School Outing

Yesterday was our last day of the third term at LUC Academy.  Usually on the last day of term, we only have a half day and take the kids on an outing.  We decided we would try to take the kids to a movie (namely A Monster in Paris, the only 2D animation showing nearby at an early time).  Most of them had been to the movies before with their families with varying success.  When planning the outing, we were all very confident and excited.  However as the day drew nearer, we got a little more nervous.  The rest of the schools were already on holiday and the theatre might be busy.  What if our kids are loud, disruptive, and throw tantrums?  I had resigned myself to the fact that I would probably be sitting outside the theatre with at least one of them. 

Amazingly, the day went beautifully.  One of the boys who usually tantrums when getting out of the car anywhere was amazingly happy to go.  We arrived to the movie right on time, to an almost empty theatre.  We all sat the kids down at the back of the theatre with their popcorn and drinks and sat back, wondering what was going to happen.   The kids were surprisingly quiet, only a few small outbursts like random tacts or echoics from the movie (and occasional mands for more snacks, bathroom, etc.).  One of our boys who would do anything for attention, and is usually constantly saying hello to us or telling us he loves us, was mostly quiet.  Thankfully his therapist told him to whisper in the theatre (which he can do) so when he saw me as he was coming back from the bathroom he whispered to me "Hello Wendy".  He also loves to dance to music (and loves telling us to do so as well) so when the music came on, he stood up, started dancing, and you could hear little whispers coming from his direction "Dance Catherine" (one of our therapists).

I think the keys to our success were the snacks and other supplies we brought for the kids if they got restless (threading for one, and clay and action figures for another).  One of the boys manded for his beads during the movie and once he was threading, he kept quiet and happy.  The other boy accidentally dropped one of his action figures during the movie, jumped from his seat, and for the first time independently manded for information in the natural environment by saying "Where Spiderman?".  When he found him, he quickly jumped up and yelled "Spiderman!!!".  I don't know if anyone told him to be quiet; we were all trying to keep from laughing.  This boy was also asked earlier in the day where Wolfman (one of his action figures) works and he decided he worked in the Wolfman station (generalization from police station and fire station).  We have heard this before from him; usually if he doesn't know where someone works, he says they work in [name/title] station.  Poppa used to work in the poppa station until we found out where he actually worked and taught our action figure boy.  Anyway, given this you can imagine how surprised we were when we asked him "Where does Buzz [Lightyear] work?" and he answered "No man, Buzz doesn't work".  Lesson learned little man.

Overall the day went off without a hitch and now we really feel like we deserve a week long holiday.  No pictures this time, to protect our kids' privacy.