Can You Spot What is Special?

My mother and I were casually out shopping together.  The first time we've been able to get together in weeks due to illness.  We splurged on a Starbucks coffee and toured Barnes and Noble - for nothing in particular, just because we could.   We naturally gravitate towards children related sections at just about any place we go.  An internal drive to search out toys and activities for Noah since he's so physically limited and we remain so eager to find things he can play and be entertained with.   It's so easy now to find things for Luke - it's even growing increasingly more fun since Luke is now past the baby stage of toys and moving into early childhood toys - something that to this day proves to be challenging for Noah because most toys geared towards his capabilities are designed sadly for babies. 

My mother remained focused on the Melissa and Doug toys, they have so many neat puzzles and toys that incorporate fine motor skills.  And she stumbled on a new toy that I hadn't seen before called the Melissa and Doug Wooden Vehicles and Traffic Signs.  See if you can spot what I found super cool...

See it?

It's the handicapped parking sign.   Something that most toy manufacturers don't include.  You certainly aren't going to see a superhero in a wheelchair next to Spiderman and Batman.  It's rare, that anything having to do with anything special needs shows up amongst typical toys.  But sure enough there it was handicapped accessible parking sign.  Way to go Melissa and Doug!  Something so small, yet something so BIG!

Do you know how many little boys and girls are going to ask mom and dad what that little sign with the wheelchair means for their vehicles?  It's going to open up conversations and start much needed dialogs with little developing minds and hearts.  (Providing of course that mom and dad provide educated and loving responses to these questions). 

And of course Noah's grandmother bought it for the boys - because inclusion in our house is super important.  And after all we are a family that utilizes handicapped parking spaces.  That is our normal.  So toys that incorporate how our life is for us is very normal and healthy for both our children.   The elephant in the room shouldn't ever be Noah's wheelchair or the needs that go with his diagnosis. 

I would love to see more of these types of toys that don't fail to forget this important part of play and inclusion.  So for now, we're celebrating our tiny handicapped parking sign toy.

Love,




Noah's Miracle by Stacy Warden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.