(Part One of Four)
It’s okay to be a pirate for five years.
Having a child on the Autism Spectrum adds a layer of complication to most activities, including the activities that come rolling in like a pumpkin at the end of October.
It’s costume season. And if someone you love has sensory sensitivities, I “feel” you.
Costumes can:
Feel Hot - Thomas lives 365 days a year in a tee shirt & short
Feel Tight - Did I mention they have to be short-sleeved tee shirts?
Smell funny - Plastics DO give off an odor.
Sound weird - Nylon rubbing against nylon?
Look different - Thomas wears a lot of red or blue.
Be out of the routine - Thomas wears a tuxedo tee shirt to church every Sunday. He has two but if they are both in the dirty clothes hamper, he’ll take one out.
Thomas dressed like a pirate five years in a row. It took until Year 3 to get him to wear the pirate hat for more than 5 minutes. As someone who loves a good (or bad) costume, I wanted Thomas to dress up as something different every year or maybe even dress in some grand family-themed way! All of us as characters from Veggie Tales?! How about Beauty and the Beast?!
But those were my expectations.
I need to set aside my expectations and know God is in control.
Five years as a pirate helped Thomas become more comfortable with all the other sensory inputs of Trunk or Treat/Harvest Festivals/neighborhood Trick or Treating.
Autism mams, set aside your expectations this October costume season. Your loved ones are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God.
Thomas was a pirate for five years, and last year, he chose something new and completely unexpected. An Inflatable Teletubbies Costume. More on that to come.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket,
but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.” Matthew 5:14 & 15
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