Claire Wiegand's Story: 2010 - 2011

Claire turned 21, so she attended one final year at Sheridan High School and went through her high school's graduation ceremony. She began attending an adult day care center after graduation. This year, she consistently understood that presents contained interesting things inside, so she started to enjoy opening presents at Christmas and her birthday. She went through a phase of moaning and throwing tantrums, where she would actually lower herself onto the floor and kick her feet in the air, but that seems to have passed and she's back to her normal happy self.

	For Claire's 21st birthday, we took her to the arcade at Pinheads and fed tokens into machines. She doesn't understand how they work, but she loves the bright lights and sounds. (July 2010)
	Claire really enjoyed seeing "Despicable Me" at Sensory Friendly Filmns at the Castleton AMC, and so did we. (July 2010)
	Claire loves lefse, so when we found out about a local cafe that serves it, we had to try it. She approves! (August 2010)
	Claire loves bath time and finds it amusing when Tom tries to pull a brush through her hair when she gets out. Here she is rocking her personalized Claire bathrobe, ...
	... and here she is in her comfy footie pajamas. Tito helps put her to bed. (September 2010)
	Claire and Jill had their portraits taken with their dad in the fall. Here's one of our favorite shots. (October 2010)
	We took Claire to Sensory Friendly Films to see "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole." We didn't last long because Claire hated it.
	Instead, we decided to get flu shots because that would be less painful than sitting through a scary talking owl movie. While we waited at Walgreen's, Claire watched the repeating television ad on the Dr. Scholl's display. (October 2010)
	The Special Olympics Hamilton County Dance-a-thon is an annual tradition. Claire's not a fan of dancing, but she does smile at some of the songs, plus it's nice to see friends. (November 2010)
	Here's Claire devouring some tasty Norske Nook lefse that Aunt Mary and Uncle Bob brought for her when they were in town. (November 2010)
	Claire's a good girl at restaurants, even new ones to her like the Cheesecake Factory, but sometimes she gets a little fidgety. (December 2010)
	We attended Special Olympics Hamilton County's annual Breakfast with Santa fundraiser as usual. You can't beat getting a tasty breakfast and a visit with Santa when it is all for a great cause. (December 2010)
	We opened our presents on Christmas Eve, but saved our stockings for the morning. Claire loved her Elmo phone from Doug and Susan. (December 2010)
	Claire got some new mittens knitted just for her by our friend Geoff. They have button holes on both wrists, so they can be buttoned in place when she needs them to stay on, and unbuttoned on one side to remove them. (January 2011)
	Claire is very cuddly in the morning when she's waiting for the school bus to arrive. (February 2011)
	Just before draining our swim spa for the season, Claire got in one last swim. She loves being in water. (February 2011)
	After seeing a Facebook post about how much Claire loves musical cards, our friend Theresa suggested to her 7-year-old daughter that she donate her birthday cards to Claire. A short time later, a packet of cards and a sweet letter from Ella arrived in the mail and Claire was delighted. (March 2011)
	We went to another Sensory Friendly Films feature, but by this time, Claire was a little tired of going to the movies so she tried to stall by hugging her stepdaddy. It was an unsuccessful ploy, but we ended up leaving "Mars Needs Moms" after 15 minutes anyway. (March 2011)
	Since it was Claire's last year of school, we took lots of pictures to capture the experience. Here's another morning of waiting for the bus, ...
	... and here she is arriving at school, ...
	... and here she is being escorted to the bus by her lovely aide, Missy, ...
	... and here she is on the bus coming home from school. These photos were taken by her bus aide, Gail. (March 2011)
	We learned about a new accessible playground in Westfield, specially designed with the local autism parent group for children with disabilities. Claire's not a kid anymore, but she still manages to fit into the larger of the two swings.
	She had a great time going down the spiral slide, ...
	... and running around, ...
	... and walking up the easy stairs to go back down the slide again. (April 2011)
	With Claire's last school year wrapping up, we got some photos of the people in her life. Here's Claire with her bus aide, Gail. (April 2011)
	Meanwhile, back at school, her teacher and aides were photographing her last year too. This adorable photo was featured in her yearbook.
	Another school morning, another shot of Claire happily playing with her toy while waiting for the bus. (May 2011)
	We saw Claire's longtime classmate, CeCe, who had been attending a different school this year. In true Claire-and-CeCe style, they can't be bothered to look at the camera when photographed together. They both looked beautiful in their dresses.
	Claire's awesome school aides, Missy and Brooke, were there. (May 2011)
	While Claire played with her new noise-making graduation frog, we tested to see if she'd leave her cap on.
	Next, we put on her graduation gown and got a family portrait.
	... then she and her peer helper Gerrod walked in first and sat in the back row right in front of us. Claire managed to stay in her seat the entire time, and didn't lose her hat until she crossed the stage with Mr. Moore to receive her certificate.
	Jill arranged Claire's hair for the big event. We might be biased, but we think these are the two most beautiful girls in the world.
	We celebrated with a pancake lunch, ...
	... followed by a stop at Claire's favorite park. Graduation Frog came along for all of it.
	Back at home, Claire opened her graduation presents from Grandma Bundy and played with her electronic guitar toy from Mr. Moore, Missy, Brooke, and Lee Ann. (May 2011)
	Claire got many great presents for her 22nd birthday, including a recorded "Goodnight Moon" book that she loves. (July 2011) Next: 2011 - 2012