Thank you very much, Jonathan Richmond, for putting that lyric in my head 20 years ago. It pops up every single time we get ready to go to the beach:

Well now the beach be one of the best things we got
'Cause it's not what you have on, it's what you have not
No more silly clothes for you, no more shoes no necktie too
And the beach be one of the best things that we got

As you may have guessed, we are going to the beach this coming weekend!

O.K. start up the car!
Riminima Riminima Riminima Rim
We're goin' to the beach - get started yeah
Riminima Riminima Riminima Rim
We're goin' to the beach get started

We are all very excited. We are going to lovely Nag's Head with a group of friends so I can "run" in a race, but mostly so we can hang out with our friends, play in the chilly surf (the kids will go in not matter what) and have a good old time.

We took Little J to the beach TWO MONTHS after he came home to us. That time it was a 10K on Bald Head Island - another excuse to go to the beach with friends as I am not much of a runner, to tell you the truth. (I believe I was 2nd to last in that race. The next year I did it and I was 4th to last. Maybe. I've given up the 10Ks and am now limping through the 5Ks.)

Anyway, talk about sensory overload! Let me tell you what that kid did the minute he hit the beach: he ate sand. Piles of it. We couldn't stop him! He shoved it into his mouth the minute he felt it with his feet. Crunch crunch crunch.

It all came out the next day in his diaper. Little J was still getting over his malabsorbtion issues and had chronic diarrhea...only now with a little extra scouring power. Yikes. But he went back to the beach the next day and did the same.

Even though Little J was 16 months old at that point he was still processing everything orally, like younger babies do. He didn't get anough of that kind of stimulation in the orphanage and he was craving it. Even now, if he is sleepy or overstimulated he still likes to chew on things. At first, we tried to stop him but now we just let him have at it.

I am really fascinated with how children's nervous systems try to function and improve. Children with Sensory Integration Disfunction, or Sensory Processing Disorder, seek out situations that will feed their brains the simulation it needs to grow and connect. That is very cool to me.

Living with a child with SPD can be difficult, but you have to admire the determination of their little bodies and minds. Even if a child's brain doesn't get the stimulation it needs to grow and develop it will fight, fight, fight to get back on track. Miraculous.