Tactile Pumpkin

Today was National Decorate for Halloween day.   Okay, it’s not, but I fibbed and told my husband and children it was so we could get everything out and up for the incoming holiday.   My son was definitely interested in helping—until he got distracted with friends.   My daughter wanted to help though and aside from needing food breaks, she was a good decorating companion.

For my daughter, she has to feel things to understand or, “see” them.   She knows we hang some pumpkin string lights on the banister and she decided she’s untangle the strings as well as make sure the pumpkin-shaped covers hadn’t fallen off.   Since lots of them had fallen off, this kept her busy for some time.

It’s a fine balance with my daughter: keeping her involved and experiencing a thing versus getting it done in one-tenth the time and not having to redo things behind her without letting her know you’re fixing the work she tried very hard to do.

We got the decorations up and then went to the pumpkin patch: a church with a lot of pumpkins for sale.   My children were told they could get one small (fifty cents) and one medium pumpkin each.   My son danced around and picked the one he wanted.    My daughter spent a lot of time picking out the two smallest pumpkins she could find that were, “just perfect”.

Then she wanted to find her medium-sized pumpkin.    She picked one that was tactile.   She thought she even found the braille letter ‘q’ on it.   To some people, her pumpkin might look like it has tumors.   To her, it feels like it’s talking to her.

The Big Boy Update:  My son made a wand today out of a stick in the yard.   In the past, wands have been sticks that he found and were immediately, without any measure of modification, dubbed a “magic wand.”   Today he found an appropriately long stick and worked to remove bark, branches and leaves.   It looked good when he was done, but still not good enough to be invited into the house.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter went to play golf with her father this afternoon.   He showed me a video of her when he got home.   She was able to find the ball some of the time when he directed her verbally towards it.    She was pretty good at hitting the ball too.    She had a good time it sounded like.