Yesterday was my son’s first school field trip. I volunteered to go and was really excited for the day to come. The trip was to a local farm to do some pumpkin picking, a hay ride, cider and donuts and visit there small animal farm. I had previously taken my son to this same farm so I knew he would be familiar with it. They have the coin operated feed that you can give the animals. This is by far his favorite part and we have to load up on quarters every time we go. He could spend all day feeding the animals. It is amazing to me how he has no fear of the animals. At the farm they included peacocks, zebu, lamas, reindeer and goats. He also loves cats, dogs, birds and squirrels. His first real word (YEAH!) was cow. He will point out animals from the car and try any means to escape his car-seat. He turns into a bolter if he sees an animal on the street or outside the house. But anyways I was excited for this trip.
I met his class at the farm after his first ride on the school bus (he loved it). We went off to the visit the farms animals first and the day made a quick turn for the worst. Every time the meltdowns take me by surprise. I don’t know how I don’t anticipate them coming at every turn. So he first ran into the animal section and immediately started going through my pockets for change. I didn’t want to give him any because I didn’t have enough for his whole class (I forgot the change trying to rush out the door). He is persistent though and kept trying and trying to find change on me. Then his class went into the playground section and he did not want to follow. I coaxed him into the playground where he stayed for 10 seconds and tried to escape back to the animals. I finally was able to get him close to both the animals and the playground so we weren’t entirely separated by the group. I snuck him two quarters and let him feed the deer. The next item on the agenda was the hay ride. I had to drag him kicking and crying to the hay ride and up the small wooden stairs to get in the wagon. From then on there was no recovering. He cried and cried and cried. Real tears, which is unusual with a tantrum. There is usually the fake crying and the kicking and screaming. He truly was devastated. He just couldn’t come back from leaving the animals. He didn’t want to pick pumpkins, and was still crying through this. He cried and hid under the table for the cider and donuts. Mind you there are five other children in his class on the trip all of whom are non-verbal and have various delays. Every single one of them was perfect angels. Finally as I treat I wanted to let him have the donut. I literally had to shove a piece in his mouth for him to figure out he wanted it. And then back to the bus where he cried because I had to leave.
It was an exhausting 1.5 hours both mentally and physical since I had to carry all 44lbs of him through the ordeal. But on the bright side I have to think about how nice it is that he has such a love for all animals. He is gentle and kind to them and is more verbal around them. Maybe he will work on a farm or be a vet when he gets older. In the meantime the arrival a dog for him seems imminent.
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