Recently we took Josiah to an Astro’s baseball game.  Knowing he may last only an inning or two, we ventured out, wheel chair in tow and caregiver along for the fun.

Josiah did unbelievably great at the game. We set him up in a large open space above the general seating area where wheel chairs park.  We didn’t have wheel chair tickets. Some friends were there with their kids and generously made room for us.  What a brilliant plan to sit there.

Josiah was able to take in all of the action while not feeling confined by too many people sitting too close to him.  There was no shoe throwing, no shirt throwing and definitely no chewed up, spit out hot dog throwing (which we have experienced with him at other professional sporting events) He simply sat and stared at the bright stadium lights, seemingly content with it all.

He most likely would have made it the entire 9 innings, but we left just a little early to avoid long lines and overcrowding in the elevator.

It was so nice to be able to enjoy an evening out with Josiah.  The wheel chair made all the difference in the world.  Had we expected him to walk all the way from our parking spot to the stadium, then all through the stadium to our seats and back to the van when the game was over, it would have been a fiasco, no doubt.

But, he did it.

Josiah willingly climbed into the wheel chair and endured a new, exciting adventure with lots of noise, lots of people and lots of unknowns.  He wasn’t even strapped in the wheel chair.  That’s huge!

Our boy is growing up.  The more we expose him to things, the more he seems to acclimate to them.  Don’t get me wrong.  We are not out of the woods yet.  There are still plenty of times when Josiah balks at new things.  Times when he adamantly refuses to budge.

But, we keep trying.  As long as we have this wheel chair to ease the transition from the van to our destination, I think we will have lots more compliance on his part.

In the past month we’ve been able to take him bowling, to an arts and crafts class and swimming at a water park. His caregiver has been able to get him out to a local museum and to various parks in the area.  We’ve even gotten him to shop briefly at Kohl’s and Kroger.  It may not sound like much, but for Josiah that is major progress.

So, of course it seemed perfectly logical to expect he would enjoy lunch at Fuddruckers this week, especially with Orbit, the Astro’s lime green space creature mascot there.

Josiah has eaten at Fuddruckers a couple times before.  As long as we tuck him between us in the large semi-circular booth he does fine. As long as we push our cups and silverware and the roll of paper towels they have sitting on the table, far, far away from him, he does fine. As long as we start him off with a cookie while we wait for the food to be ready, he does fine.

Not so much this week.

Josiah’s amazing caregiver and I got him situated in the large semi-circular booth.  I ordered our food, prompty returned with his cookie and left again to fill our drinks.  I snapped a few pictures of Orbit along the way and was even able to capture this one.

Notice, Orbit in his apparent wisdom didn’t move too close to Josiah, but kept his distance. Notice the water cups and Josiah’s drink were far from Josiah.  Notice Josiah is eating a cookie.

So far so good.

Then I picked up our food order and brought it back to the table.  I ate maybe 1 or 2 bites before things started flying.  Scroll back to the picture.  See how close the paper towel roll was to Josiah?  That was a mistake.  He tossed it first.

Then he reached across the table and grabbed for the glasses.  Sprite showered down all over his amazing caregiver and water drenched the table.  He lunged for his french fries and hot dog, sending pieces through the air.

In an attempt to clean up his mess, employees came running over with more paper towels in hand, scooping up ice cubes while Josiah grabbed for my plate and attempted to turn the table over.

Clearly, we needed to get out of there before Josiah caused any more commotion.  We removed everything from the table, wiped the surface and waited for a little while.  Josiah needed to relax and understand that just because he tossed everything within a 5 mile radius it did not mean he could leave.

I took a trip to the van with our lunches packed ‘to go’, our drink cups, also packed ‘to go’ and Josiah’s backpack.  It was important to have free hands to help with removing Josiah from the restaurant should he decide tipping other people’s tables on the way out would be fun.

Once I returned and got the thumbs up from the caregiver, we left, she and Josiah in front, me following closely behind should he try to bolt or cause any more chaos.

Some balls are foul.  Some balls are strikes.  And some balls hit that sweet spot on the bat and fly effortlessly right out of the park.

In a month of base hits with a few runs batted in, I’ll take a strike now and then.

I know my boy.  If we don’t give up on him, one of these days Josiah is going to surprise us all and hit a grand slam.  Just you wait and see.