I believe in Magic!

Tyler & Hope

We live in Dallas. My ex-husband lives closer to Fort Worth. So every other weekend we have to drive out there to pick Tyler up. I had decided Friday that this weekend when we picked him up that we would head to Grapevine and go to the Grapevine Mills Mall. This past year they opened a Sea Life Aquarium there. We have annual passes specifically because of this drive we make to my ex-husbands house. It's something different to throw into the mix every so often of the usual Dallas Zoo and Dallas World Aquarium that we also keep annual passes for.


I also, for months, have been wanting to try wax earplugs on Tyler. However I could not find any until here recently. I guess because they are more for swimming than blocking out sensory overload. I had bought him a pair of regular earplugs awhile back but he kept pulling them out since they had a string hanging from them. They were quickly lost. Benefits unseen. I've been dying to try the earplugs. I decided this morning was the day. I grabbed them and stuffed them in my purse. I packed him an egg salad sandwich, and then we were off.

Magic in a handy carry case.

We picked up Hope from her friends house, we picked up Tyler, passed out sandwiches, and headed to Grapevine. We chatted on the way about this and that. We found our way without incident. We got there a few minutes before opening. We got in line and waited for them to open. The lady in front of us apparently didn't realize that there were two separate lines. One for members and one for those needing to purchase tickets. It finally dawned on her after she asked if we already had tickets. Tyler then became pretty upset. She didn't have tickets! The people in the other line don't have tickets. So if no one in either line has tickets....where does that leave us?! Rules are being broken. Order and structure is being thrown to the winds! I quickly assured him it was ok and we were in the right place. We got inside and Tyler was his usual self. Busy. Move, move, move. Loud. The place was loud. Then I remembered. Earplugs. Must get earplugs. Tyler sat down on a bench and let me put them on his ears.

Fossil Find activity center.

Tyler instantly slowwwwed down. He stopped and looked in the tanks. We pointed out and named the fish and other sea creatures we knew (we've kept salt water tanks for several years). Tyler stopped and enjoyed this fossil find center for a long time. We just found a seat and let him have it. I stood in awe as I watched him actually enjoy something. Even though the school has been working with Tyler on using appropriate volume levels it's still been a struggle for him. This place was so loud. There were little kids screaming. They had music playing over an intercom. Plus everyone talking was just collectively loud. Yet Tyler now spoke very softly. He wasn't as fussy about being touched. He usually doesn't like being touched from behind and especially around his neck and shoulders. Yet I stood behind him with my hands on his shoulders and even rubbed him some....he never flinched. He didn't squirm under my hands. I was watching him transform before my eyes. He was happy. He was calm. This was magic!

Nautilus Fossil. He brushed sand off of this, buried it, rinse and repeat a million times.

He looked in every tank. Found something to be amazed about everywhere. He read the facts on the wall. He answered questions on his fact sheet. He searched for hidden letters inside the tanks for a word scramble. He only ever got overly obsessed one time. Where he couldn't end process. He HAD to finish what he was thinking about. So we had to move forward and then come back. (We had done question #7 and he just knew he had seen #8 written on the wall somewhere. He HAD to find it.)

The fin of the Loch Ness Monster.

He followed this "skeleton" throughout many tanks. He just knew it was a dinosaur.  He wondered how big it was. He wondered how they got it in there. He finally decided the entire process in which it takes to get a dinosaur of this size into this tank.

He marveled at the sizes of eels. He searched for a sneaky hiding octopus. He helped find stealthy camo cuttlefish. A repeat theme was the Nautilus. He found them in the Fossil Find activity. He found them on the wall.We talked about how the Earth has gone through several mass extinctions and how the Nautilus has managed to survive every one of the ones that has occurred since they have existed.  

The Nautilus.

Tyler & a Nautilus fossil.

Tyler even sat down at a table with his sister and colored a picture of a sea turtle. That itself is not that amazing. What is amazing is the TIME it lasted. That's the kicker for a lot of this stuff. Usually Tyler is in a hurry. He's talking really loud. He's pushing through the crowd. He wants to be there, but he moves like he's ready to get out. He stayed and colored a whole picture. He interacted with the touch tanks. He turned in his paper for the word scramble. He turned in his Q & A paper and got a medal. We couldn't help but let him get a stuffed dolphin (his absolute favorite animal). 

Mr. Sea Turtle

After we left he took the earplugs out. On our way home we talked about how he behaved and how different he was. Tyler proclaimed that the earplugs were like magic. They were. I totally believe in magic. This summer already has been so educational for us. We are finding things that WORK for Tyler. They are things that can help him in school. They are things that the school could not object to. I am beginning to see a fourth grade Tyler who can sit in his seat and not be distracted by all of the fuss. A Tyler that might actually be able to rise above the stigma's that have haunted him in school. Next step....earplugs during baseball. I really hope that they will be magical for him there too.