We recently took a trip to Philadelphia with Brian. It was just Brian, myself and Isaac. After driving 12 hours, we landed in the heart of the city. It is always a challenge to travel with Isaac. It is a challenge to try and control the environment enough to mitigate potential overwhelm—the noises, the smells, the textures of new experiences. And it is difficult to predict how he might react to various sensory experiences, changes in routine, and unexpected mishaps inherent in travel. We bring every bit of his food with us as he only has a handful of foods that he will tolerate. Prior to leaving, I had packed four days worth of smoothies (various fruits and vegetables blended with Greek yogurt. We affectionately call this blend “goop”), a box of Honey Nut Cheerios, 2 bunches of bananas, three loaves of honey whole wheat bread from Great Harvest Bread Company, a bag of grapes, and some lime Greek yogurt. These are Isaac’s safe foods. We packed his red lightbulb lamp, his soft blanket and pillow, and a variety of his favorite V-Tech toys. And we packed the i-Pad.
Brian was awarded a Fellowship in the Acoustical Society of America at a conference being held in Philly that week. Isaac and I had the days to explore the City Center. When we explore, the red wagon comes with us. It serves as a home base for Isaac—a familiar spot where he can land in whatever environment we find ourselves in. On the first day of our trip, I pulled Isaac through the City Center as we headed to “Kids Kastle” to play. Isaac looked in all the windows along the way and was thrilled to see the escalators. He has always been fascinated by the moving stairs and asked by tapping on the windows if he could go inside. I gently redirected him, and we moved on down the dirty streets of now Chinatown with all the smells and noises of unfamiliar cooking and languages. I kept a close eye on all Isaac’s sounds and mannerisms to make sure he was not getting overwhelmed. It seemed our red wagon was doing its trick. We were good to go! We eventually found the location of the Kids Kastle, and made our way inside the shopping mall where it was located. And guess what we saw. Escalators.
Boy, did he want to ride! We stood at the bottom and looked at the moving stairs together. We had ridden them before, and I thought Isaac would know how to step on. I had the folded wagon in one hand, and Isaac’s hand in the other. I stepped onto the first stair and started up… but instead of stepping with me, Isaac unexpectedly let go of my hand! I was on my way up, and Isaac was still at the bottom unsure of what to do. People were stuck behind him as he stood frozen at the bottom of the stairs. From my steady passage upwards, I tried unsuccessfully to coach Isaac to “step on”…and then to “move aside” so others could get on. Both coaching attempts proved futile. So, I hurried up the escalator stashed the wagon at the top, and sprinted down the other side to my boy, apologizing to the line up of people now behind him. We stepped aside and let the people go ahead. I then held both of Isaac’s hands. He squeezed them with excitement and nervousness. Together, we stepped onto the first stair. And we went up. Triumph. And then we went down. Joy. And then we went up. And then we went down. We won the escalator together. As I stood firmly behind him, holding both of his hands, I felt a surge of gratitude that I was the one who could help him step on those moving stairs. I felt so grateful that he trusted me enough to ride with me when he was too unsure to move ahead on his own. And I felt a renewed and potent desire spring within me to care for and love him like this for as long as he needs me to.
We made it to the “Kids Kastle” eventually….after many rides on the escalator 🙂
Walking to our van from the hotel at the end of our city adventure
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