Yesterday I took the boys to the National Christmas Tree. I thought this would be a DREAM for Ben - all the model trains. What a disappointment. After dragging the boys, kicking and screaming, through metro turnstiles and pushing them 8 blocks in a stroller through the brutal wind we arrived at our desitnation. Only to have happy faces turn to frowns. After 1 minute of admiring the trains Ben started to wail... the 'noises' from the trains were too much. He pleaded with me to leave... begging... while AJ begged to stay and cried as I pulled him away. Who was right to cry? Unfortunately with an Autistic child there is a new perspective with everything and I chose to end our adventure when we hit level 10 meltdown. It was very sad to see someone who loves trains so much so overwhelmed. This normally this would have been such a thrill for Ben. Alas, sensory overload got the best of him.
All was not lost as Ben enjoyed the metro ride and a soft pretzel on the way home.
This experience was a good reminder on what we have been fighting the past few years with Ben. It still frustrates me when people meet Ben or even people who know Ben very well scoff at his diagnosis of AS/Autism - he is high functioning, yes, but we still struggle daily. You'd have to live through it to understand. The past few weeks have been really hard for us. The lack of sleep and excitement of Christmas, coupled with routine and schedule changes has thrown Ben off kilter. For every good day we have terrible ones. I'm looking forward to brighter days when things get back to normal around here!
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