On New Year's Eve, we took ia to her first Colorado Avalanche Hockey game. We have taken her to Rockies games in the past. She typically eats fistfulls of popcorn for the first five innings, I take her to the outdoor playground at Coors Field and we leave before the game is over usually around the seventh inning stretch.
I had high hopes for her first hockey game. I took her to an Avalanche practice in September. We were almost the only ones attending. She crash of the sticks slapping the puck and the players lightning speed thrilled her. She squealed with excitment, flapped her arms and stomped her feet.
An actual game in an enclosed arena could have been a different story. The noise could have agitated her greatly. The crowds yelling, and the music blaring. My cousin Lia told me that the Seattle Seahawks have implemented a kit that fans who are on the spectrum can pick up and use in conjuction with their experience. It includes a visual schedule of what they can expect and other sensory based objects. I wondered if Mia would also need one of these type of kits for her experience.
When we got to the Pepsi Center, she ran ahead of us as we walked to the entrance. She waited patiently in line and sat dutifully in her seat. Her eyes were wide as she took the arena in. The music boomed and I noticed her holding her hands over her ears at first. She slowly eased into the atmosphere more and more as the game went on. After the first period we got her a bag of popcorn and lemonade. The second period was spent inhaling the popcorn and sucking down her drink. By the third period, she was wired. Laughing uncontrollably. She even got on the big screen. They had a segment called "Simba Cam", parents held their kids out like Rafiki hold Simba in The Lion King. I held her up, her shirt rode up exposing her bloated stomach stuffed with popcorn. She kicked with excitment.
I'm happy to say this is just the first Avalanche game she went to, but I don't plan on it being her last. I think she really enjoyed herself, I know I loved seeing her there.
