Video games are one of his "things." (In fact, he says he wants to be a game designer when he's older.) As with music, he has a depth of information about the topic (often more than anyone cares to know).
Today he declared that - I think I have this right - a company called CDI had made some games that were not very successful, and that they were partnered with Philips "who make screw drivers."
Just thought I'd share with the World. :-)
One of David's issues is patience/attention. The problem itself was not hard; it just took a while to understand how to handle it, and then several steps to work through it. So I decided to first send him the explanation - in pieces, with the request that he read each piece thoroughly before moving one to the next piece. I started with this:
At any rate, I just received this email from David:
I responded with:
Just when I had a week scheduled off from my consulting work, JetBlue offered a promotional $9 fare (over $25 with taxes and airport fees :-) each way, to several cities. I called the boys' Mom, and asked if we could all go - she agreed. Our destination: San Francisco.
Using the formula, I wrote up a story about our special day - driving to the airport and parking; going to the gate; going through security and taking our shoes off and putting game boys into the bins for the check; going through security one-at-a-time; waiting at the gate; sitting on the plane and wearing the seatbelt. Then waiting to get off the plane; taking BART and taking a bus. We went to the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park for the day.
I am pleased to report that, overall, both boys did very well!
On the plane there, Mikey did a couple of really funny things. He wanted to go right away, of course. I pointed out the other people getting on the plane; he was ok. But once everyone was loaded, he demanded, "GO!" I told him we'd go soon.
Finally the place started moving. "Up!" demanded Mikey.
"Soon," I said, surpressing a laugh. And then the plane picked up speed, and we started our ascent.
"FASTER!" Mikey demanded.
"We're going fast!" I said.
He was good during the trip. JetBlue had TV, and Mom noticed that one channel was Animal Planet, which he watched - mostly without sound. I had to remind him to keep his seat belt on after we landed, but he was good waiting.
The day was not without incident, however. We started pretty well. Mikey does tend to go quickly through things, then repeat them. The Academy had a special exhibit on mammals that he particularly liked. People were let in on an arranged time basis, in small groups - the exhibit was climate controlled. We went through it quickly, and then went on to another controlled climate - tropical (hot and damp!). Mom has friends who live in the Bay area; they joined us for lunch. We had a nice lunch at outside tables, and the boys played in a fenced yard.
After lunch, Mikey wanted to go back to the mammals; we asked him to wait until after we went to the African diorama exhibit and the aquarium. While we were in the aquarium, an emergency alarm sounded and we had to leave the building. Mikey had a total melt-down, screaming and doing the hit-head-bit-heel-of-hand routine that I've described before. One of us went and asked the guard; they thought we would be able to get back in in 15 minutes. [I think it was a fire alarm; the FD came but there was no smoke or fire. We assume it was tripped in error or by malicious intent, but not that there was anything really wrong.]
It was at least an HOUR before we got to go back in. Mikey screamed almost the whole time.
When we went back in, we were able to go back through the mammals and he was fine.
During Mikey's outburst, David got upset and declared the "whole day" was not any fun. (Later, when I asked him, he said it was only the time while Mikey had a tantrum while it was not fun.)
Our return to the airport was not eventful, except the bus was really full. I think it bothered Mom more than the boys. At the airport, there was a small incident with David: there was an "Orange Level" posted terrorist alert. David worries about everything; he started obsessing on what it meant and if he was in danger. Mom talked to him about it, quietly. At one point, the airport made an announcement about the level and the "watch your bags" announcement - I told David that's what "orange" meant.
I asked, "Do you have luggage?"
He replied in the negative. "But you have a backpack?" I continued.
"Yes"
"And are you keeping your backpack close, and you know that no one put anything in it?"
"Yes."
"Then you're OK," I finished. I think it helped.
And so, onto the airplane we went. The trip home was not at all eventful, but there was one thing worth mentioning - as we started our takeoff, Mikey laughed gleefully and clapped his hands - I think he likes takeoffs!
It was a lovely day. The sun was shining. There was a breeze, but not too hard. The sun was out. Many of the native plants were blooming (Southern California is a coastal desert), which does not always happen.
The boys know the way. Mikey kept 10-20 feet ahead of us, but he stayed with us more-or-less. I called him back from time-to-time to look at herons, least terns, or flowers. We saw some lizards, too.
Blue herons nest here, and we saw one! I saw the nest first. Wasn't really expecting a bird, but there it was - just sitting there.
A hawk flew across our path, and hovered overhead for a while. Of course there were sea gulls and pigeons. And ducks.
Then, up in the sky, I saw a big ... JetBlue plane coming in for a landing. "Look, David," I said, pointing to the plane. "Can you see that big bird up there?"
David didn't quite take the bait. "It's an URBAN bird," he replied.
So today I was singing,
"All around the cobbler's bench,
"The monkey chased the weasel..."
when he tried to stop me. I did not comply, and then he did the most extraordinary thing - he started moving my arm. I figured it out when he said, "Jack in the Box."
So I crouched down while he pumped my arm, and continued:
"The monkey thought 'twas a-all in fun.
"POP! [big jump inserted here] goes the weasel!"
He let me repeat it with his being the Jack, too!! :-)
We never tell Mikey in advance that he is going anywhere. For one thing, he has no concept of time. If we were to tell him he was going to Disneyland NEXT WEEK, he would ask for it every minute of every day, and cry and fuss. If we told him, "Grandma will take you TODAY," and anything happened that Grandma could not, it would be unbearable for him. So the school was notified but Mikey was not.
I went to pick Mikey up from school, a little before the school day ended - so I could beat the crowd. When I pulled up at school, he happened to be out in the yard with one of the therapists - he saw me and looked startled. I waved, then parked and went into the office. Did the sign-out thing, then went back out.
The office had called over to get him ready. He marched right up to me, looked me in the eye and said, "I love to go to Disneyland!!"
He was very good and followed the rules, which included going to the bathroom when GRANDMA needed to go, eating and being patient while eating, etc.; and SEVERAL steps before he could actually go on a ride.
This trip, it was several previous favorites (Haunted House, Muppet 3D and Bugs Life) but this time he wanted the Small World attraction - we rode it twice.
The boys loved the snow! David plopped and made snow angels. Mikey rode on the saucer down snow - then he just wanted to walk and walk and walk ... we had to limit his walking. Everyone slept well that night, too (the mountains are between 6000' and 7000' where we were). The weather was PERFECT - low 30s, little wind, and the snow pack was deep so even with a little melting there was plenty to play in. The main roads were all clear. At night it dropped below freezing and we had a light dusting of new snow.
The only odd thing happened the following morning - we got up and were out around 8 am (don't ask) playing in an area we had found that we really liked. After about an hour, Mikey said, "May I have home, please?"
We were not ready to go, and David certainly was not ready. We persuaded Mikey to stay on a bit. We did have to go finish packing up (checkout was 11 am). We also found a little zoo up there with a decent aviary (lots of eagles and predators), a bear, fox, beavers, and other local fauna, and Mikey agreed to go. We all enjoyed it, but he did especially.
At any rate, we left a bit earlier than we had planned; drove down the mountain; had lunch; then continued on to home - a good time had by all.
We did decide that if we repeat this exercise next year, we will take 2 vehicles. Grandpa and Mikey will have a short stay and Grandma and David will take the extra time.
