Spring Sensory Giveaway from Soft and SPDBN!

It's World Autism Awareness Day, so it seems like the perfect time to share a great giveaway. Soft clothing and the SPD Blogger Network are once again sponsoring a sensory giveaway. My little lady (and sensory-input seeker!) would LOVE the items in this giveaway!

Be sure to check it out if you have a child in your life with sensory needs!

Holiday shopping for therapeutic toys!

Well...I'm in full-swing shopping mode.

Maybe not so much on Friday morning at 4 am, but I'm definitely on the lookout for things that will bring my children smiles this year, and help them learn and grow.

My kids don't really need toys. At all. We seem to have toys coming out of every corner of our home, in fact. What I would like to do is provide my kids, and ask Santa to bring, some wonderful things that will help them make new discoveries and provide some new challenges and fun. For my daughter with autism, I'm shopping almost exclusively for "sensory-friendly" toys and materials that will support her therapy goals.

Soft clothing and HL3B have a Sensory Friendly holiday giveaway going on that would be so fun for my daughter to win. Check out the fun items they will be giving away:



I'd be delighted for her to have any of these play items to use in her therapy. She'd also look gorgeous in that yellow Soft party dress! No bothersome tag or seams, either!

Wish me luck, or go enter the giveaway for a child in your life who would also benefit from some wonderful sensory-friendly materials like these.

Take 1,312...

I'm pretty sure that's about how many times I've started a post, and then deleted. I know, it sounds like another "so-sorry-I-haven't-blogged-in-a-while" type posts, but I think it's a symptom of another issue.

I don't know how to reach out.

Except for a few (good) close friends nearby, I don't know how to tell people about my daughter, her diagnosis, and my needs right now. Worse, I don't know how to talk about anything else. Small talk is excruciating. I really want -need- advice, support, opinions, and smiles, but I'm not one to draw attention to myself, I'm pretty private by nature, and I don't know how to tell people that what I'm really thinking about are autism and sensory processing disorders while they are talking about all of the rain we've had lately.

I want to be positive, and I don't know how to share the news and stay up while doing it. But I want people to know, and care, and listen. I'm needing that right now.

So, thanks for listening.

My new reality

My blog has been empty, empty, empty, but my heart has not. My heart is full to bursting. My head has been pretty full, too. And I have lots of thoughts but very few words for the last few months.

I have a new reality.

My 2 year old daughter's recent diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder has mostly been a gift of open doors for lots of help for her to learn to play and talk with others and share the ideas locked up inside her beautiful head. We are sure she thinks great thoughts, and I ache to hear her voice.

I hadn't decided, for a long time, if it was the sort of thing I could blog about. But I haven't been able to think or talk (much) about anything else for a long, long time.

I wanted words to come, beautiful, poetic words about hope and love and more hope. I wanted to be inspired by my own strength. I think I will be, someday, but right now I'm going to be okay with being okay.

And we're okay.