long winter....sensory fun...

Winter... IT IS HERE!  Anyone who has read my blog before knows that Espen & I are summer people!  But how quickly we leave the barefoot pool days behind and layer up in our snow suits and mittens. 

For my sensory seeking son, winter months trapped indoors scare me.  It is when he tends to be more "wild" and exert less energy.  It is when, naturally, we all watch more tv, play more games and bundle up with sugary drinks. 

Winter however can be a wonderland of fantastic things for him.  I just have to be a willing participant!  The snow... oh the snow... He has helped shovel, dig and been to the sled hill as often as we will take him.  He eagerly drags his snow board or sled up after a fast ride down.  He crashes and rolls in the cold wet stuff.  He lets the cold snow touch his face and when I let him, his feet and hands. 

We bake more.  I let him help measure, pour, stir, knead and touch it all.  He smells and tastes all the ingredients.  I think blindfolded he could identify them.  His little brain and body have to work together to bake things and we have to practice one step at a time.  He struggles but we keep on doing it.  And sometimes we have GIANT accidents... we break a dozen eggs all over the floor and then slip in them.  We turn on the mixer super fast sending a flour cloud all over us.  We clean more then necessary but we end up with some tasty treats. 

We ice skate more.  It used to bother me that my son could skate out to the middle of the rink, lay down and lick the ice.  I just don't worry anymore.  The fact is that he skated out there.  So we go skate.  We go on hot days and cold days. We have our own skates and helmet.  We often are alone on the ice and can hear the swoosh of our skates on the ice, we fall and crash into the boards.  He plays with his hockey stick & puck and exerts pressure on them to make that puck glide across the ice.  He pretends he scores the winning goal and has a victory dance.

We read.  We play with flashlights.  We walk on the crunchy ice.  We build forts.  We jump on the couch cushions.  We cut up things.  We play tag.  We build lego forts.  We take long baths or showers.  We dump out every single matchbox car and line them up. 

We find our winter groove and yet when we pass by a mound of road sand, he wishes out loud it was the beach and he could put his bare feet in it.  And so do I....