Sometimes, I look back at the fun things I did as a kid and realize, “Holy crap.  My son has probably never done that!” And I have a moment of disbelief, thinking, “This has nothing to do with autism, and everything to do with an apparent lack of parenting!”  Don’t get me wrong — the kid eats out a bunch, has traveled a lot, and goes to zoos and museums on a regular basis.  He’s not sheltered.  It’s more like that realization you have from time to time that you are actually the adult and the parent now.  I hope I’m not alone in that…

In any case, as always, I’m not quite sure how this came about because my memory is awful, but I believe I was reminiscing about my elementary school parties which always occurred at the skating rink, and I may have been doing it aloud in the car.  And The Boy may have expressed interest in rollerskating, and I had one of the moments described above.  I think that’s how it went down anyway…

So I took him rollerskating for the first time.  He was sooo excited, waiting in line, getting the skates, putting them on, finding a locker for our stuff.  And then I had to show him how to do it.  How to rollerskate.  And it had been awhile, OK a LONG time since I had been rollerskating.  And man, were we a pair!  He worked so hard at it, and fell so much.  But every time he fell, he laughed and got back up again — he was determined!!  I hung onto him, and picked him up after he fell every time, and after awhile he was pushing me away with an “I can DO it” look on his face.

I was so glad we had gone.  Wrecked, exhausted, sore, but so glad.  And I was so proud of his determination, independence, and ability to laugh at himself.  And he had a blast.  New experiences aren’t always something to fear in the world of autism.