One of the things I always ponder is how much of my boys lives are impacted by the question of nature vs nurture. I am a person who has 2 speeds. I love to either be moving and busy, or I love to be sleeping. There are very few times that I am living life somewhere in the middle of those 2 speeds. Matthew and Jacob LOVE being busy and are constantly on the move. This trip brought to light how much David truly prefers a slower pace than the rest of us, and it was a good reminder to me that I need to make time for us all to go slower.
Luckily, in true David fashion, he will make sure he is heard by doing whatever is necessary. Tuesday night after being at the Magic Kingdom and getting home close to midnight David had a huge breakdown. He threw things, he yelled and finally when he stopped he answered my yes/no questions enough for me to hear from him that we had to go slower. He was sad that his brothers were going on roller coasters and he didn't like them. He was feeling left out of their fun, and he needed us to go much slower so that he felt engaged. I promised him that we would go slower at Hollywood Studios and we would all have a great day together.
On Tuesday, upon entering Hollywood Studios we started off by looking at the map and really looking at what we wanted to accomplish for the day. David loves maps so this was a great way to start our day. We then headed off to check out the Star Wars activities which are right as you walk into the park. We rode the Star Tours ride, but one of the things I was beginning to understand was that David was struggling with the 3D and 4D ride experiences. He was doing ok with the 3D shows, but somehow the visual aspects of a 3D show along with the motion of a ride, was too much for him. I made sure that after riding Star Tours that we took in calmer experiences to give his body a rest from the visual stimuli.
Jacob meets a Stormtrooper!Our first show of the day was Muppet Vision 3D and this was one that all of us loved! Throughout the entire trip David thrived when we saw shows together. He has a fantastic sense of humor and the more crazy the shows were, the more he enjoyed them. The Muppets are the perfect balance of physical humor and great entertainment, especially in 3D.
As we were continuing on after the Muppet Vision 3D show we noticed David was getting hungry and a hungry David is not a good thing. We stumbled upon the Sci Fi Drive in Theatre and I just knew this was where we needed to eat. This was one of the times that it was simply awesome to be wearing our Make a Wish Shirts. As soon as we went in to try to get a table, I found out that they were booked for the day. The hostess looked at our shirts and asked me to wait a moment- she came back and said that if we could wait about 30 minutes she would have a table for us! I was excited because I knew the boys would love eating in a drive in movie restaurant, and I was happy that David would have some time in the air conditioning.
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| Eating lunch inside a car......how cool is that??? |
Fewer times is a mom more wrong than I was at first about this dining experience. I was so excited to see the boys reactions to eating in tables made out of cars, that I psyched myself up and my boys were sure to remind me that they are kids who often can be unpredictable.
I tried to surprise Matthew by ordering onion rings as an appetizer, a food he ALWAYS begs me for but I will almost never pay extra for......his response? He was mad because now he couldn't have onion rings on the side of his burger.
I tried to surprise Jacob by saying he could order a milk shake......I NEVER approve a milkshake as their beverage.........the response? He wanted chocolate. Matthew then ordered vanilla. Now Jacob wanted vanilla. Now Matthew was mad that Jacob was "copying him". Then the milkshakes came and it was too thick. Now Jacob just wanted the regular drink that David has.
You know the saying, "no good deed goes unpunished."? That's kind of how this lunch got started. Thankfully, after a few minutes the boys got excited about the ambience of this cool restaurant, and we ended up having a great lunch complete with Jacob taking a lunchtime nap at the table.
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| only a super tired kiddo falls asleep before drinking their milkshake |
Jacob cheesing it up!  |
After lunch it was time to hit another one of my favorite areas in Hollywood Studios. I love Toy Story Mania and I was excited to show the boys the Toy Story ride again. Unfortunately, David started to look "out of it" again and fought against going on the Toy Story Ride. I was able to get him to ride it with me once, but he was then out of it for 30-40 minutes after the ride.
One of the things I really struggle with is that I am never sure what is going on for David in these moments. He does not have convulsive seizures, so there is no way to know if he is having an absence seizure of if he is just shutting down for some reason. I hope that one day he will be able to tell me what he is feeling or thinking so that I can really help him.
As you can see from these pictures, meeting Woody and Buzz Lightyear was something Matthew and Jacob loved, but David was just not fully with us for this part of the trip.
This was one of the times that David really needed my phsyical support and connection on the trip. Woody was fantastic at trying to engage David.
My mom would move mountains for David. She worked to support and engage him, and he loves her kind and patient methods.
 You have to love a 14 year old who hugs a life size Woody like this!
After meeting Buzz and Woody it was time to make one of Matthew's dreams come true.....the boy fell in love with monorails and............wait for it.............palm trees!
His one request.....a picture of himself with a palm tree!
This boy is the picture of cool!
The rest of our day at Hollywood Studio was amazing........i will leave you with this picture of a boy and his palm tree and will fill you in on our afternoon at Hollywood Studios in the next few days.
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