Pre-Halloween Fun

I love this reminder that I borrowed from a fellow Autism mom: With Halloween upon us, please keep in mind, a lot of little people will be visiting your home. Be accepting. The child who is grabbing more than one piece of candy may have poor fine motor skills. The child who takes forever to pick out one piece of candy may have motor planning issues. The child who does not say trick or treat or thank you may be non-verbal. The child who looks dissapointed when they see your bowl might have allergies. The child who isn't wearing a costume at all might have a sensory issue (SPD) or autism.

Be nice. Be patient. It's everyone's Halloween!

Tonight we went to the school's Black and Orange Bash.  They hold this each year at the school for ages birth through age 5 where they have games, activities, trick or treating and snacks.  This will be our last year attending.  But tonight was a great reminder of the  paragraph above.  Charlie has been so excited about his costume.  And this is the first year he has really wanted to and really been excited to dress up.  He came up with his costume idea on his own as well. 

Charlie has bee pretty excited about being a Traffic Cop for Halloween, and in fact, wants to be one when he grows up.  Shoot for the stars, baby boy!

We hadn't been in the doors for more than 5 minutes before he began peeling his costume off.  Oh well, he at least put it on!  After his costume came off, he looked like he does any other day while doing the fun activities.  But you want to know what? He did the fun activities!  He participated and there were no meltdowns.  None!  His trusty police dog I mean sidekick, Sunny, was by his side the entire time.  

Costumes have been hard in the past, and not just for Charlie.  His twin brother Christian has never been a fan of dressing up either.  In fact, last year as we were getting ready to go trick or treating he suddenly refused to wear the costume he had picked out.  Flat our refused, but was so bummed that he wouldn't be able to go out with his brothers if he didn't have a costume on.  So, as a last minute act of desperation, we made him Jake from State Farm.  He was "dressed up" in regular clothes and happy as can be.  This year he has been set on being a puppy.  I finished his costume today and when he got home from school......yep, he refused to wear it! Ha!  But as you can see, we were able to work through it and he was really happy to be a puppy once he finally put it all on.

Easton went as a hockey player, which is awesome because we already have everything on hand.  And I must say, he makes a really cute hockey player!

One of the activities they had was "pumpkin smashing."  It was actually quite genius and so simple! They had the kids pound golf tees into pumpkins with a small mallet.  So easy and they all LOVED it!  Talk about a great motor and sensory activity!

So this week when all the littles come knocking on your door, be gracious.  Some of them may be facing some big obstacles while trying to have some fun.