Nature Center and Musical Theater

A week ago, my wife and I had gone to see my dad without Kai when Kai was with his mentor from school. Kai expressed disappointment, saying that he wanted to see Ojiichan, too. So this weekend we scheduled a visit with Kai.

There is a nature center very close to the assisted living facility where my dad now lives. Kai has been there before with his mentor, but the rest of us wanted to go see it for the first time.

My dad loves nature, and Kai is very much into anything science related, so this was a good choice for an outing.

The visitor center had a number of exhibits with skeletons, antlers, mounted animals, and other artifacts, along with a few live animals. Kai enjoyed taking us around the whole place.

Below you see him checking out one of several live snakes they had.

And here you see a kestrel, a hawk-like bird, eating a dead mouse.

It was good to find an activity to do with my dad that he and Kai both enjoy.

* * * * *
The next day, we took Kai to see a live performance of School House Rock, a musical based on the ‘70s animated television series.

When Kai was younger, he loved getting the School House Rock dvds from our library. The songs were fun and they taught children about grammar, math, science, and social studies, among other things.

It has been at least a couple of years since he’s looked at those videos, but he still wanted to go see the show.

This production was specifically aimed for kids, and its one-hour length was about right for Kai. He has sat through longer shows, but two hours is still a bit long for him.

This one featured about 15 of the best School House Rock songs including Conjunction Junction; Three Is A Magic Number; Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here; I’m Just A Bill; and my favorite, Interjections!

Kai said he enjoyed it. I did, too.

Especially appreciating that taking him to places like this is no longer the stressful event that it once was. And that is deserving of an interjection – Hooray!

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

A professional theater company in our area was performing Mary Poppins.

We have taken Kai to live theater before, but only to performances specifically for children that were no longer than one hour long. This was a main stage production and would be two and a half hours including a 15-minute intermission. And at main stage prices, I did not want to leave halfway through.

But Kai has been doing very well at movie theaters and other live shows. (For instance, he loved the concert we saw as part of the covered wagon ride and chuckwagon dinner in Wyoming this summer.)

Besides that, we had already seen the Mary Poppins movie so he was familiar with the songs and story. So, this was a great opportunity to see if he could tolerate a long stage show.

We got to the theater early enough to settle in, but hopefully not too early that we would have a long wait before the show started. I started getting anxious when a family with younger kids sat directly behind us and the kids began to sing. Kai got agitated with their singing. My wife explained that the kids would be quiet once the show started, but Kai continued to be upset. Still, he didn’t get too loud. Rather, he put his hat on and tried to cover his ears. Though I breathed a sigh of relief when the lights were dimmed and the show started.

The story was not quite the same as in the movie; for instance, Mary Poppins leaves the Banks family for a while and a mean nanny comes and takes her place. But most of the songs were the same.

My wife had read the Mary Poppins book when she was a child and she enjoyed the show immensely. I thought that the actress who portrayed Mary had a wonderful voice. And there’s nothing like seeing a live performance.

I don’t know that this was Kai’s favorite show, but he behaved beautifully. He paid attention, stayed quiet, and applauded at all the right times. He had no problem with the length of the show other than needing to dash to the restroom after it was over.

We had a nice time, and did not even need a spoonful of sugar to help. And that is just super. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious that is.

Red Kite Roundup

As part of our son’s birthday weekend, we drove downtown to participate in a unique theatrical experience call Red Kite Roundup. Red Kite is a product of the Chicago Children’s Theater, and is an interactive, multi-sensory performance specifically for children with autism.

Kai, like many kids with autism, has a difficult time having to sit still while watching a play or show. But one of the great things about Red Kite is that the kids who attend each performance don’t just sit back and watch; they participate and are part of the experience.

We got to the theater about a half hour before show time, as suggested. There is a waiting area with hands-on exhibits. The performers come out and meet all the kids and play music and sing songs, so there is actually a lot of entertainment before the show even begins.

