Claire Wiegand's Story: 2008 - 2009

Claire turned 19 and was in her fifth year at Sheridan High School School days are filled with field trips to malls, parks, pools, and the circus. The only difficult thing about this year was seeing Claire's younger sister hit milestones (graduation, prom, college search), that Claire will not hit.

	For her 19th birthday, we gave Claire a personalized singing birthday card that she loved almost as much as the other toys she got. Here she is playing with it as we stopped for gas on our way to Sheridan for dinner. (July 2008)
	Sheridan is the small town about 25 minutes north of us where Claire attends school. (July 2008)
	Claire's sister's college search kicked off in July with a visit to Ball State University in Muncie. Our tour guide was Claire's summer caregiver, Brent, who is an English professor there. Claire's favorite part of the tour was riding the elevators. (July 2008)
	Claire loves ripe Indiana cherry and grape tomatoes. We had stopped growing them in our garden, so our friend Kelly gave her a few bags to enjoy. (August 2008)
	We toured the new Indianapolis airport when it was opened to the public for the weekend. Our first order of business was to test the accessibility. We were pleased to find it easy to get around with Claire's wheelchair, except for the 5+ minute wait for an elevator when we returned to the parking garage. (October 2008)
	Since Claire and her sister attend different high schools in different conferences, both of their schools' football teams were able to make it to their final championship game without facing each other. Claire put on Sheridan High School colors and cheered on her team with us, while her sister's team played the next day. This was Sheridan's tenth straight championship in their division, but their first loss. (November 2008)
	The Autism Society of America and AMC Theaters sponsor a monthly showing of Sensory Friendly Films. Lights stay up, the sound stays down, and any and all autistic behaviors are welcome. We decided to try taking Claire to see "Bolt," our first movie together since she was small. She sat nicely the entire time and almost didn't want to go when it was over! Now, we take her every month. (December 2008)
	We bought a new minivan with a built-in DVD system. Despite losing all interest in videos years ago, Claire find herself unable to resist the lure of the animated film when it is broadcast from the ceiling. (March 2009)
	Sensory Friendly Films: "Escape to Witch Mountain." Claire wasn't a huge fan, but sat for at least an hour before she got fidgety. (March 2009)
	Sensory Friendly Films: "The Hannah Montana Movie." Claire enjoyed it but not as much as the girl with autism down the aisle who had been sobbing to be taken home before the movie started but was dancing along by the second song. It was pretty heartwarming. (April 2009)
	Claire, Jill, and Mom were inadvertently color-coordinated for Jill's prom. (May 2009)
	At dinner with Grandma Bundy, Claire was especially giggly. Taken at Woody's Library Restaurant. (July 2009)
	Claire joined us at Dave and Buster's to celebrate Tom's birthday. Claire helped out Tom on the Star Wars game. (July 2009)
	Sensory Friendly Films: "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs." Jill joined us for this showing. Claire seemed to enjoy most of it except the chase scenes. (July 2009) Next: 2009 - 2010