First, let me just start with some honesty, our family doesn't go out to eat much. I don't mean driving thru Burger King or eating at the park, I mean we almost never go out to a sit down restaurant as a family. If you have someone with Autism in your family you can probably relate. This is a big part of why I was so happy when my sister-in-law, her husband and our 3 nieces came to town during their vacation. When we are all together, we go out and do great stuff we'd never normally do. We visit National Monuments, Gardens and . . . (bum, bum, bum) Restaurants. Because I knew the whole family was coming and when they would arrived, we had planned to go out to a local place that while pricier than I would like, had a exciting menu and pretty good reviews on yelp and google. A lot of places can get a little busy and louder as the night went on, so I thought okay, If I'm careful and prepared I can cover all the bases and this will be awesome. I made sure my son had eaten a little before we left so he wouldn't have a meltdown over being hungry and I packed some organic chicken spread so we could spread that on toast just in case (my son has both sensory issues and a lot of allergies, he can and will only eat a limited menu) the menu might be too exciting for children. I packed fun, distracting toys not just for him but also his cousins and just in case the wait was longer than expected or we wanted to have dessert I even packed an emergency back up never before seen new toy.
You know the old saying, Those who fail to plan, plan to fail? Yeah, well the night was so disappointing that nothing could have had me prepared for :
Excited that the whole family is going out (even grandma) we all start out with a little light shopping and stroll downtown, then I drive back home to pick-up grandma who can't do the strolling so she would like us to come get her when its time to go to the restaurant, entering the restaurant the family all sits and wait for a table, (the room is starting to get loud) we finally, get a table and then have to wait again to order, (I pull out distraction #1 Lego kit) have to wait longer for drinks to arrive, (Lego have failed, no problem we go for a short walk) we return and I order plain white toast as I did pack emergency chicken spread in my bag, wait even longer for just plain white toast (room is really getting loud now, losing containment) try diversion #2 car sticker book I bought just for tonight (fail due to both hunger and loud noise) Finally, salads and toast arrives "thank heaven", but oh no it's not plain white toast, this is some sour dough artisinal confection covered in AIOLI !!!!
I DESPERATELY BEGIN TO TRY FLICKING OFF TOAST COVERED WITH AIOLI (my hungry son in full sensory overload won't touch it).
I take him home without eating anything. Comforting myself with a cup of coffee at home and feeding child in peace and quiet.
