Beeping Easter Egg Hunt

Ever heard of a Beeping Easter Egg Hunt?  Well, neither had we. However, that all changed on April 21st when we got to experience one first hand.  Sophia's vision teacher told us about this mystical egg hunt that the vision services department of DISD puts on.  Instead of a traditional egg hunt where the kids all line up and start running after eggs when someone says "go", a beeping egg hunt is exactly what it sounds like, beeping eggs.  The organizers scatter eggs that beep around a big open area and right next to the beeping eggs is a basket full of candy.  The kids use the beeping sound to locate the eggs.  When they reach an egg they pick up a piece of candy from the basket and continue on to the next beeping egg, making sure to leave the eggs for the next child.  Of course Sophia is a little young to participate in the egg hunt, but it sure was cute to see all the other kids getting their candy.  Not to mention give us something to look forward to in the years to come.

Beeping Easter Egg

In addition to a Beeping Easter Egg Hunt, we were able to enjoy a morning full of activities with other visually impaired children and their parents.  Sophia was particularly fond of the petting zoo.  A local petting zoo that has therapy certified animals came to allow the kids to have sensory input through tactile stimuli.   They had lots of different animals for the kids to touch, baby rabbits, baby chicks, a snake, and a lizard.  Then they also had bigger animals, a couple goats, a sheep, a pig, a dog, and an enormous rabbit.  I'm pretty sure that the animals weren't expecting such a petite little girl to have so much strength.  She grabbed and held on to them like her life depended on it.  First, one of the baby chicks almost lost a tail.  Then the enormous rabbit became a little less furry on one side.  And to top it all off, much to my dismay, she really enjoyed touching both the snake and lizard, yuck, yuck, yuck!Despite Sophia's tendency towards animal cruelty, it was so amazing to see her interacting with the animals.  Sophia typically keeps her hands balled up when she is touching something new for the first couple of times, but with the animals she touched them all with fully open palms and was so excited to feel their different textures.  I was so blown away by her interaction.  Maybe as she gets a little bit older we can put her in pet therapy or horse therapy.  Who knows...

Sophia's bunny ears

Sophia & the goat

 

Sophia & Papa

At the Beeping Easter Egg Hunt we were lucky enough to meet some other babies and their parents who also had visual impairments.  I'll be honest, I didn't know what to expect.  I thought there would be lots of little elementary school kids and younger, walking and maybe running around with their white canes.  But I was surprised to see that the majority of the kids there had multiple issues, just like Sophia.  They didn't just have issues with their vision, they also had other medical issues including physical or cognitive delays.  There were at least 3 other kids who had microcephaly and I spoke to each of their moms.  It was so nice to speak to a parent who knows what we are going through.  While I know that there are other parents out there who have special needs children, I don't personally know any of them.  I take care of people with needs all the time at work, but they are adults, not children.  So it was a nice bonus to be able to connect with other parents who have some insight into a part of what we are going through. 

Needless to say, the Beeping Easter Egg Hunt was a huge hit for both Mommy & Sophia.

Sophia & the enormous bunny

Sophia, Namaw, Mommy & Papa