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Summer heat in Texas means we spend a lot of time in our backyard pool. While it is usually clear due to daddy’s constant supervision, there are times we get in the water and see floating pieces of nature. What is this? How did it get in the water? Why are some leaves green and some brown? Pickle was fascinated by the leaf that was curled. Why didn’t the water soften it like the others? (Since I abhor killing things, this is also a better way to investigate insects because there is always something in the skimmer basket!)

While we were swimming, we noticed the pool return shot water out into in certain places. We took a ball and placed it next to the return, and saw how far it would push it into the pool. What caused this water to move the ball? There were many returns in our pool. Did one push the ball further than the others? This was a fun game we played for quite awhile.

After we had a swim, we noticed our fingers! Daddy calls them “Wrinkly fingers,” Mommy calls them “Pruny fingers,” and Pickle calls them “Squiggly fingers.” What do you call them? More importantly, what causes it? Are your toes squiggly, too? Why doesn’t your whole body get squiggly?

: Look! My fingers are squiggly!

: Pool Finds

: How far does it go?

: Put the ball by the water stream

: Swirling Water

I went through a few hours of guilt. Pickle has asked for a “Doctor” birthday party for the past several months. I have been unsuccessful in finding a venue for such a party, and am not ready to have a houseful of toddlers. I agonized about the appropriateness of decorations and if parent’s of peers would be upset if we had jello-mold brains for their three- and four-year-old’s to dissect. Not too many three-year-olds ask about brains, the digestive system, or want to see bones. Our son is interested in being a doctor due to his own health issues. It was one of the first “pretend” games he played, which is significant since he is on the Autism spectrum. Not all children are as eager to pull a chart, grab a stethoscope, prescribe medicine, and administer bandaids. Pickle knows that doctors make you feel better, and he wants to grow up to be that person for someone. How noble is that?

Sometime we put so much pressure on ourselves as parents, wanting to give our children as much happiness as we can. This can be a destructive cycle; we don’t always get what we want and a child needs to learn this as much as they need academics and life skills. It is a fine line a parent walks from encouraging interests to becoming obsessive. When you have a child that doesn’t have the usual “normal” experiences, I think it is natural to want to make their birthday wishes come true. My distress, however, was making me procrastinate. It was getting down to the wire and a real possibility everything that would be a good fit for his personality would be booked. Certain things are out – loud, noisy, crowded. Most children don’t do well in these chaotic birthday environments – doubly so for the child on the spectrum. We wanted to invite his new friends from therapy, so it was important to find a place where all of his friends would feel comfortable. That is when I remembered the Museum of Nature and Science offered a planetarium party. It is actually held in the Nature Building, which is a lot more quiet and a lot less crowded. It also has dinosaur fossils, glowing minerals under a blacklight, and a bat cave. Upon leaving the building, there is a huge bronze elephant to climb on, plus an area where one can feed huge turtles in the lagoon. Check, check, check.

With all my stress and anxiety about not being able to delivery a doctor birthday party, I felt I needed to “sell” him on a space party. I don’t know why. Ok… yes, I felt like a failure because I couldn’t deliver on the party he has talked about for 3 months. Space is another big interest of Pickle’s, though. He was immediately smitten, especially when he saw a mock invitation of him as an astronaut walking on the moon. I need to more readily rely on faith that things will all turn out.

To capitalize on his excitement, we decided to create a universe with the planets. I taped together several pieces of black construction paper. Using thinned white tempera paint in a small squirt bottle, Pickle misted “stars” on the black paper. Since our weather is already hot, the paint dried quickly. I’m ashamed to say that I still am not certain of the order of the planets. Luckily, I have a child fascinated with space. He was easily able to apply the planets in order without mommy’s help! Lastly, we painted a footprint space shuttle that I personalized with his picture. This was an activity we did over several days. While it was all information he knew, it was a good way to reinforce his learning and get him excited about his upcoming party. We are counting down for a birthday blast off!