So what do you want for Christmas?

           So what do you want for Christmas,  little girl?   I don't know what it's like when some Santa wannabe (Santabe?) asks your kid this question, but at our house that can be a loaded question.   Feisty Pants is whip crack smart and very quirky,  so you can expect all sorts of answers to this one.  She has been known to say things like "to walk"and "a motor for Zippy."  One year she asked for dynamite.   Mostly I suspect she says things like that when she feels adults aren't taking her seriously and she knows that will shut them the heck up.  How do you respond to that??  ( Zippy, btw, is the name of her wheelchair. When she was little, new equipment made her nervous.  Naming things made them seem  like pets instead of death contraptions we were about to strap her into.)  We saw a commercial for a Furby the other day, I mentioned to Hippie Pants, that I always thought hers was creepy.  Feisty Pants has now asked her father for two furbies for Christmas.

          So, what do you get a disabled kid for Christmas or birthday, Hannukah, Easter, whatever? Other than the obvious answer of "Good God, not another teddy bear".    Often the disability partly defines the gift.  You don't get a visually impaired kid a magic eye book.  But it is hard to shop for someone like FP.   She has CP, so her body does not cooperate. If you don't spend a lot of time with her, you simply don't understand her speech.  Many people, not all of them strangers either,  think she is crying or whining, when in fact she is simply carrying on a conversation.  (I spend a lot of time telling people, "She is ten years, not ten months.)   But it's human nature to expect people to be as smart as their faces are expressive.  She does not have a lot of the  subtle expressions that animate the human face so people think she is less intellectually intact than she is.  And toy manufacturers tend to match intellectual challenge to physical development.  As a result, the toys she can physically manipulate and interact with bore her to tears.  She LOVES video games but if it takes you 30 seconds to make your thumb respond correctly to push the button, it's a little hard to play.  That leaves her simulation and strategy games.   Which makes me a little worried. She has gotten wayyyy too into Battle Realms.  I  worry I'm raising the next Bond villain. Or, perhaps on the brighter side, the next Alexander the Great. But, anywhoo...

            So, where does this leave us gift wise?  Clothes are great, but what kid lights up at fun socks from Santa?  That's more of a gift for tired parents so they don't have to schlep to the store.  We tend to cheat and go all nerd toy.  Arts and crafts, science experiments, nature stuff. FP is cortically visually impaired, so all those cool stoner "trip toys"  college kids like (you know -basically anything from the back of a Spencer's) is good. (Seriously - look up the term "Snoezelen" It's a type of sensory therapy.)  I'll try post links for Monday's post.  But what do you like to get your kid whether he is typical or special needs that is your secret go to?