The Good, the Fun, and the Ugly

Tucker has had a few busy days. We went with his class to the Christmas Tree Farm on Friday. I think the long bus ride there and back was the highlight of the trip for Tucker. He likes Christmas trees once they are inside with lights on them, but he was not too impressed by the real trees outside. He did try to steal the saw from Addi's Dad, our appointed tree cutter. After the tree was loaded into the bus, we took a hayride around the farm. Tucker tried to escape a few times, but Mrs. Wanda made him sit still. We were happy to see two friends. Sonny was in Tucker's class last year, and his class was also at the farm. So I got to see him and talk to him mom, and get updates on all the therapies and progress our boys have made. We also saw Mrs. Charity, one of the private duty nurses that used to spend 10 hours a day at our house, back when Tucker was 1-2 years old and still had the ventilator and trach. Mrs. Charity was there with one of her sons, and we hadn't seen her in about a year. She was so surprised by how big Tucker had gotten, but she was not happy that he still isn't eating! She worked hard to get him to eat several years ago, she had hoped he was getting better with that. After the farm, we all headed to Mc Donald's. For most kids, this was the fun part. For Tucker, it was less fun. He got his burger, complete with the Sesame Seed bun from my burger (he likes the way they feel). This picture really sums up his enthusiasm! He escaped from the table a few times, too (this is becoming way too common with him), but he made it through lunch.

We attended the Dreams Come True Christmas Party on Saturday. This is the organization that granted Tucker his Dream, which is a 7 day trip to Orlando that Chris, Tucker, and I will take after Christmas. The party had a lot of activities, like face painting, balloon animals, and caroling. The noise was a little too much for Tucker, but he did like the little firetruck that sang fire safety songs. He also really liked the dramatic dancing that a church group performed. They danced to different Christmas songs and spiritual songs, and Tucker was upfront grinning! I just never know what he will like and what he won't like, because I was not expecting him to like that really. Tucker lasted for about an hour and a half (the party was 3 hours), with many many breaks to look at trucks. There was a window to the parking lot, and Tucker's favorite part of the party was looking at all of the big trucks through the window. We were very happy to see our cousin Gracie with her family at the party. Gracie was diagnosed with sarcoma, a very rare type of cancer, in July. She has had treatment at St. Jude's that seemed to work but didn't, and she has to go back once they figure out which type of treatment will work (right now her cancer is a mystery). She has an amazing positive attitude, and it was nice to see her with her sisters and her parents. Her Dream Come True is to swim with the dolphins, so hopefully she will get her dream soon. I realized that I forgot Tucker's feeding supplies (Mother of the Year, right??), so we had to leave so Tucker could eat. He threw a big fit, because he thought he was finally getting to go play with the trucks in the parking lot, but we were actually going to our car. He screamed the whole 45 minute ride home, and continued at home. Feeding him made him feel better for a few minutes, but I think by then he was too far gone. He tantrummed (if that's a word) for about 4 hours, stopping for a few minutes in between until he found something else to yell about. Nothing worked to calm him, and he refused to take a nap, which of course would have helped. A fellow mito mom said about her son: "this is what autism looks like at naptime." Good way to put it. Chris came home from hunting around 130, and Tucker didn't miss a beat with the screaming. Jackie invited us to ride on a firetruck in a Christmas parade, and Chris said he was going to call Jackie to come pick up Tucker, and they could both go without us;) Tucker finally got it together when it was time to leave in Chris's truck. I told him he had to settle down, or no truck. So he pulled it together, and we left. He had a lot of fun riding in the firetruck. He was so excited to see the firetruck in the parking lot, and he climbed right up! He did not like when it stopped, of course! He said, "ride da fiyatruck." He threw a few beads and pieces of candy, but they only made it a few inches. He didn't mind our firetruck's sirens, because we really couldn't hear them. But the firetruck behind us was much louder, and Tucker jumped everytime that siren went off. His favorite part was at the end of the parade, when the truck went a little faster to get back to the parking lot. Tucker loved the wind in his face and the uninterrupted ride. It was a very nice ending to a bad day. We just never know what to expect with him, and are pleasantly surprised when experiences like that turn out so well.