Sensory Seeking for SAND!

Have you ever built a sand castle at the beach and have a little person come and kick it down?  Did you spend 5 minutes on it?  5 hours on it?

Doesn’t matter how small or elaborate, Declan has a radar for sand castles and runs out of his way to knock them down.

Most of the time, I get the “No big deal – my kids do it too.” or “Building another one will give them something else to do now.”

Occasionally I get the parent that puts their arms out to the side with the “what the heck?” look.

I’m never able to stay and explain.  I am off trying to save future sand castles from being destroyed.

So when the sunny weather rolled around and we could hit the shore today, let’s just say I was super pleased we were the only ones there.

We spent hours there in the morning, flying kites and playing in the sand.

And when the time opened up in afternoon, I took my two little sand lovers for hours of sand play.

Both Catelyn and Declan have sensory issues.  But they have different sensory issues.

Catelyn is very sensitive to sensory input.  It must be soft and pleasing.

Declan is a sensory seeker.  Always looking for INPUT!

But they both LOVE the sand.  But they love it in different ways.

Not one that likes germs, or dirt Catelyn loves to play in wet sand.  Just like kinetic sand, Catelyn finds the flow of the soft sand pleasing.

For Declan, since his body is constantly seeking sensory input, he loves to roll around and lay in dry sand.

Both will tolerate each other’s play, but only for a bit.

The rest of their time is spent in their happy place.  Either digging a hole and dropping wet sand

or rolling around in sand.

These two were happy for hours today.

One finishes up, all clean – just the way she likes it.

The other needed some help cleaning up!

Both had some extra sensory play today – each meeting their specific sensory need.  Perfect day for everyone!