Thursday, July 1, 2010

Fireworks- a sensory and vision mess

Ty has been doing somewhat better. I cringe when I type that because that probably means that he won't be doing so well today. Yesterday he was almost back to himself and we were able to not have to give him pain medicine. We still give it at night so that the morning time isn't as bad.

We have also been going down for naps. Both of us! When he doesn't get a nap he crashes way late in the afternoon and then won't sleep well at night. But before noon he can still get his sleeping in and still be able to go to bed at night. We have also had a little bit later bed time for Tyler.

He has been up around 5 almost every morning. This morning I laid in my bed with him at 5 and he stayed asleep another 2 hours. To bad Dallas didn't!

As we have been gearing up for this weekend and figuring out how and what we are doing, we have realized that we are not sure how this firework thing is going to work.

Ty is almost 5 but has never been to a firework show... EVER. The last 3 we were in Arizona. So this would be the first year it has been under 110 degrees to go out and watch them. Not only that but Ty has sensory issues with noise. We have no toys in our house that talk or make noise. He gets upset. Like way upset. So we have always been a little cautious about taking him to the fireworks or bringing any home.

The other big one is he can't see. According to his vision doc, the vision acuity he has would make it so that he can't really see the fireworks. Of course we would HOPE that he can see them but we aren't sure.

So what do we have? We have LOUD noises that he can't see where they are coming from. We feel like it would be a sensory meltdown in the making. We are going to try, however, to have him participate in fireworks this year.

This year we live by Thanksgiving Point. They do large fireworks in Electric park. That is the closest part of the park BY our house. We have a great view of the fireworks and will be able to see them and they are far enough away that he won't be scared of the loud noises and music that usually accompanies firework shows. We have some fireworks to do here that we can show him so that he can see them. We have invited Dallas family( parents and sisters) and any of mine that want to come to come and celebrate with us.

We are really excited to have them come. Ty has so much fun with his cousins and we hope that it will make for a little bit less of a sensory overload for him. If things are to much for him he can watch a movie in our house while we still get to enjoy everything that kids should get to enjoy.

We appreciate the willingness of our families to understand his issues and be willing to change plans to help accommodate his issues. We are hoping if he is OK with them this year that we can go back to the "old" way.

What do other parents do to help your kiddos get through a VERY sensory rich holiday?

3 comments:

Grandma Labrum said...

I was thinking about him and fireworks, especially things like the sparklers. You know how I feel about sparklers...They are fun but can cause problems. The year of the eye burns will never be forgotten, and we were right there watching and closely supervising. Tyler might be able to see the ones like that close up, but would he be tempted to reach out to touch them? I guess all little kids try and learn not to. Barrett's accident was just a really strange fluke with a different type of sparkler that isn't even around any more I don't think. I haven't seen any like them since then. Hopefully Tyler will have some good experiences with them. As for the loud noises, I remember many kids not liking the loud explosions from the fireworks. Seeing them from your backyard should be fun, though. And maybe he will be able to see the colors in the sky, not clearly, but you never know.

Nikki said...

This is a tough holiday for us as well. Carter loves the bright lights and flashing but the big booms scare him to death. The first year I stayed inside with him and watched from the window and just really talked to him whent he noise would startle him. Last year we sat outside back from the street and he enjoyed them. Although he jumped at every single noise he didn't go hysterical like the year before. I'm hoping we can sit a little closer this year, but we'll see. It's just an exciting time, it's hard not to share it with them. One day hopefully they'll understand it and can love it just as much as we do.

Megan B ♥ said...

I'm with a combination of grandma and the mom. If he CAN see, I might do private mini fireworks from Costco or something. Put him in the window and let him watch them go off on the sidewalk or in the street. He can still see them and the sound will be muted. If he likes it, maybe try opening the window or creeping out to the porch. That's what we have to do when our kids go through an anti-fireworks stage. All of my kids have at least one year of that and that's what we do. The love it. They can for sure see them though. I don't know if it will work for Ty, but it might be worth a try!!