Moving right along

Every October one of our favorite things to do as a family in the fall is go to a little town in Pennsylvania.  We headed out on the road with our pumpkin spice coffees and juice cups to admire the fall foliage along the way.  It is a beautiful drive up there.  It is the perfect fall trip for our family because there is a great play area for the kids, great food for my husband and great shopping for me.  Our first stop is always the kids zone place where the little ones can get out some energy before the adult fun of eating out and shopping begin. 

Thomas has been coming here every year with us since he was one, so it is so interesting to see what play areas he still likes or has grown to like each year.  They also have an gorgeous carousel.  The past 3 years he has only wanted to ride on the bench, preferring this sturdy non- moving piece to the galloping horses that move up and down.  This is our first visit here, since we have discovered he has SPD, so it all makes sense to me now.  Oh how many times we tried to get him on a horse.  Poor him.  Poor us.  None of us knew why this was so hard.  Now that we were enlightened and have been making great progress with OT, I was so curious as to how this would play out this year. 

We didn't want to push the carousel on him, so we started out in the play area in the back.  He played at the water table, in the ball pit, and on the fire engine.  Then he did something that really amazed me.  They had a few kiddie rides, like you see outside an arcade or at a store where you put a quarter in to make them move, and one was a mini carousel.  He jumped right on a horse and wanted it to move.  If you read my post from August regarding moving rides, you know he is not usually a fan.  Today he not only jumped up on the horse voluntarily, but also wanted it to move.  We immediately pushed the button before he changed his mind and he loved it.  From there it opened the door for me to ask him if he wanted to ride a horse on the real carousel.  I was waiting for a loud "No" but instead heard an excited "Yes."  Again before he changed his mind we excitedly made our way over to the big carousel at the other end of the building.

He was a little nervous when it was our turn to get on, but as long as I held onto him tightly he was fine.  He was nervous, excited and proud of himself the whole ride and so was I.  This picture was taken by husband who was sitting on the carousel bench with Thomas's one year old brother who, surprise, refused to get on a horse!  One out of two ain't bad. There's always next year and now I know that one day he will be ready too.  For now I am excited to check off yet another fun thing that doesn't hold Thomas back any more.  Seeing him enjoy the ride without fear and with a smile on his face reminded me of how far he has come and how far he will continue to go!