Christmas
Magical for children of all ages, or it really should be.
But the holidays for a family with a child with special needs is STRESSFUL!
It's not the busyness of having friends and family over or making bigger meals.
It's helping your child have a special experience and just as magical a season as other kids.
That may not seem like a tall order, but it can be.
Many families ask for advice from "seasoned" parents or carers and ask what kinds of things to get.
It's nice to have a community of people who have gone through what you are newly in the trenches of.
It can be very depressing to watch the excitement of children your own child's age or stage and see your own not be able to do the same.
Unfortunately we all compare.
This is our 2nd Tubie Christmas...and we did it better than our first :-).
We were so lost and scared last year, new adaptive equipment,
just coming from a very stressful hospital stay,
a baby still NPO and on bolus feeds throughout the day with continuous overnight trying to "catch up",
and me still off work to help us adapt to our "New Normal".
Some of the items we typically bought for our kids or others did were not suitable for a child who couldn't eat by mouth,
Clothes that he could wear before were now a pain to work around his feedings with.
All the special foods we usually ate he couldn't even taste and forget any special candies or cookies!
(2016)
This year he was more capable to eat the special foods,
enjoy tastes of cookies and take guided sips of holiday drinks.
He eats during the day now and only has a continuous feed overnight so we could get him any clothing we wanted,
and physically he is catching up so he can enjoy "normal" toys for kids his age.
We still needed to change the way we do stockings and keep special candies and treats out of it, but got him more little toys and smaller non-edible items.
I will share our ideas, and maybe we can all compile them to make it easier for others.
- Cars/Trains
- Animals
- Balls
- Flashlights-with multicolor capability or shapes
- Blocks
- Bubble machines
- Bath toys
- Noisemakers
- Movies
- Music
- Books...like "My Belly Has Two Buttons" By Meikele Lee <3
- Adaptive clothes for tube/device access
- Sleepers
- Tablet/Ipad
- Ornaments
- Blankets
- Plush dolls
- Memory games
- Flashcards
- Saftey belts
- Stroller
- Moby wrap/Ergo/other carriers
- Car Seat
- Hat/coat/gloves
- Shoes/Boots
- Small Trampoline
- Adaptive cups, silverware, straws
- Foam wedge for sleeping
- Chewies/Teething toys
- Pacifiers
- Bean bags
- Compression wear
- Weighted blankets
- Nook Brushes
- Z-vibe/or in a pinch an electric toothbrush
- Bath equipment
- Play mats or foam mats
- Jonny Jumper
- Walkers
- Noise canceling headphones for SPD kids
It does get easier,
Give yourself some grace and learn to find the magic in what you can do now.
Merry Christmas Special Families!!
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