Gardening this summer has been difficult.  Rain, rain, rain for over 40 days...a mixed blessing.  We are finally out of our drought!  Before I couldn't keep up with the watering; now I can barely keep up with the pruning.  With the abundance of rain, the plants seem to have taken over.  Overwhelming as the task seemed, I knew there had to be a way out!

Likewise, raising my children has been an incredible blessing.  However, special needs, especially in the beginning, seemed overwhelming.  Thankfully, we finally got a workable diagnosis-Sensory Integration Disorder.  Through the help of wonderful therapists, I learned all about creatively adding vestibular, textured and proprioceptor activities to my children's days, while helping them motor plan new skills.  These tools helped me prune through the overgrowth to help them focus and make sense of their world. 

Gardening fits perfectly into the sensory experiences the therapists wanted me to add to their lives.  Different textures of plants, soil, and rocks (texture)...Different fragrances and aromas of the outdoors, blossoms, and herbs (olfactory, another angle the therapist taught to me)...The work involved in pulling weeds, plucking off dead blooms, collecting seeds, digging, raking (all proprioceptor)...yes, I do put my kids to work in my garden! They usually help with the little chores of collecting the things I have pruned for the trash.  They like to help me plant.  When my back is turned they like to collect seed pods and move my carefully placed rocks from the dry creek bed I made to various locations!  My kids like to smell all the flowers!  They imitate bird calls and like to try to identify the different varieties.  There is little boredom for my kids in our garden of sensory experiences!