Road Trip Practice- NYC

A few days ago a friend from England called and said they were staying in NYC and wanted Michael and I to come for a visit. So, we took the Long Island Railroad into Manhattan. The train takes about 90 minutes.

The last time I remember taking the train in the city was back when Michael was about 20 months old. It was July of 2001. Of course I had the wonderful idea to bring the big stroller. Which of course worked wonderfully on the subway. I had to carry the stoller and Michael up 3 different flights of stairs.

After arriving at the south end of the island, I refused to go back on the subway, so we walked about 40 blocks north to Times Square, in the rain. It took me years before I tried that again- taking the train in with Michael. One or twice we drove for events. But, I was afraid to take the train. So many things could go wrong- power outage, late trains, violence, falling through the gap and the dreaded terrorist attack. I just didn't want to take the chance.... until this past Sunday.

Michael LOVED the train. He was so well behaved. Sometimes it's funny because he's easier to travel with then some adults we know. Michael stared out the window- trying to figure out what town we were in. He would announce out loud every time we came into a station "We're in Brentwood!". I also noticed him saying out loud the names of major roads. He goes online all the time and looks at Google Earth- so it didn't surprise me that he knew a lot of landmarks.

Anyway, Michael did great and played with the kids we were hanging out with. Once in a while I could tell he got a little ansy and started his "banging" with his hand on the seat. He does that for attention, I guess. I have to make sure when we go places that he is well fed and entertained. When we are on the train or in the car it's not really a problem.

I call this post "Road Trip Practice" because Michael and I are driving cross country this summer. Last weekend I kept saying to Michael "we're practicing for our road trip". It actually worked and helped him focus (and behave). We'll be going into NYC again next month to see They Might Be Giants. It will be the 3rd time we'll see them in concert. I'm very excited.

We also have our first hockey game on Saturday- the Islanders! They play about 40-60 min. away. There is a group of people from the autism community going. I'm excited about that too and will take LOTS of photos.

Happy Spring Everyone!