Sunday, October 22, 2006

"If He Can Make it There..."

On Saturday, October 21st Michael went into New York City for the first time in 5 years. We live about an hour east of the city. Back in July of 2001, we were crazy enough to take the train in with the big stroller. Never again! I had to carry that stupid thing up and down a million flights of stairs in the subway. I don't know how people in wheelchairs do it. New York City is not a "handicap friendly" city. We were so determined NOT to take the subway back to Penn Station that we walked 40 blocks North, in the rain. It was actually a nice walk- right up 5th ave. But, I never took Michael into Manhattan again. Well, until yesterday.

Like I've written before, Michael has a new friend from Nigeria who we met at Dr. Imam's office. He's 9 years old and has autism also. The boys play so well together and I wanted to get the family out of the boring hotel room. We ended up driving in around 1pm. The traffic wasn't bad and after a few u-turns, I found a parking garage. The family wanted to go on a carriage ride in Central Park (something I've never done) and Michael had fun.

Then we walked a few blocks south to Times Square. We went to this HUGE Toys R Us with a Ferris Wheel inside. It was really a sight to see. Michael enjoyed the store and went on a ride.

One thing we did was make a personalized puzzle. Michael picked out which picture he wanted and which background. I knew he would pick Dora and Diego. The kid is obsessed. He actually says frequently "mommy, abre the door". Did I spell that correctly? It's the spanish word for "open".

Michael really enjoyed the lights in Times Square when we got out of Toys R Us and it was dark. We ate dinner at Planet Hollywood. Which if you haven't been there before, is the noisiest restaurant on the planet. There were about 10 large screen televisions on the walls and the music was pumping. Definately don't bring your autistic child there if they are sensitive to noise. Michael was amused by it all. We ended up leaving the city around 9pm and Michael fell asleep in the car on the way home.

It was a nice trip. The boys had fun. Michael wasn't overwhelmed with the city and actually seemed entertained by it. The high buildings, beeping horns, big buses, crazy taxi cabs, bright lights. It was also nice to be able to enjoy the city. On the walk back to the car, we stopped at Starbucks and Michael was so interested in reading the sign in the window. He walked around the store, finding the word Starbucks on everything. I helped him sound out the word coffee. Today he was wanted to see the photo I took of the sign and was drawing it in his notebook. He really is learning all the important things in life :)

I asked Michael to draw the logo and this is what he did.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

that drawing is amazing! he did that from memory?
i DRINK startbucks on occasion, and i didnt even know there was a girl ingteh middle, until i saw this drawing. amazing.

Christine said...

I think he did it by memory. I can honestly say the kid has a better memory than me. It's not a true "rainman" skill- but pretty close. He knows every teacher in his school and every bus number. Names, numbers, schedules, now maps & directions. Some people tell me that's an Aspie thing.

Thanks for commenting Ninny.