I am sitting here writing this with a glass of wine in hand.  It’s not a usual occurrence, but I am celebrating.  As most parents can relate to, I constantly have some selected skills that I am working on with my daughter, Allie.  There are so many skills that I could choose, but I focus on those that will help her to function better,  integrate and feel successful. 

Our most recent goals have been going to a non-familiar public restroom on her own (e.g., finding where it is and which one to go into), chewing chewy foods with a closed mouth, and choosing food items from a non-familiar restaurant menu.  There are a lot of others, but these are the ones we have been targeting for the last few months. 

Anyway, back to my little celebration.  I have been ill this last weekend thanks to preschoolers coughing and sneezing on me this past week .  My sister invited us to a restaurant for Sunday brunch.  Given the way that I was feeling, she offered to take Allie and allow me to rest.  Two hours and a hot bath later, Allie arrived home and my sister was all excited about how well Allie had managed at the restaurant.  She told me that Allie resisted help with the menu and perused it and ordered (complete with eye contact and a “please”.) 

The only slip up was ordering a Coke when she knows that mommy does not allow Coke at lunch (slip up?  Normal for a kid, more like.)  She then asked the waiter where the bathroom was and politely declined the offer of assistance from her aunt to walk to the bathroom (Go Allie!)  My sister told me that she secretly followed her to the bathroom to make sure she found the correct one and did not detour on the way.  She told me that Allie walked in a direct line to the bathroom until she came to a table celebrating a birthday where there was a gift bag at the edge of the table.  Allie nearly approached it then detoured and continued on her way (Yay, Allie!) 

 She came straight back a few minutes later and said “excuse me” to get back into the booth.  She continued to eat her lunch and later thanked her aunt for the “wonderful lunch.”  I expected Allie to “behave herself” at the restaurant (or I wouldn’t have allowed her to go), but this was a real test of her independence, skill and confidence.  She succeeded with bells on!  Yay, Allie!

© Ann Haig Wheeler, DSC 2010

DSC invites you to make a contribution of €50 per annum to help support us in maintaining the high standard of content and information you have found on our site today and every other day. If you can support us in this way, we would be delighted to take this contribution online at http://downsyndromecentre.bigcartel.com 

All rights reserved. No part of this work can be reproduced in any form, or by any means without the express permission of the author or by Down Syndrome Centre info@downsyndromecentre.ie

Got a question for Ann Haig Wheeler? If so, drop her an email here.