Mafe Maria: Personal stories by autism parent mentor, Maria Stultz

A Man and his Vehicle

cool man

A few weeks ago, when trying to find a box to give Joaquin a satisfying elevation for his backyard trail, the kid followed me to our storage room in the basement. Suddenly he saw a toy I had put away a long time ago because, a) nobody was playing with it, and b) no body in this house can fit it anymore.

What is thizzz?, a surprised and happy voice asked.
It’s your old tricycle
—(singing) I want to have it
I’m not sure you can fit in it anymore
—(singing) I want to try it…

And since then, they’ve been inseparable. In fact, this week Joaquin started “Tricycle lessons” (he came up with this), a new activity in his summer schedule.

We go to the playground (him riding the tricycle), and I give him a number of different challenges and stunts to perform on the vehicle. I’m going to town with variations!

giant in a tiny trikehappy in his trike

This is exactly what I wanted for him right now: Music and plenty of physical movement in different environments and conditions to strengthen his proprioceptive and vestibular senses. I know that yummy fireworks are happening in that little brain right now… He’s needing lots of extra sleep to catalog all those variations he’s perceiving. Muah ha ha!

nap in the hallway
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