I always say to never make a plan because it will never go
how you thought. A prime example is my
blog posts this week. My intention was
to post every day, my reality was far from that dream. A slight finger injury, a husband in the
midst of finals week and his need for the computer (we only have one) and a
3-yr-old with an abundance of energy changed my week in a hurry. While I promised you a blog on Steak Fajitas,
I’ll be postponing it for tonight.
Tonight’s post will be a continuation of sorts of the
previous post. Last time I discussed
what this time of year means to me and the heaps of traditions associated with
it. Over the past few days I’ve been reveling
in experiencing this magical season through my son’s eyes and world. He has not disappointed with his wonder, joy,
curiosity, etc. Also, and most
importantly, he has taken things in perfect stride – all new experiences,
changes in schedule, riding around running errands, sitting for long periods
and the like. I believe that we were
home for 1 hour yesterday due to therapy appointments, play groups, meeting family
for lunch and grocery shopping. Hayden
attended to what he needed to and waited patiently through the rest. For a child on the spectrum, this is an
amazing feat. I have always said, Hayden
is your atypical autistic child. I won’t
delve too far into this, but I hope other the course of time, you will come to
see what I mean. However, here is a
wonderful example – tonight his TSS and I put together a gingerbread train and
Hayden was right in there.
Many autistic kiddos have sensory issues of one type or
another. Different textures are often
something they cannot handle. Hayden on
the other hand loves to experience everything his senses offer. When we first started putting the train
together, he wasn’t interested, but to come and steal some gum drops.
Once we were almost completely decorated, he decided to
check out what we were doing. Hayden has
to enter into something freely, which is a skill we are working on, since we
all must do things we don’t want to do and sometimes are not free to say
no. This time he came over on his own
accord. He started by moving the
snowflake sprinkles, a few hard candies and by the end had cleared most of the
train of its icing and candy. The only
part he ever tasted was the icing, but he made sure to get it all! I hope as
the years go by, this will be a tradition we do together (without him
undecorating it, of course 😊)
I hadn’t planned for him to undecorate the train, but in the
end, he had a ton of fun and that is what MATTERS! My plan for a cute little
gingerbread engine and caboose to display throughout the season went out the
window. I am completely ok with this
because of the fun Hayden had undecorating the train.
A very wise woman (she was Hayden’s coordinator in the Early
Intervention program before he got too old) said, “Messy play is how they
(children) learn. Let them be messy.” I have never forgotten those words and have
found out the essence of their truth. Hayden learns
the most when he can experience it and do it himself, his way. Sure, he sometimes makes some mistakes, but
that is part of life. We all do it. Life is about trial and error and going your
own way. Kids get this a lot quicker
than we do, but it gets discouraged and then lost. Let them explore and fail and then re-explore
and succeed. Let them discover the world
their way. Let go a little bit and know
that even though you planned things one way, maybe the way they turned out was
much better than what you expected.
With those words, I am off to rest, always be the change! Please
enjoy the pictures and video of tonight’s exploration into the world of
gingerbread.
Always
Sheri
Before complete destruction, but after mild destruction :-)
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