Squeezing time in– toys in the car

From previous postings, you know I feel that it’s a race against time, and there’s just not enough time in a day (other mums of special needs kids say that too).

Well, a few weeks ago his music teacher suggested that I keep a noisy hammer in the car. The purpose - for him to learn/practice rhythm. (He’s still quite stuck at that stage in his music – I reckon it’s because of his disability.) I’m supposed to clap a simple beat/rhythm and he’s supposed to copy the beat using the noisy hammer.

I thought it an excellent idea! Thanks! So, I’ve got that toy in the car now. The hammer is one of his earliest baby toys. Good thing I’ve kept it. I don’t remember where I bought it but I’ve seen it in Tesco, and is probably easily available elsewhere.

That idea got me thinking and I’ve now got a squeezy toy in the car too! (Hence the play of words in the title “squeezing in time”. LOL)

This simple and cheap toy was also one of his earliest baby toys. It was sold in a set of 6 vehicle shapes (he loves vehicles) and bought from Carrefour but I believe it’s widely sold.

I get him to squeeze it five times before I drive the car out of the gate. If it doesn’t squeek, it doesn’t count. You see, he can squeeze it quite hard but he can’t always squeeze it to get it to squeek.

He also has difficulty squeezing it with just one hand, so he uses both hands at the moment. My purpose with this toy is to improve his grip, exercise his muscles etc. Hopefully this would add to the frequency of the hand/grip strengthening exercises we’re getting him to do, and thus, achieve results faster.

Now that I bring my son almost everywhere I go (unreliable helper) and “waste” so much time in traffic, I hope that having these in the car will make it a bit more productive. (Btw, I also play kids song CD or phonics CD in the car to make the time more productive.)