“Who sews Sue’s socks? Sue sews Sue’s socks. Who sees who sew whose new socks, sir? You see Sue sew Sue’s new socks, sir. That’s not easy, Mr. Fox, sir.”
Dr. Suess’ classic tongue twisting story Fox in Socks begins with a foray into the crazy land of socks and clocks and chicks and tricks and leaves the reader dizzy by the end. As I helped my son Zach get dressed this morning, I couldn’t help but think of this book.
As he pulled on the left sock, his big toe poked out from a hole like a hot dog too big for the bun. Because he likes his socks as high on his shin as possible, when he pulled the sock, toes 2, 3, and 4 broke through the hole, ripping the top of the sock wide open. It looked like all the piggies were going to market this morning.
If I knew how to darn socks, I would have taken that sock off Zach’s foot and later sat on a porch chair to fix it. But alas, darning socks is not in my repertoire. Zach looked down and wiggled four toes through the gaping hole. Little toe had “stayed home.”
Just as I began to sprint to the closet for a replacement sock on a mission to avert a meltdown, Zach sat upon the toilet lid and carefully, patiently adjusted the bottom of the sock to provide a pocket for the bare toes. I stopped and watched, mouth agape, half expecting him to scream. Any second the holey sock might come flying at my face.
For a person with sensory integration challenges, a holey sock can be a catapult to a full-blown sensory meltdown. We’ve been in sensory meltdowns, at home and in public, and they are not fun. An itchy shirt tag, wet sleeves, crying babies, a stuck zipper…just about anything most folks perceive as no big deal becomes a very big irritant to the person with sensory integration challenges.
As the sun filtered through the shower curtain, Zach made one last adjustment to the sock and carefully stood up. He managed to contain the protruding toes, and I decided to abort replacement-sock mission. He then grabbed his t-shirt, put it on, and moved along without a hitch. His left sock wasn’t as high up on the shin as he likes, but he didn’t seem to mind! Holy mackerel - this was a sight to behold.
Somehow, he put his shoe on without upsetting the precarious position of the sock. And somehow, it didn't upset his school day. In the words of Dr. Suess, ...and why do so many things go {to the] right? You can think about that until Saturday night.
Zach in socks.
Socks got tugged.
Hole in socks toes did dug.
Zach not bugged?
Mom jumps for joy on bathroom rug.
Mom gives Zach a great big hug. 😉
