ABA Family Day Recap

My good friend Jen asked me if I’d like to do a blog on our day out in Bray at the ABA Fun Day.

Well, I don’t blog, I have never blogged but I have been very tempted on several ocassions to dip my toe in the blogging world.

So I was secretly delighted when Jen asked me if I’d like to do a guest blog here..

So here I am, attempting to share the events of our ‘Fun’ day in Bray…

Our day started out well, we parked a few DART stations away from Bray in order to give our lil man his first trip on the ‘Choo Choo’. He was delighed with this and flapped himself silly in his buggy watching the DARTS passing by on the other side of the station, while we were waiting for ours. We kept him in his buggy as
we were not putting ourselves under any unnecessary stress trying to get him back into it when we got to Bray.

Well ‘Bray Summerfest’ was in full swing and a huge funfair was set up on the Promenade. We found the fenced in ABA area, behind the bandstand and were welcomed in by the organiser, a lovely person called Michelle. We were the first family to arrive so our lil man had his choice of things to do, he chose the giant footballs, then he moved onto the sandpit and the highlight of his day was the giant parachute being swished up and down allowing him to run under it and laugh himself silly in delight and excitement. It was nice to hear him laugh so much.

We relaxed and enjoyed the fact that the the helpers were all ABA aware and made him and us feel really welcome. More and more families started to arrive as the time went on. I met up with another Facebook buddy of mine I’d only ever chatted to online and it was lovely to finally meet her and her two sons. There were loads of activities to keep all our little autie kiddies happy and smiling. It was great to spend a few hours relaxed in the knowledge that nobody was judging us or our lil man.

Well as they say, all good things come to an end…..

He started to get a bit fed up and kept heading for the exit, so we knew it was time to go. We said our goodbyes and made our way out of the safety of the fenced in ABA area and off to the bouncy castles. Part of the ABA day was a free pass to Bounce World.

This is where we got nervous. The bouncy castles were very crowded with kids a lot bigger than our lil 3 year old. We decided maybe it wasn’t the best idea and tried to make a hasty retreat and get our lil man into his buggy as his tendancy to bolt was evident in this crowded place. Well the screams that came out of his little mouth were blood curdling. He almost made himself sick. NOW away from the safety of the ABA fenced in area, we were getting the stares and comments from the parents, some who actually stopped walking to have a good old stare at us, nudging each other and tut tutting as we tried to restrain our bucking bronco in his buggy. Kids staring with their mouths open at our red faced child.

We crossed the road to where it was less crowded and proceeded to head for the DART station. Away from the crowds he calmed down, but inside I was sobbing. I wanted my lil man to be able to walk beside us holding our hands. I wanted to be able to let him loose on the bouncy castles and not be worried that he’d hit some poor unsuspecting child who got in his way, I wanted everyone to instantly understand Autism. I know people will say, sure most kids have screaming fits and protestations etc. but that doesn’t make it any easier. Sorry!

I had a heavy heart for the rest of the day but that evening as he lay in his bed singing Postman Pat to me as he drifted off to sleep, my heart was no longer heavy and I was very thankful for our beautiful lil man. He makes us laugh every day and we are doing our very best for him to help him out on his journey through a sometimes cruel and eventful life.

Laineymc!!

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