It's a Horse!

Last week Max's preschool class went to Farm Country. A field trip with 12 preschool kids on the spectrum is like herding cats (cats with serious sensitivities to light, sound, and crowds that can easily overstimulate them and make them behave unpredictably.) So it's pretty important to have at least 147 parent volunteers on hand. I was there. It was fun.

Max was very much excited to go to Farm Country. In school they had been learning all about farm animals for weeks. At least, I assume so; Max came home singing E-I-E-I-O every day. He doesn't have a lot of vocabulary to work with, so when new words show up it's easy to notice. 

We went to Farm Country as a family about a year ago, before Max was attending Giant Steps (his special needs ASD preschool.) A year ago, Max wandered around Farm Country, not engaging with his environment, constantly trying to run away, and hardly even noticing the animals. He could have been in a dirt field, full of weeds and his reaction would have been about the same.

But this time he couldn't wait to see everything and to name it as loudly and energetically as he could. The first animal he saw was a huge, black horse. This particular horse is right up front and has a sign that says "Please pet me." Max's saw him and ran right to him. "It's a horse!" he said. "It's a horse! It's a horse! It's a horse! It's a horse! It's a horse! It's a horse It's a horse!"

And Max actually reached out to pet the friendly animal. I was so proud of him. Honestly I got a bit misty.

Progress is progress no matter how small.

-Will (the dad)

Fire Station #3 - Giant Steps Fieldtrip

"Firetruck!" and  "Am-lance!" was all Max wanted to see once his class entered the Fire Station #3 in Orem.  He couldn't even sit still to watch the 10 minute fire safety video.  He was bouncing everywhere and smiling the whole time.

We have been talking about the Fire Station Field Trip all week.
On Monday Max got really sick.  He has a high fever of 104 and turned out he had strep throat.  Max has hardly been sick.  He only went to the doctors once for illness in 2014 and has only been really sick maybe three times in 3.5 years.  Of course he would get sick on the week of the most beloved Giant Steps field trip.

By Thursday he was healthy enough to go back to school, and by Friday you wouldn't even have known how sick he was. 

I was so happy his field trip was on a Friday afternoon.  This meant I could also go because I only work in the mornings on Fridays.

Firetrucks mean a lot to Max.  He connects with them, just like trains.  This was such a fun day and I am so grateful for the Fire-station for allowing his class to come and visit. 

Pumpkinland

Max went on his first preschool field trip today to Pumpkinland.  He got to ride the big yellow school bus which was the most exciting part of the trip.  His teacher said he loved the bus! 
Will met him at Pumpkinland, which was a good thing because Max became very overwhelmed at the amount of other kids and people there.  This has been happening a lot lately.  Max doesn't do well in big crowds.  He keeps his head down, gets scared, and then melts down.  The loud noise, the commotion, and the constant movement of people really effects him and he gets super stimulated. 
Max likes the normalicy of our house, a few people, and his trucks. 

But the field trip was good and we are excited to go on a little family outing this weekend to the Big Red Barn to pick our family pumpkins.