Fire Parade October 2006

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Noah and I went to the annual Fire Prevention Parade in my hometown yesterday. This meant going to my parents' house and spending the day with them...BBQ chicken dinner......the works. I have to say......it was one of the best days we have had since coming back to Ohio. Noah did very very well. He does better all the time. Having his cousin Audrey who is 6 years old around him helped a lot. She is very good with him.....helping him to feel more comfortable about things...encouraging him to try new things...etc. Of course Noah wanted NOTHING to do with the parade for fear of the sirens and noises in the parade from the fire trucks and such....and the clowns....but once he found out his cousin was going he changed his mind. I KNEW it would important for him to at least TRY this social outing...so we went down to the street corner and lined up our lawnchairs. Once there Noah started to get nervous. He started saying he did not think he wanted to do this.....was getting afraid....wanted to go back to the house...and I just kept acting like it would be okay and would be fine (hoping inside my own mind he would not freak out when the sirens started wailing as the firetrucks came down the street).

Noah did his best to cope with the anxiety going along with the PRE-parade jitters by spinning in the yard.....trying to find a place to hide...I kept wishing I had taken a big blanket he could have hidden under. I finally told him to sit on the ground BEHIND the chairs...which he did. This somehow made him feel more safe.......and secure....hidden....

Here came the police car that signaled the start of the parade.......he got all excited....jumped up and announced to everyone the parade was starting. He wanted to wave to everyone in the parade (he has even been waving to people he sees inside the grocery store as we pass them in our cart). Anyway......he started out in the position you will see at the end of this film clip......BEHIND the chair with both hands covering his ears....but as the parade went on.....he started removing one hand from his ears to wave.....then he stood up.....came around to the front of the chair and finally sat down....eventually both hands came off the ears and he was having a good time...only occasionally putting them over his ears if the sound got really bad. He did get up and run and hide behind a tree when the clowns came by....but heck...I had to resist an impulse to do the same! Is there anyone who does not get freaked out by clowns>?

Noah had a great day. He got through this and learned some social skills yesterday too. Audrey and him played together very well too......and we had one of the best days ever!