A Great State Fair

Rob & I took T to the State Fair today. It's a Saturday, so it promised to be a crowded day - but the weather promised to be seasonably cool – only 80 degrees – and with family in town, we decided to give it a whirl. And what a great day we had! The biggest news was that he actually rode some carnival rides today, and had a terrific time! I think I've found my roller coaster buddy. He rode the carousel, smiling all the way, then a kiddie roller coaster, LAUGHING all the way! He rode the roller coaster twice – once with me, once with Rob. On to little cars that go around in a circle under a huge colorful umbrella, and lastly down a mega slide on a burlap bag. Okay, there was a little screaming when I put him on my lap to go down this huge thing, but the shrieks of protest immediately turned to laughter when sliding down. Once we were down, he even stopped at the entrance to the slide, looked back at me with that "I want this" look…and I had to say no because we were out of tickets. But even then, there was just a little yelp in protest, but we were off again. He was in a good mood all day, despite the crowds and stimulation. And we had another really, really nice moment: at the duck pond game (where everyone wins) I approached the worker without T, said that I had an autistic kiddo with me and just wanted to know how it worked and what we needed to do to win a big ball. Just two small plastic ducks would earn the coveted ball. So a few minutes later, I brought him over and he pulled two ducks out, earning him the ball, but the worker said "Two smalls allow him to choose a ball, but he gets to choose a large prize." My heart just melted with thanks. There really are these wonderful moments when perfect strangers show an unexpected act of kindness – they just take my breath away. Rob & I thanked her profusely, but T really did just want the ball, and that's what he chose. We walked away from there so thankful and touched. We happily played with the new ball while waiting for cousins to finish their rides.

On a completely different note: we have now tried a deep fried Snickers bar. It tastes like, well, a Snickers bar in a doughnut. Ugh. Complete decadence – I'm glad I can say I've tried it, and I don't need to have one again!