Monday, June 14, 2010

Super Soaker Sunday!

You never know when your sensory child is going to have a "break through" or just do something unexpected considering their sensory nature. One of these interesting moments came for us this Sunday.

As the boy showed off his newest toy newly purchased from the Goodwill with his allowance, I cringed a bit at the enormous plastic gun looking thingie. I wouldn't say my first intuition was to be pleased. The boy alerted me to the fact however that it shoots water. Ahhhh thought I... the rest of us are going to be wet on a regular basis. Great.

But then since it was a warm and sunny day (one of our first this year), the kids and Dad headed outside with said Super Soaker filled with water and proceeded to squirt it into the yard for a start. I suggested (for my own fun) that it would be great if the kids ran through the yard and I shot them with water! What parent wouldn't enjoy this activity every once in awhile?! To my amazement, they agreed.

What happened next, I didn't expect. Both the girl and the somewhat water aversive sensory boy, ran back and forth with our goofy dog following behind, getting soaking wet with water -- to their delight. And even though the rule was to keep the water shooting "at the shirt zone," I missed occasionally but the boy said he even got it in the eye and it was just fine! Do it again!

Do I think this means his days of fighting getting his hair washed are over? No not realistically. Do I even think he'll spend more time in the pool this year once we get it up and the weather is warmer? Not really. And I doubt it will have a true impact on his willingness to put his head under water. But I can hope it helps, even just a little. And I can hold out hope of moving forward on this front ... one day (and super soaker) at a time!

2 comments:

  1. Hooray! Such fun. Don't know if it would help your son be more ok with putting his face in water, but if he can tolerate wearing goggles, our favorites at keeping water out of the eyes of a young person are TYR goggles (they carry a youth size). My son insists in wearing goggles in the bathtub- especially for hair washing.

    (Love your new background).

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  2. Hooray indeed! Would your son tolerate a super soaker soaking? They were at it again yesterday and all good. Actually the bath isn't bad and he just complains a bunch but will usually deal as long as he can hold a towel to his eyes. The swimming and head underwater is the biggest problem although getting splashed has been as well so... hoping this super soaker has at least helped with that? Goggles have helped with swimming lessons although currently I'm pretty sure he wouldn't go if I tried...

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