Last Friday Fraser, Hammie and I went for a tour of the local airport with my mom's club. Aside from the fact that Fraser and Hammie were both apparently starting to get the really unpleasant cold they both now have, and were therefore a little crabbier than I might have expected, we really had a lot of fun.

Fraser was pretty much attached to my leg the entire time (Hammie was attached to my hip, but that is to be expected). When we saw the helicopter pictured here the tour guide asked if anyone wanted to sit in the helicopter and a few of the kids were immediately jumping up and down with their hands in the air and generally clamoring for their turn in the helicopter. Fraser, on the other hand, held fast to my thigh and vehemently insisted that he did NOT want to sit in the helicopter when I offered (which was about 12 times). Then, of course, as we were about the move on to the next part of the tour Fraser began insisting he wanted a turn in the helicopter. It's hard to tell in the picture, but he was actually excited to sit in the helicopter, in his own reserved Fraser way.

This actually brings up my newest bizarre concern about Fraser's development. So, Fraser is generally very shy unless he knows someone very well. And, when someone he doesn't know well attempts to talk to him he will avert his eyes, looking down and to the side, and completely refuse to acknowledge that the person even exists. He will sometimes do this will people he knows well if they are trying to get him to do something he doesn't want to do. While staring down he gets this totally glazed, dead look on his face. It's a little disconcerting. So, at the playground yesterday a little girl (maybe 5 years old) came up to him on the play structure and said, "Hi, I'm Kristy! What's your name?" And Fraser stared at the ground. Now most adults would just think, "Oh, he's shy" and leave him alone. But Kristy leaned her face down so she would be in his line of vision and kind of tugged on his arm and Fraser did not react at all. She kept talking and pulling and he just stood there. Finally Kristy's mom intervened and basically told her to leave Fraser alone, and then Fraser continued to stand there for at least 45 seconds after the little girl left.

This morning Fraser met with his speech therapist, Kim, who I have taken to consulting on virtually all child development questions, so I told her the playground story. She was a little surprised and asked some general questions and then told me I should basically start working on a script with Fraser (practice having him say "Hi" and "I'm Fraser") so he can begin to get through really basic interactions. At the end of the session she was like "Wow, I'm worried about him now!" She said it casually, it wasn't a dire warning that he will never become a productive member of society or anything, but I will say it has me a little freaked out now.

I guess I'm just worried because I feel like Fraser is such a sweet and funny guy once you get to know him, and that "once" just seems like a lot larger of an obstacle than it did before.