2nd Annual Shaffer Halloween Bash

Last year we started a tradition of having a little Halloween party for Lu and her pals so she can enjoy Halloween without the usual trick or treating part. Being that we live in a very rural area, if we wanted to take Lu trick or treating it would be an agonizing process of getting her in and out of the car and either awkwardly carrying her to the doors or getting her wheelchair in and out over and over...plus she is in bed by 7:00. So, trick or treating just isn't a super feasible option for us. And of course she wouldn't be able to eat most of the "treats" that she would get anyway. So, we have a little party so she can dress up and see her friends dressed up and eat snacks and have fun.

Lucy's shaking episodes have been making her fall asleep afterward for the past week and unfortunately she had one about ten minutes before party time. She slept for a little bit, but we were able to wake her for the party. While we were eating she said on her Tobii, "I don't like it, it noisy". We talked about how parties are usually a little noisy and I reminded her of how excited she had been all morning for the party. She wasn't crying or upset, and was actually smiling, and eventually it got a little quieter so she seemed ok.

Lucy has recently become a big fan of Tinkerbell from watching the Tinkerbell movies we borrowed from the library, and when I asked her if she wanted to be Tink for Halloween she enthusiastically nodded yes!  I found her this adorable costume at Kid to Kid:

I made a homemade Peter Pan costume and Chad was a homemade pirate:

And all of her sweet friends came to be with her:

I had also decided the night before that we would play a version of charades where we would be playing fast and loose with the rules, like the only rule was just don't say what you are trying to be! Chad and I came up with a bunch of Halloween characters and things and then I put them all into Lu's Tobii. I included them in a blank page within "special events" in her PODD because that is where all of the holiday words are. So this way she could guess along with the other kids. And in the morning I was showing her the page and telling her what we were going to do and she kept choosing Frankenstein over and over again, so I asked her if she wanted to act out Frankenstein for everyone. She said yes, so I changed the Frankenstein button to say this:

So when she activated it, it wouldn't say Frankenstein, and then we tried to walk like Frankenstein. When it came time to do it in front of everyone, I gave her a little time to activate it, but then I did it for her. When she is in front of a group like that I always worry about her feeling too much pressure and it being even harder to do what she wants. So I activated it, she did her act and someone guessed! Then a few minutes later she activated it on her own! It was great! 

What was also great was just the whole party in general. I don't know if people realize how much it means to us that they come and participate in a Lucy friendly way. We just feel so grateful to have an amazing group of friends and family that support us and love us and join us when we need to do things differently. We take Lucy out into the world all the time, but sometimes we just like to bring the world to her. Instead of figuring out how she will fit into what we want to do, we make everything fit around her. She enjoyed baked beans, Mac and cheese, and Reese cups for lunch, some of her favorites. We played a game pretty much designed with her in mind so she could actively participate, and we brought everyone to her. Sometimes it just needs to be like that and we are lucky to have so many people in our lives that understand that.