Mental Health Day, For The Win

It was ridiculously warm today for being mid December. I'm not complaining about this at all, mind you. If we can spend time in the great outdoors without fear of hypothermia, it's a very good thing indeed. Today was just such a day, so we did just that. We headed up to the state park and spent time n the great outdoors.

We live in a wondrous tourist area that boasts quite a few state parks within a half hour drive from our house. This one in particular is practically in our back yard, being just 2 miles down the road. It's our go-to for a quick get-away from life.

Louie, Micah, Becky and I donned our jackets and went to explore the beach at the lake. The off season ensures that we'll pretty much be the only people there at any given time, and that was the case today. We walked out onto the docks, let Micah swing on the playground for a bit, and walked out to the spillway.

Micah's sensory issues were flaring today, which made it hard for him to be on the sand. He wanted to be on the sand, mind you, but sand really bothers him. It's a texture thing. Even with his shoes on, he was bothered. He picked his way across the beach to the playground like a soldier would navigate a minefield, and he gagged the whole time. We told him to run so that he would cross it faster, but that resulted in him shuffling on his toes rather than his whole feet, and didn't increase his speed at all. It was rather comical to watch, even if he was suffering. But he gamely tolerated the sand because he had his eye on the swings as his prize at the end.

Of course we let him swing for a while as a reward. Swinging is good for his sensory malfunctions. It seems to reset his balance in life. Louie, however, was sure that swings were something to bark at. The dog is hilarious. If Louie wouldn't be such a mama's boy and never venture more than 10' from my side, I think the and Micah would be the best of pals. The two even learned how to play fetch together this afternoon, and that was a treat to watch.

"Micah, Louie has to see the stick before you throw it. No, he wasn't looking. Show it to him."

"Micah, don't throw it that far, Louie won't go that far from me."

"Micah, you have to throw it once he sees it. If you keep hiding it from him and running, he'll get bored. Yep, Louie is done."

But somehow they figured it out between them and played together for quite a while. It was a spectacular December day at the park.