BEEPING EGGS!
March 24th, 2007 by kitThis morning was the Dallas Junior Chamber of Commerce sponsored beeping egg hunt for visually impaired kids. WOW, they all had fun! There were several rounds of egg hunts, with beeping eggs for the VI kids and regular eggs for the siblings. Yummy refreshments (the biggest bagel & cream cheese variety I have ever seen) and Krispy Kreme donuts and hot pink frosted sugar cookies and what more could some kids want?? It was at White Rock Lake Park (where the Walk America is, also known as “Bennett’s race”) and it was beautiful and overcast, breezy - great weather.
After the egg hunt and pictures with the Easter bunny (that had to bribe Mo with candy to get her to come near the scary costumed creature) there was a pinata. That looked like Dora. I wonder how Moira would handle clubbing Dora to death, but they loved it. Of course, more candy!
THEN we went back to the tent and there were kids’ books on cd, read by local Girl Scout troops! We found a couple Dr. Seuss titles the kids can listen to while looking along at the books. And there was this big table covered with toys, including an enormous Super Man bouncy ball. Christopher was about to explode with excitement so I asked for details and the table was toys for the kids. Every child could pick one. Wow! Christopher of course snatched up the ball, Moira chose a basket FULL of sand toys, Bennett chose a kick ball with crazy swirled colors - and then KICKED it! For the first time, a perfect kick, without tipping over! Emiline went with the squishy, soft, pink plush baby toy with rattles that hooks onto a stroller or carseat. They were all overjoyed.
The beeping eggs were turned into a table where you could swap them for candy filled eggs. Christopher thought he needed to turn in his egg filled basket as well, and went to go ask the people but I assured he that the goodies were to keep. He was so excited he ran over to tell the volunteers, “Thank you for letting me keep my basket!” Bennett thought the beeping eggs were a bit too overwhelming if you had more than one, and he started to go “hide” the ones he found and emptied his basket to start hunting over again. We showed him that he could switch off the noise (and they gave us instructions for how to make our own beeping eggs.)
Moira was a bit overwhelmed, too. The Easter bunny was scary, the beeping eggs were loud, but the cookies were yummy! There was a photographer there that got some pictures of Moira and asked for our info, we’ll see if the pictures get posted.
We talked beforehand with the kids about vision issues and how some of the kids will have canes, there were some seeing eye dogs, various disabilities. Christopher knew there were hunts for sighted kid and VI kids, so when he saw a volunteer he went up to him and said, “I can see well, and so can Moira, but not Bennett.” Which prompted another discussion about being sensitive, but the volunteer smiled and laughed. We’re still working on that…
Emy was a doll, sat in the baby sling and just smiled at everyone and chewed on her new toy. It was a great morning. We all loved it. But on some weird level, it felt like we didn’t really belong there - we joked about taking away Bennett’s glasses because it wasn’t fair for him to participate in the VI egg hunt with his vision. He’s in this weird limbo between a typical toddler and a kid with special needs. He needs the glasses, but with them he’s fine. Well, without them he’s fine, too. He doesn’t act significantly different without glasses (Kit inserts the proximity to television decreases when his glasses are off.)
Maybe other parents with special needs kids feel this way, too, that they don’t quite fit into any category? There’s a huge spectrum of abilties for ANY kid, not just a preemie. Moira’s on that somewhere, Bennett’s in another spot, even Christopher has roamed the spectrum a bit. It feels odd to be classified as “disabled” or “special needs” and when we attend these events - like the ECI carnival, or a Divison of Blind Services egg hunt - it feels (Kit insert: incredible to see these organizations putting so much effort and time into these activities for these kids so they can feel a part of these sorts of things.) Okay, I was going to say it feels odd to be on the receiving end. Like shouldn’t we be DONATING toys and such to these great organizations? Not RECEIVING the benefits. That’s what’s odd. I don’t feel like we’re “special needs” but we’re being really blessed by these groups all doing so much to help meet Bennett’s needs. And beyond Bennett, to help the siblings have fun and be around other kids with special needs and their siblings. Bennett’s young, he had fun but he doesn’t understand all of this. I really wanted to attend this for Christopher & Moira, so they would continue to meet other kids with special needs and to see all these kiddos with different abilities and not to think that Bennett is unique in this regard. Especially as we, and they, get more and more questions about Bennett’s vision.
GREAT day. We were overwhelmed by this groups’ kindness. I’m excited to take the kids again next year, and not just because I was able to raid their stuffed baskets and snitch chocolate. 