ It is a wild ride!

Yesterday was one of those days and it was a simple task for most but one I have avoided for quite some time --- a basic trip to WalMart usually something I choose to do while Dakota is not with me which is rare but I manage--- I started early in the day suggesting that we needed to go to WalMart and it would be a relatively quick trip. As the day went on I re-iterated that we would go and pick up specific items and perhaps there may be a few we would look at --- but I reassured him that we would not be in there a long time. As we approached the store I kinda went over what we were going in for and that there may be a few items I would add once we were in the store> I also told him that it was important that if he felt the need to "get out" he needed to let me know and we would leave.{I have discovered that the Anxiety {the fear of what's to come} is the buggest obstacle to most tasks-- if the child has some idea of whats coming and you describe what to expect it will usually help the outcome of the task.} I told him it was important to know that even once he needed to leave that he had to give me time to check out so as soon as he felt te urge to go he must let me know.

With that we went in the store and what a great experience! I could not have asked for a better trip-- He interacted with his grandma as she tried on some boots actually laughing and enjoying the fact that she was having trouble getting them on. We even "back tracked" {something I have learned that can be a disaster with these kids} thru a part of the store we had already gone in and he was very complacent. He did express a bit of "man-ly" frustration of being in the Ladies department so we pressed on ending in the Sundries and Garden area where he absolutely stepped up and even helped me load some rather large bags of potting soil on the the cart-- he gracefully walked thru the store, picked out the cashier helped unload the items to be checked grabbed the receipt{a must for him} even handed it to the attendant at the door for a check and pushed the cart to the car---

WHO COULD ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE??? it was a dream it was a breeze and all I can say is the whole trip home I told him how much I appreciated his help and cooperation---For the general public they just don't understand A trip to a store should be a basic function of life --put the kids in the car and go for it BUT I TELL YOU this was a task that we had attempted many times and just not had a good result and to have a trip like this was enough to win an award .