I enthusiastically mentioned to Rick this morning that a visit to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts might be a great thing to do with Josiah today.  Since Josiah hasn’t been attending many activities with our local Down syndrome group or with any of the other amazing disability groups in our area I suggested we make a plan to do a new and exciting adventure each weekend.  Gradually exposing Josiah to different environments will open up his world a bit more and get him (and us) out of the house.

He recently spent a week on vacation in San Antonio with the Josiah Whisperer.  Just the two of them.  They explored every mission, restaurant and art show within a 20 mile radius, not to mention a trip to the Japanese Tea Garden and a hike (up hill at times) through the Natural Bridge Caverns.

The Whisperer blew up our phone with pictures of Josiah staring intently at art pieces and smiling at sculptures, meandering through art installations as if an art connoisseur.

So, surely a trip to our local Art Museum would be right up his ally.   I was actually quite proud of myself for even thinking of such a great idea. 

However, I’m no Whisperer.  I don’t pretend to be.  Though HE is able to get Josiah to do things the rest of us could never fathom,  I’m well aware we would need Josiah’s new adaptive stroller for our outing this afternoon.

By the way, the adaptive stroller did not go to San Antonio.  Of course not.  Josiah happily walks everywhere when he’s with his whisperer friend.

We loaded the stroller and Josiah in the car, FREE museum pass in hand (thanks Chooch) and ventured off with high hopes and silent prayers.

We played high intellectual content in the car before arriving at the museum.  It was important to help calm Josiah and ensure he was regulated before embarking on our quest.  He readily climbed out of the car and into his stroller.  All was right with the world.

Our first stop was the Contemporary Art building.  We twirled and danced in front of a large time delayed video screen, mesmerized by our movements.

Josiah had literally no interest. I don’t think he looked up once.  He may have been more fascinated by the floor or perhaps he was distracted by the chewy string he had in his mouth.  I can’t be sure.  Notice however that Josiah was shoeless.  He pulled his shoes and socks off as we were still in the parking lot and hurled them to the ground.

Did he keep shoes and socks on in San Antonio.  Oh, you be ya he did!

From there it was just a series of many, long elevator rides for some reason. Somehow we made our way to a parking garage by mistake.  Eventually we found a room with lots of color on the walls.  We turned his chair to face the painting and waited for a reaction.  He never noticed it.

I used the flashlight from my phone to get his attention, then slowly moved the light toward the painting.  Nothing.

I think it was as this point that he let out his first vocal complaint, a protest of sorts, letting us know he was not having fun.  Or maybe it was a swift punch to his head.  I can’t remember which came first.  Either way, Josiah made it abundantly clear he was not enjoying this adventure.

If you know anything about Josiah you know that once he decides something, he is not easily dissuaded.  Despite our attempts to explore more art in more rooms, Josiah protested. He got louder and louder.

One of the security guards came over and asked if there was anything he could do to make the visit more comfortable for Josiah.  How sweet is that?

The most comfortable thing we could do at that point was to get him the heck out of there.  And so we did.

After just a little over one hour there, with most of that time spent in elevators, we left!

Was it right to abandon ship and reinforce negative behavior?  Probably not. Were we supposed to look past Josiah’s frustrations, working through them to wait for a calmer moment to leave? Probably!  Did we teach him that he only needs to scream in order to get his way?  Most definitely.

Would we do the same thing all over again given the opportunity?  One hundred percent!!

Can’t wait to see what next weekend brings!