Parade

      Jet accompanied me to a local fair and parade on Saturday.  We only stayed long enough to watch the parade.  We did not choose to go through the carnival or exhibits.  I made this decision based on how timid he tends to be.  I want to carefully choose his outings and make them positive for him.  He did AMAZING at the parade.  I initially thought about this event because it's a really small town and the parade is pretty low key.  I didn't expect there to be anything super scary for him.  However, it ended up being one of the loudest parades I've ever been to.  The firetrucks started off by running their sirens and honking the entire parade route.  There were also 3 marching bands.  Those noisy little cars that beep and honk.  Motorcycles.  Flag teams (and on a very windy day that creates quite the racket).  Horses.   Horses. More horses.  A cow. And lots of people walking behind him.  In order to keep his anxiety under control, I made a plan before I got there.  I know that he gets anxious if people are crowding behind him.  I thought a parade would be okay because I could sit and he could sit right in front of me, therefore blocking the people behind him and he could watch the parade like that.  Also, I chose a seat that was about 10 feet back from the street and there was a large grassy lot behind us in the event we needed a stress break.  I purposefully did not go right down to the area that is super crowded with nowhere to retreat to if need be.  I really didn't care about seeing the parade, I just wanted him to have a good experience.  He ended up really enjoying the parade.  He ended up lying down and staying that way for the entire parade.  He looked up and watched some things, but didn't show any signs of anxiety at all.  I was so proud of him!