No Number 9 (yet!)

I hope your holidays are going ok with little stress. It's always a tricky time for those with Autism, especially our school kids as they lose their structure of the good ole school day and things go, well bit 'all over the place'. We all find it a bit disorganised and I never know what day it is, it is Saturday isn't it? I'm on the wrong post otherwise.

So what are holidays like? Ours has been complete with lightsabers and Thomas and Friends books and playsets, it's been a time of Despicable Me, Toy Story and Spongebob. I've been quizzed on Thomas the Tank and we've been through the Christmas TV guide more times that I can remember.

One thing we do like to do is walk, we walk every chance we can, weather permitting. During the holidays we try and get out every day which keeps my Fitbit ticking over but also burns some energy off my son. We wrap up and go onto the local park armed with a lightsaber, that's him not me and away we go. 

Now we have walked around Allestree Park in Derby so many times but not actually completed the little nature trail trail there. Well we kind of have but we always just count the posts in backwards order and have never found all of them. There are twelve numbered posts around the lake and up near Allestree Hall. My son loves this trail and we have to acknowledge them on every walk so I thought it would be a good idea to go today and complete them all in order. 

As the picture shows, they are pretty easy to follow but hey we couldn't find number nine. Now this wasn't good for me, I needed to find it so leaving the park with my mission incomplete left me a bit restless but I managed to reassure us both and said we would come back and find No. 9 another time. It was very soggy underfoot so we were not adventuring too much, honestly it was like a bog in some areas, my boots made a great suction noise when I tried lifting them up. I also must have nearly fell on my arse so many times but managed not to embarrass myself in font of new year golfers and numerous dog walkers. 

They all looked so professional on their feet in the mud, while I looked like I was auditioning for Dancing on Ice or about to replay that famous scene in Romancing the Stone, the one where Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas slide down that massive mud slide. We had fun though. So if your child likes a bit of structure when there isn't any and likes counting then this is really good. 

I'm sure there are many nature trails at a lot of parks across the UK but if you are in the Derby area Allestree Park is a lovely park to walk around. I love our time out as we are getting fresh air, exercise and it's a break from the technology for a while. We can have a go at engaging in conversation, not always as sometimes we can walk around in silence but when we do natter it turns into one of those Autism moments, you know the ones, not big to anyone else but huge to us. 

If you would like more information about Allestree park go to:
www.inderby.org.uk/parks/derbys-parks-and-open-spaces/allestree-park/

Great for the whole family too so make a day of it. We will conquer it again I'm sure and go looking for the missing number nine. If you know where it is and you have seen it please let us know, or do I really want to know? I may be enjoying the suspense. 

Have fun with the rest of the holidays whatever you are doing. Thank you so much for reading my Autism Support posts and I hope it does help. I will be back in 2018 for more advice and chatty bits so please come back and join me. Please pop back tomorrow or my last ever post of 2017 on 'Pass the Remote'. Wow!!! It's gone so quick.

Take care for now.