One of my favorite Holidays!

The fourth of July has to be one of my favorite holidays. The summer sun, the people, the celebration, and the food! Who doesn't love that? Well, I'll tell you who doesn't love that. Haiden doesn't love that. Apparently the Asperger's got the better of her, and we are still learning to deal with it. Let's go over the day from the start, because it was a really fun day for a while!

We live in a wonderful community that still has a HUGE 4th of July parade filled with floats and marching bands, horses and rodeo queens. Jordan got to ride on a float this year with her dance company, and she loved it! She was so cute! Her float was number 89, out of about 100 or so entries. It was a long parade. Haiden did well at the parade, for the first 30 minutes, then she wouldn't sit, was fidgetty, was getting hot, and had already been awoken before she wanted to be and upset over her choice of clothing. However, I missed all these cues that she was going to have a meltdown later, and we kept encouraging her to look at all the floats, with the 50,000 other people there (no lie, it's a HUGE parade), she and Holden filled up with parade candy and soda.

We went home finally, 3 hours later, had lunch, banished the kids to the basement for quiet time with a movie before the family BBQ. Haiden settled a little bit, but she was still kind of wound up from the candy. After the movie, the fun began, and they started filling water balloons to have a battle with their cousins. Haiden soaked everyone before the balloons were filled! LOL She loves the water! Dinner was good, and she was fine, back in her routine, in her familiar environment with people she knew well.

Then it came time to pack the car and hurry down to the river for the biggest fireworks show west of the Mississippi! I obviously didn't think this through. Long hot day, lots of candy, huge change in routine, added to thousands of people packed together in a dark unfamiliar place, to watch really bright really loud fireworks. I REALLY didm't think this through. Not to mention we had to walk quite a ways from where we parked to get to the river to sit. We arrived about an hour early, staked out our spot, and were just talking and visiting, and Haiden was being very restless. She wouldn't sit with anyone, she wouldn't talk to anyone, she was just going back and forth from Rob, to me, to grandpa, to her cousins, trying to figure out where she belonged. By the time the fireworks started she had found a place she was comfortable with and was seated. Then all HELL broke loose. The fireworks in our city are 31 minutes long, choreographed to music, with about 7 shells lighting a second. Haiden absolutely loved the first 5 minutes, but she was a bit tense and edgy, mixed with excitement. Then, while she was dancing around to the blaring music from the radio's around us, she tripped and skinned her knee on the road. And that was the end of it. Everything in her day came to a full eruption, her skinned knee had a little bit of blood on it and was stinging, the music was too loud, the fireworks too bright, the crack and boom too scary, and there were too many people. She howled on and on, unconsoleable, about her knee and how it hurt. I was able to get her into my lap, tell her it was boo-boo juice, not blood, and that it was supposed to be there so her skin would get better. Luckily it was still dark and she couldn't see it, or she would never have believed me. I sat with her for the last 20 minutes of the show, with my hands covering her ears, a blanket wrapped around her, her curled into a ball, and rocking rhythmically back and forth. She fell asleep just as it ended, and Rob carried her to the car. It was all I could do not to cry. I felt so dumb for not realizing that she was going to be overwhelmed by it all, and I felt so bad for her, that she wanted to be there and do everything but her own body wouldn't let her enjoy it.

After that experience, Rob and I decided that we should limit the activities that would disrupt her routine. We were supposed to go camping next weekend. Now, the boys are going camping next weekend. Haiden and I are having a girl party at home. Jordan is still undecided as to what she wants to do. I'm still learning to deal with Haiden's Asperger's, and I don't know if I will ever figure it out.

The 4th of July is still my favorite holiday!