That's Better

Haley doesn't have the best track record with being in an audience. 

She doesn't like to sit still.  She makes weird and sometimes rude noises.  She really does not like to be shushed, she shushes back and then it escalates.

Taking her to the movies is out of the question.  I tried it twice and both times were a disaster.

Her sister's school choir concerts were pure torture for me.  I left in the middle of one crying, because I really wanted to watch my daughter sing.  After that my husband and I ended up either taking turns going to them or getting a sitter, which isn't always easy.

The same with plays.  That was nicer though because there were more performances.  I went to one and he went to the other.

Our church experiences have been mixed.  If I am there and sitting next to her she is pretty good.  If I have to be somewhere else for the majority of the time she doesn't do very well at all.

We have a new situation. 

Haley's Big Sis is on a school basketball team this year and her Dad and I really want to watch the games. The first home game that came up my husband said "What are we going to do about Haley?" I just said that we should take her and see how it goes. We took separate cars so one of us could take her home, but we didn't need to. She was great.  She sat there the whole time and didn't whine at all.

She stood up when we stood up, she clapped, she yelled, she even changed the way she was sitting when she started to get uncomfortable.  I was really proud of her.

At first I don't think she realized that her sister was out on the court playing.  We tried to point her out to her, but I don't think she got it. It helped when her sister came in to the bench and Haley could see her up close. We tried to point her out and asked Haley if she could see her, but she didn't seem to like that.

There was a game last night.

Haley came off the bus in a really foul mood.  Her sister asked me if I was going to come to her game alone.  I said "No, we are all coming."  She was concerned that Haley would behave badly at the game. 

We all went. It was fine.

I think that there is something about the acoustics, the people and the mood of a basketball game.  She knows she can make noise and clap and get silly and her Dad and I won't stop her. It is freeing for her.  There were a few moments when she started making her "raspberries" and giggling that I got a little concerned, but there was so much surrounding noise it wasn't bad.  I distracted her by clapping and turning it in to a cheer.  She clapped with me and her Dad even joined us.

Haley was in a bad mood before the game and after the game, but at the game she was great.