So SOOO Proud of my Little Man!

We had to go to the mall to pick up my aunt's gift yesterday.

I knew before we went it was a horrible idea, and I was planning on leaving Ryan in the car with Tom. Ryan had to use the bathroom though, and if he was going inside, I might as well buy the one thing and get out.

I was anticipating the worst.

I got the best imaginable.

He made it to the bathroom and back to me at the doors okay (with his Daddy, of course), but it was so crowded it took entirely too long to get back together. Adara was antsy so we were riding up and down the escalators to keep her busy. Tom didn't see us and kept walking around and around.

Finally, we got back together and headed for the store to buy the gift.

I was really worried.

Ryan started getting his twitches and whimpering and I knew we had to get out of there fast. To my aunt, if you're reading this - your gift was selected with care, I hope you enjoy it...but please note that I probably would have gotten you more except that Ryan could no longer handle being there.

I paid and left as fast as possible. He was hugging himself, rocking on his feet, lightly bumping his head into the counter, and whimpering continuously while I was paying...if someone had even lightly bumped him it would have been all over, but miracle of miracles in a PACKED store without room to move - nobody bumped into him.

We got out I moved him over toward the bell players (they were a floor below us) into an open quiet (relatively) space, and gave him squishy hugs, did push 5s, etc. things to calm him down so that we could make the walk back to the car. It took a while, but he managed to calm down. I asked him if he wanted to listen to the bells and he looked up towards me...I made him try to use his words, and it was so hard for him, he stuttered (whole word stuttering is what he does) so horribly, but he asked to go home.

I let him carry the bag with the gift too, it was heavy enough to act like heavy work.


I managed NOT to cry when we got to the car, but just barely. I was/am so very proud of him for holding it together. We did it. We REALLY did it. We made it through a fast trip to a packed mall in the month of December.

That has never happened before and, frankly, I wouldn't try it again, but for this one little trip I am extremely thankful and proud of my son.

Adara didn't have any trouble, but I could tell she had shut down her hearing. She wasn't responding to speech at all. Normally when she starts to get uncomfortable she will look at you and say "too much, too much!" but this time it was immediately overwhelming and she just shut it down. The sound canceling headphones we just got helped a good bit because once we left she was able to start hearing us again :-D That's something she hasn't been able to manage before either! Once she shuts down, she's done until the next day usually!

All in all, a very good day. It filled me with hope.