Up & Down Days

Max came up with the word "volcano" on his own to explain his feelings.

Third Friday after graduation:  Maybe we've got another piece in place.

Violin?

i haven't been able to be in on the tutor sessions this week.  Monday, Boom took him.  Miss Tutor has rented a violin for Max to use.  She thinks he is "promising" on it, and may switch to that instead of keyboard.  i can't wait to hear the violin practice next Monday.

Clay Birds & Flowers

Yesterday i took Max to VSA's Urban Artisan program.  It's combination job training/art class.  Actually, Max, as usual, doesn't fit the profile, but by the time this 8wk session is over, we will have figured out how he fits in the overall VSA  motif.
They thought it went better than i did.  And i think he will be willing to return next week.

New Haircut Place + New Stylist = Meltdown

After the tutor session today, Max agreed that this would be a good day for a haircut.
i forgot to remind him that the haircut place had moved since last time.
He was more or less okay with that.
Then the next stylist up was a new one.
Actually i wasn't sure whether we'd had her before  or not.  But Max definitely knew.
Her kit was different.  And she didn't know how to talk to him, so she just talked to me.
At first i tried to redirect her, but as we went on, i stopped trying that.  Max was getting more agitated, and we both wanted out.
i suspect SHE wanted this haircut over too.
i wouldn't let her trim the back of his neck. He never likes having his head touched at all, and the back of the neck is worst, even when he's mostly comfortable with the particular haircut.

As  i was paying,

there was a thud behind me.  The stylist, now checking me out, said Max had fallen.
i know that looks alarming, but what had happened was, he'd thrown himself to the floor.  It is so regular that i knew without seeing, because i know him.
It's stress relief.  He doesn't do it much these days, but . . . .
When i was finally finished checking out, Max ran out the door to the car.
i don't really think he sees traffic at times like this, but, about all we can do is go through the street crossing procedure at calmer times.  We do that.  To attempt to stop him then would be a huge fight, a scene, probably only worthwhile in the face of obvious & immediate danger.
i could only hope to buy seconds from attempting it.

Safe!

Well, Max got safely to the car,and i was soon after.  The ride home had a bit of huffing, but was mostly calm.
The illustration above is our written conversation as i tried to figure out what was going on.

Here you might like to see another family's run to the parking lot experience.