Something Different

      Wally and "Melman" the Giraffe

    This week we tried something new. Wednesday was the last day of school and Thursday we went to the Zoo. We got a babysitter for Theodore and took Wally and Leo into Boston to visit the Franklin Park Zoo. Since both boys tend to elope or run off with no regard for what is safe, we very rarely venture outside much less to a place as potentially dangerous as a zoo. We wanted to try to do something fun, so we gave it a shot.

    We drove the hour to the zoo, strapped the boys into our double stroller, and tried to do something different than just stay home. It was....ok. They didn't run away. Wally actually got quite excited when we saw the giraffe and jumped and flapped his hands. Leo noticed a playground and that's actually where we spent the majority of our time.

    Leaving playgrounds can be very difficult because the boys have so much fun they just want to stay, but thankfully we had not seen the lions yet. We were able to entice the boys into leaving so that they could see "Alex" the lion (thank you, Madagascar movie). I could tell Wally was getting tired or overwhelmed as we were heading back to the car. Once we got in the car, though, it was awful.

    I basically had to restrain Wally the whole ride home because he was so overstimulated. He tried to get out of his seat belt and had no words to explain what was wrong. It was a rough one hour of a car ride. 

    Once we got home, Charles and I debriefed the morning for a few minutes. We've been reading the book Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism by Dr. Barry Prizant (HIGHLY RECOMMEND, by the way). One of the things Dr. Prizant writes about is the desire that autistic people usually have for sameness and routine. Because they experience the world so intensely and often have high anxiety, the more in their world that can be predictable the better. Each and every human, whether autistic or not, longs for a sense of stability and safety. Autistic people may find such stability and safety in the predictability and sameness of their daily routines. We realized that while things like going to the zoo and going on vacation or having a party may be fun for me and Charles, they may never be truly fun for Wally. Going to the zoo was probably too much, too overstimulating, especially on a day when he normally would have gone to school.

    We continue to learn every day more and more how to walk with Wally in the world he lives in. One of the things we learned this week is that we want home to be the best place for Wally to be. If going out and doing things that are different is actually not fun or relaxing, then we want him to have the most fun at home.... in whatever way is actually fun for Wally. So we are dreaming of and looking for a house where we can build a sensory room and have a fenced in yard. We're ok with Wally being different and having fun in different ways.

   We have already raised 37% of our goal for Wally's service dog. Thank you so much for supporting us! Will you help us reach 50% by the end of July? I think we can do it! Just imagining what it might have been like if Wally had a service dog with him at the zoo and on the ride home.... I think it would have made a world of difference for him. Maybe adventures out to do new and different things will be easier when Wally has this amazing helper. Click here to give and please share!

https://connect.clickandpledge.com/Organization/ecad1/campaign/WallyFick