Phillip and I took a trip to the new large Super 1
Foods 30 miles away today. He hasn't been napping and figured he might get back
on track with a nap in the van. Before heading out I crammed a couple tootsie
pops in my pocket, it has been the only effective tool to distract him from the
environment he may be in. I only take them if we have a 90% chance of meltdown...and
those chances are pretty good when it comes to grocery shopping. I say 90%
because I always hang on to that 10% with great faith.
When we walked in, the floor suddenly turned to
rubber to catch the dirt people track in. Phillip had to step in carefully and
off carefully, blocking some people from getting in. Or to be clearer, people
tend not to walk around anyone anymore they just wait for you to move, because
they really could have walked around him.
I ended up picking him up, which was an unwelcome interruption.
Taking him directly into a building of madness and he erupted. I saw this
coming as soon as he became distracted by the flooring but the people around us
didn't. We went from smiles and isn't he cute to... O MY goodness or the WOW I
heard from the other side of Phillips hand slapping me in the head was kind of
a funny one. That man didn't hold back one bit, just a big eyed WOW! I smiled,
as I always do.
Tried to put Phillip down after moving him, and he
wasn't OK with that either. So I had to carry him and push the cart, same drill
last time. I was finally able to put him down on the other side of the store,
an empty isle. I gave him his tootsie role pop for calming down. Yes, I know
this is not typical healthy parenting, but autism is not typical. He slowly
walked near me working on his sucker along the way.
Soon I realized I did not have anything to clean
him up with. So now we have calm and cooperative Phillip covered in sticky
sucker and if I decided to take him to the bathroom to clean him up, it would
be another interruption so we pushed on.
Checking out was wonderful, the checker seemed to
totally understand what I was trying to do with him and cleared a spot for him
to sit on the counter so he could not run. By this time my arms were sticky
from my shoulders down, I had sucker chunks on my shirt and pants and Phillips
fingers wouldn't come apart. The girl who was bagging my groceries was staring
at me in the weirdest way, and I smiled at her, but that stare was really
bothering me.
When we got to the van and headed down the road,
after a quick sponge bath in the parking lot, and what probably appeared to be
me talking to myself and washing my arms, because Phillip was in the van and
the windows are very dark tint. I ran my hand through my hair, only to find I
had a giant chunk of tootsie roll stuck on the side of my head. It was at that
point I realized why the young lady bagging my groceries was giving me such a
weird look.
So all in all, we had a pretty good trip to the store!
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