Yesterday while we were out we stopped at Ben Franklin and picked up some supplies for our countdown calendars!
After encountering a very rude customer waiting behind us to check out, we made our way out of the store and headed home to create! The kids were actually very good in the store, but checking out can be hard for the kids, especially Alex, since there is waiting involved. He wandered over to a rack that had a bunch of stuffed animals on it. He asked if he could get one and I said no. He accepted my response - which in itself is a big deal. Then he belched - really loud - and followed it up with an "excuse me".

We keep telling him that it's very nice to say "excuse me" but that he also needs to burp quieter - especially in public.
I continued paying and then I hear Alex say "what?" loudly. I look over at him and he is saying, "Why are you staring at me?" in a not so nice tone to the lady. Apparently she was somehow bothered by his behavior and was staring at him. She says to him something about his bad behavior.

I turned around and said, "Cut him some slack, he has autism" - which I hate to use as an excuse, but he wasn't doing anything wrong - he just burped out loud and hasn't figured out the social etiquette thing yet. Then she has the nerve to say to me, "Well I just feel sorry for you."

I wish I had something snappy to say back to her but all I could come up with at the time was "Oh you don't need to feel sorry for me!" I finished paying and we left. And she was stuck in the store with several other customers around her who I'm sure heard her rude comments.
Oh... and when we were in the store picking up the posterboard, I asked the kids what color we should get and they each picked their favorite color - red & blue.

I guess I shouldn't have asked. So I decided why not, we'll make 2 countdowns! So that's what we did. Believe it or not, I didn't have enough Mickey Heads so I copied them on the color copier. I bet you can't even tell which ones are the copies...
It worked out perfectly because we leave on a Saturday and today is Sunday. We put a sticker up each day - the kids like to do that stuff in the morning. So they put the first sticker up this morning. If you notice, the Mickey Heads are 7 across and go Sunday - Saturday just like a calendar. Alex is really into calendars so he'll be able to follow along with it perfectly!