Shoes

Every mother that has a child with sensory issued understands the dilema with shoes. Shoes "feel weird", "hurt", and overall just don't want to be worn. We've learned to get very creative. One summer, Pookie wore golashes all summer long. They literally fell apart! One winter, he wore slippers. As an infant he wore moccasins. 


Two weeks ago, a friend gave us some hand me down clothes. Pookie never wears "new" clothes because they are to rough for him. I'd have to wash them every day for two weeks to get them soft enough that he'd consider wearing them, and even then it's usually no. So, we live on second hand and hand me down clothing for him. With the clothes came a pair of new balance tennis shoes, barely worn, with shoelaces. Shoelaces have always been avoided due to his obsession with ropes and strings (we all still hide our shoes with laces). Pookie however loved that his "best friend" gave him these shoes and wants to wear them all the time. He insists that they make him "special" and they are "good cause N on the side". 


HOWEVER, Pookie can not stand that the shoelaces never tie perfectly. 


Step 1: Stretch out the laces and make sure the tips line up with each other. If not, relace the shoes until they do. 
Step 2: When making the loops, they must be of equal size with each other. This can not be close, or almost, but PERFECT. You must try over and over and over again to make it just right. We often don't make it past this point and end up in full melt down mode. 
Step 3: After getting the two loops on the shoe to match, you must then get the left over laces to be the same length. This is extremely difficult since if you pull one lace, it shortens the loop. This means the loops are no longer equal and we proceed to either Step 1 or 2 depending. 
Step 4: Once the two loops and laces match on left shoe, repeat steps for right shoe. 
Step 5: Now it's time to make sure left shoe and right shoe have loops and laces the same size. 




EVERY time he wears these shoes, he has a complete meltdown and we run late. I've tried hiding them, but he insists he has to have his "N shoes". Today, after he calmed a bit from his meltdown I said, "I have an idea. Let's go to the store today and buy you some shoes like that without shoelaces".  Translation: We'll pick up some athletic shoes that don't have laces. What Pookie translated it as: We'll go buy a pair of shoes that looks EXACTLY like these but that do not have shoelaces. 


So, if any of you happen to see a pair of New Balance sneakers, gray black and orange, with no laces......how bout letting me know. 

Pook in 2011

Pook has always loved to sit in those plastic 4 gallon totes you can pick up at most department and hardware stores these days. He prefers sitting in one filled with bubble bath over sitting in the bathtub. (you may recall a previous blog with a pic) He prefers to take the socks out of our "sock bin", climb in and cover himself with socks. He prefers to climb into a tote with his hotwheels. He even insists on taking his naps in one with his favorite blanket and pillow.

Pook also enjoys digging around in dried rice and dried beans. He enjoys digging around in sand and now, after much work with him, in mud. 

A few days ago, I heard one of those noises that makes every parent take a deep breathe, count to 10, and then ask in a tentative voice, "What was that noise?"  Well, it turned out "that noise" was Pookie taking the huge container of unpopped popcorn and dumping it into one of the plastic totes. He then climbed in and buried his legs in it.

I noticed that Lowes has a 27gal tote on sale for $10 this week. Wonder how much rice, corn and popcorn kernals we could fit in it?? 

Also within the past week, we discovered another new type of occupational therapy for Pook. He's had quite a bit of therapy through the years to deal with his sensory issues. Certain textures he could not tolerate. There are still many he doesn't tolerate. And, although I'm not quite sure why he would ever need to tolerate textures that feel like lipstick or fingernail polish, we discovered that all it takes is a big sister and her friend to end up with these results...................

Of course, we discovered afterward that Pookie will NOT tolerate fingernail polish remover. Fortunately the eye shadow, lipstick and blush came off in the shower! 

We're looking forward to 2011 for Pookie. His biological father is being a fairly consistent part of his life now. His EEG was normal. His iron was low and he now takes a supplement for that. He has an upcoming appointment in March with a pediatric neuropsychiatrist and we predict this will help him tremendously. 2011 is going to be a good year for Pook. I'm so glad that each of you are a part of it!