Chloe's new hobby!

I have been looking for several years now for a hobby that Chloe would actually enjoy doing. She didn't really like dance, gymnastics, piano, soccer, or Girl Scouts. She has issue relating to her high-functioning autism with movement in large spaces. We had difficulty enjoying the free admissions to the Dallas Museum of Art and Nasher Sculpture Center because Chloe has sensory issues related to large areas. She gets upset when she doesn't know exactly how to get somewhere. She is unable just to cruise around looking at different exhibits or objects on different tables. It actually causes her anxiety and to act out. However, when we went to her first pottery lesson that afternoon, she became totally observant and concentrated on the pottery wheel very well. I was sort of pleasantly surprised, because you never know how any child will react to a new activity, especially an autistic one. I have had many years of frustration watching other children able to successfully handle a new situation or activity without a lot of direct teaching, but Chloe was finally able to follow instructions while getting to use her hands in the way she prefers. It's so ironic that she has been observed to have fine-motor difficulty, because she really enjoys playing with water/clay/mud a lot, so I'm hoping that this pottery activity is something we can pursue as a hobby. Jeff actually agreed that we could start coming to Richardson about once a month, to either make pottery or paint it. They also offer other types of lessons in other types of art: such as mosaics, clay sculpting starting at age seven, glass fusion, etc. These are all types of art that Chloe might really like in the future, but that I am unable to teach her at home due to my own fine-motor limitations!