Saturday we went to Chuck E. Cheese. “Big deal.” you say. Well it was around here. You see, LuLu had never been. Several years ago, when we finally figured out that noisy atmospheres contributed to her meltdowns, we declared that Chuck E. Cheese was the “wrong” place for her.

So, when she was invited to a birthday party there yesterday, she was presented with quite a quandary. And for the first time, the way Mom and Dad handled it was right on! We didn’t care whether or not she went…and we had a contingency (bail out) plan on all in place.

LuLu fretted off and on all week about whether or not she’d go. We bought her friend a gift and decided that if she decided not to go, we’d take the gift by later. We told her she could try to go and just tell us that she needed to leave. Whatever worked best for her.

So, she dug out her favorite earplugs and we made the trek. Both Super Dad and I went. The strategy was that if she totally “lost it” and needed to be physically helped to the car, it would be better for both of us to be there. And that driving home is safer with another adult in the car if she is upset.

I don’t know if you can see it in this picture, but LuLu is actually laughing. Yep…laughing! She had the best time. One of her other good friends from church was there, an 11-year-old who had spent enough time at Chuck E. Cheese to know how all the games were played. They pooled their tokens and rode several of the rides together.

And, for those few hours, she was like the other kids. The interesting thing about this party is that it was the birthday of another child with some pretty significant special needs, so many of the children had disabilities, being his classmates at school. It was interesting to watch the various children and how they interacted and handled such a sensory-stimulating environment. And it was interesting to watch how the parents interacted with their children. Each child was so different; yet our challenges were the so similar. And our pleasure at their being able to participate was shared.

Going to Chuck E. Cheese is hardly a “goal” of ours. But it was an achievement of normalcy…doing something that other kids do and other parents just take for granted. And enjoying it! A red letter day for sure!