Still, Kai knew what time the show was officially supposed to start and kept asking all of the performers how much longer he had to wait. We tried to get him to relax and enjoy the music. The other kids seemed to be happy listening to the songs. Kai, on the other hand, grew increasingly impatient. I wondered if he would be the first kid to get kicked out of Red Kite as he became more insistent that the show begin soon. When it was finally time to enter the theater, a cast member wisely picked him to be the first one to go in.

The theme for the performance was camping and hiking. Kai settled down as soon as he entered this theatrical “outdoors.” He and the other kids explored the set, and were encouraged to move, laugh, talk, sing, and interact with the specially-trained actors. The actors often followed the kids lead. Early on, when Kai laid down in the middle of the set, I worried that he would disrupt the show. Instead, “Ranger Bob” encouraged all of the kids to lie down like Kai, breathe in the fresh air, and take in the sky. As the show went on, the amazing set allowed the children to experience the sound of the forest, pet fuzzy newborn chicks, feel the gentle spray as they rafted down a river, and sing songs next to a campfire. It truly was a multi-sensory experience with plenty to touch, see and hear.

There are not a lot of places where you can take your child with autism and have an experience like this, where we all feel so comfortable and accepted while taking in a unique adventure. We are grateful for having had this opportunity.

If you are in the Chicago area, check out Red Kite’s website for more information.

A Boring Highlight of My Weekend

Picking the highlight of my weekend is tough today. There’s a lot to choose from.

It started out well on Friday afternoon. Our son came home from school and his point-sheet showed that he had a really good day, thus completing his second straight good, safe, incident-free week at school. (With another incident-free day today, Kai will make it to Level 2, and I will be a little anxious until I find out if he makes it.)

Anyway, for doing so well, my wife gave him a Lego Advent calendar. She had planned to give it to him on December 1, but he got it ten days early as a special reward. Up until very recently, Kai was never much for Legos. He had neither the fine motor skills to work with the smaller pieces nor the patience to put them together. This set came with 24 different Lego builds, with the idea that your child would do one on each of the first 24 days of December. But, when Kai saw it, he wanted to work on all of them. I thought he might get frustrated or lose interest after one or two, but he diligently kept working on one after another. He studied each picture carefully, and with only very minimal help from Mom and Dad, he completed all 24 figures. I was truly impressed.

But, that is not the highlight of my weekend.

On Saturday morning, Kai had his ice skating class for kids with special needs. Here, local high school and junior high girls assist the students to skate. Kai has been taking the class for nearly two months now, and was already moving better than I thought he would. I originally thought that just standing up and balancing on the skates would be difficult for him, but it didn’t take long before he was moving along with girls on either side of him holding his hands. This Saturday though, was the first time that one of the girls gave him a hockey stick and let him skate by himself. I was truly amazed as he moved around the rink independently, totally overcoming my skepticism.

But, that is not the highlight of my weekend.

On Saturday afternoon, we went to see a local community theater production of Snoopy! The Musical. It is a sequel to the more famous musical You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown. We had gone to a play with Kai once before, and it was embarrassing as he talked loudly and shouted things to the cast right in the middle of the performance. This time, we reminded him of the rules for the theater and hoped for the best. Kai loved the show! He was very excited, but contained his comments to an appropriate level. It was fun to see him clapping and shouting “Wahooo!” at the end of each musical number. And, most importantly, he then quieted down when the applause died down. It was another sign of maturity and progress.

But, that is not the highlight of my weekend.

Yesterday, I popped inside the house after working on cleaning out our gutters. My wife was in the kitchen trying to finish something when I heard Kai call out from the play room. “Mommy, I’m bored!” Yes, that familiar refrain that is the bane of mothers everywhere. Except that we had never heard that before from Kai. I was startled. How wonderful that he was able to express himself like so many other kids! I shook my head and smiled as I went back outside, leaving my wife to deal with Kai’s boredom.

Now that was the highlight of my weekend.