Dear Addie,
This week the stars finally aligned and you and I were able to go to one of Gabe’s cross country meets. I was a little bit (OK, really) hesitant to take you, seeing how watching Gabe at soccer isn't exactly your favorite thing to do with whistles and chaos of children running around. With every ounce of hesitation (even Gabe half-jokingly said ”I guess we’ll see how much she likes blow horns!”) we still stood committed to give this a shot and see big brother Gabe run.
Armed with our Mary Poppins bag full of snacks and activities we set off for this new experience.
Lucky for us it was at a familiar place for you & me both seeing the park community center where the meet was taking place is the home of your fall Special Olympics every year.
Let's do this!
We parked in the lot of the community center and you wasted no time grabbing your headphones before immediately walking to the entrance. The confidence in your stride and look on your face said it all, “Basketball yes! I got this!”
Your excitement was short-lived however because the reality was that we were not in fact going to Special Olympics basketball today and I had to redirect you to the fields across the way - springing the start of some feverish stimming to the unknown destination change.
Stimming but willingly walking, we made our way through the trails to an open field where the meet was currently underway. We passed by 3 young boys, siblings from another school’s runners (I'm assuming because the uniform wasn't familiar to me) who were sword fighting with large sticks until we walked into their view. They literally stopped dead in mid-sword fight to stare at us walking by. They either: a) have never seen someone stimming wearing a rad pair of noise-canceling headphones b) were hungry and mesmerized by the bag of Smartfood white cheddar popcorn peeking out of my Mary Poppins bag - you do have good taste in snacks kiddo or c) maybe they knew an adult wouldn't really approve of them stabbing each other with sticks - so they paused their play until I was out of sight. Who knows?
Once we passed the sword fighting boys, we made our way to our school’s tent, where I saw a fellow 6th grade mama that I decided to set up shop next to. You wasted no time in plopping down uncomfortably close to her like you had known each other for years
(you haven't exactly mastered the art of personal space just yet!), but she didn't seem to mind and I've literally only known her since school started, so I felt a little awkward that you felt so comfortable. It was then that the start of the boy's race was beginning with the sound of the loudest blow horn ever! OK, well maybe it wasn’t the loudest ever, but definitely takes you by surprise if you’re not used to hearing it and it's very loud!
Interesting fact about you Addie, whistles cause extreme auditory sensory irritability and annoyance. But apparently blow-horns are totally fine. Who knew? If that doesn't define the complexity of auditory distress in someone with an auditory processing disorder, I'm not sure what does.
You sat patiently pillaging through your snack bag as the kids raced by on the trail beside us! The crowd of parents yelling and cheering signaled to you that ”When in Rome...”- so you to let out a loud cheering type sound (not really a scream, more like an oooooooooooooooowah!) then continued throwing back Gatorade's. Side note: epic mom mistake, I packed three Gatorade's so in your mind you thought you needed to drink all three Gatorade's, consecutively. This instinctively caused me to start looking around for the closest restroom, which was way back by the community center where we had parked. It was at this point I was hoping for the best that your bladder would stay strong until it was time to leave. Finger's crossed!
Daddy had arrived at this point so we made our way to the finish line to really cheer Gabe on in the home stretch! Daddy having been to all his meets so far knew that this was the highlight of the meet - watching the kids approach and pass the finish line and boy was he right! Gabe red faced, sweaty, exhausted, but full of determination crossed the finish line like he had a turbo booster in that last stretch. It was so awesome to see!
After the race was finished we were congratulating Gabe on a job well done and I asked if you could give Gabe some love as well. Without skipping a beat you turned toward him and placed your forehead to his lips, yes Addie your version of showing love is like you being some Emperor allowing some peasant of lower class to kiss thy forehead.
All joking aside you did great, of course Gabe was awesome and it was certainly super fun to finally see him do something he has recently discovered he loves to do! Now if we could only get those soccer refs to ditch the whistles and use blow horns instead! Ha! Could you imagine?!
Great job Addie.
Love,
Mom
Comments