fun morning at the zoo

[Guest guest]

Today I went to the zoo with Allie's kindergarten class as a

chaperone. We had so many parents that it was just Allie and me. So, I

decided it would be " all about Allie. " As soon as we got there we took

off on our own. I tried to stay silent and focus on what was

interesting Allie, what she wanted to do, and what she was enjoying.

It was a lot of fun. She wanted to go to the river otters and she

would look through the window just above the water line, then crouch

just below the water line. I did it with her so I could get her

perspective. She spent a lot of time trying to look just above and

below at the same time. Then we went to the reptile section, she loved

watching the snakes move. I think she liked the slow, deliberate

movement, wasn't too fast but could still see it moving en ough to

take it all in.

Then we headed to the other end of the park. Now this is my girl who

screams if we ever try to get her to ride a horse or camel or

anything. She was suddenly enraptured with riding the camel. I don't

know if it was because it had a cage-like seat or what, but we

couldn't ride because of the school rule. I started a couple of times

to let her ride anyway, but I was trying to so hard to follow the

rules. I promised her we would go back within the next 2 weeks so she

could ride with her sisters. Then we headed down to Kids Cove where

they have this great play area with a big sand box. She would fill up

the bucket, pack it in, then dump it and look at me for approval of

her creation. She went up a very complex jungle gym type thing that

would put Chick Fila's to shame. Then we went back to the entrance and

she ate her lunch. At once she jumped up, ran over to a waterfall and

jumped in while I let out the mamma panick scream " NO! " She thought

that was a hoot, thankfully where she jumped was dry.

We had a good day. I think she enjoyed the attention from me without

sisters. I think every couple of months I'm gonna try to make a " just

Allie and me, all about Allie " time. a Kluth talked in her seminar

about giving equal time to the person with autism to be who they are

because we spend so much time asking them to try to conform to our

standards.

Debi