flashback to SJ in kindergarten

I work in our local kindergarten.  For the past 6 or so years, they have been playing The Polar Express at Christmas time.  The kids get to come to school dressed in their pajamas.  They get their ticket and watch the movie.  After the movie is over, they return to their rooms and have cocoa and treats.  They also receive a bell (just like in the movie). 

When SJ was in kindergarten, I thought he would be so excited to go to school on Polar Express Day.  (We had already seen the movie and he loved it.)  A few days before Polar Express Day, he started getting agitated about going to school.  My husband and I couldn't understand why he was so upset.  He eventually told us that he didn't want to go to school on Polar Express Day.

"Why?" we asked.  "I don't want to get on the train," said SJ.  "What train?" we asked.  "The Polar Express," he replied.  SJ thought that they were going to get on the train from the kindergarten and go to the North Pole.  Once we explained to him that he was just going to watch a movie, he was much more relaxed. 

Now, every year when they watch this movie, I remember SJ's thought.  That is the difference between a typical child and one with PDD.  The typical child doesn't always take things so literally, but children on the spectrum sometimes do.  I am happy to report that SJ can see more gray in situations now.  He is not a strictly black and white person   I am glad that is one area where he is breaking free of the autism world.