Winter and Recess

Winter started in full force when the kids returned from winter break. There was snow and ice and it was cold. Often Nick will come home and tell me about his recess and who he played with and what they did.

The first week of January he didn't have any stories. He just said he stayed inside.

  

Trying to ask Nick about why he didn't go out for recess he said he didn't know, and then it was that there was snow, or the gate wasn't plowed.

I spent some time back and forth with his teacher about why he wasn't going outside for recess. I was upset that he might be excluded from normal school activities like recess.

 There were a number of different reasons. First is the time of getting him ready to go outside takes longer than the other kids and it cuts into school time. Second is that they are worried about him falling on the ice. Third is that he gets cold easily

After discussing I understand. I don't want him missing classroom time to get ready, on top of his cath time. So he will be going outside with has classmates at lunchtime recess and for the short recesses he will stay inside and get to pick a friend to play with him.

I did say that if they are worried about the ice and his walker, then he can go outside with his wheelchair. As well instead of getting his snow pants on, he could cover himself with a blanket and sit in his wheelchair.

We will see what we end up with. But I want to hear more stories about his friends.

Recharged New Year

To end up our Christmas vacation (which started after Christmas for me) was some time away from everyone and everything.

We had a pile of movies (including all the Harry Potter movies), wii, snow and sleds and lots of warm clothes. We had no plans and the only expectation is to rest and recharge ourselves. And of course have fun

we have our party supplies for new years (along with a ton of finger foods, a bottle of wine and a big prime rib)

We had our treasure hunt, and settled into cottage life. We pulled out our games and had fun

2015 came, we counted down (as close as we could using our phones as a time keeper).

Then it was off to bed (some of us sooner than others)

 New Years Day we all got dressed up to celebrate the start of the year!

At the cottage there has been snow. So we dug out a path for Nick in his walker and all went out, until we got too cold

It wasn't actually that cold, which was nice. Katheryn lasted longer than the rest of us and made herself a snow fort.

We dried off enough wood so that we could have a fire.

And we could even roast some marshmallows

Sammie loves the snow, and I loved the sound of snow crunching (and nothing else)

The snow was one of the best parts of being up at the cottage. Don't have to drive anywhere, don't care about traffic, you shovel what you want to have fun and leave the rest.

And when you get too cold (or your parents drag you inside)... There is hot chocolate and some fun dancing to do.

Our last day was cold and windy.

We couldn't get Nick is his walker down by the lake (they wanted to go down). So Nick went down on the sled.

Once you broke up the ice along the top you had packing snow to make snowballs with!

Nick (and I) went inside earlier for our daily dose of hot chocolate. But Katheryn and Kyle continued to play outside.
I don't think either of them get cold!

Our 5 days away was a great time for the 4 of us (+grandma Ridding for one night). was really great for recharging ourselves. After the bustle of Christmas running around making sure that you see everyone and everyone has fun the time, what we needed was the time to just stop and enjoy ourselves.

Getting around in snowy Canada

We live in Canada.
It snows.

This year may have given us more snow than we've had in a long time, but snow is expected in the winter.

 

The snow might look really nice and it might be nice to have a snowy winter, but three month snow and snow and snow and get a little tired. If you also add a child who doesn't like the cold and uses a wheelchair and a walker that is difficult navigate in the snow... Then it takes a lot of fun of the winter the end up staying home a lot more than you thought that you would.
Nick doesn't like sitting on the snow or staying still, he gets cold

The picture of Nick inside breaks my  heart a little... But he wanted to go inside, he DOES NOT like the cold. He just wanted his sister to come inside as well.

Even if it hasn't snowed for a couple of days, and thinking of going for a walk outside (even to get to a destination and not drive). This is what you find

Not in front of all the houses, but in front of enough of them. So to walk to the bus-stop (at the top of our street) or go and pick up out mail with Nick, means that we would walk on the road, or drive. Or in the case of going on a short trip with the daycare group - calling a cab (Thanks Jen).
Playing in our backyard? Snow is too deep for any kind of wheels, he can walk with us holding him, or crawl through the snow, or be pulled in a sled.

I know it sounds like I'm complaining. I am.
I really don't mind the snow and the cold. But if I'm working on Nick being independent in whatever form he wants, then the snow does not make it easy.
This is how Nick spends most of his time playing in the snow with us. Sitting down (no wonder he gets cold)

But all the snow comes with accessibility issues.
Parking spots with snow in them (or snow covering the accessible spot so you can't get a chair beside the door), ramps covered in snow or entrances to the ramp not shoveled. Even without snow, there is still ice to worry about. Either the ice that will make Nick slip, or I will slip carrying Nick (always a possibility because I am a klutz).

A lot of our activities have been planned and driven to. We drive to daycare and back every day this winter, even if it is one street over.

There was a quote I heard (that I can't find anywhere) about a father who said he looked out his window every morning to see if his daughter (in a wheelchair) could go outside or not.

It kind of feels like I'm using the snow as an excuse. There are winter things Nick can do. I only need to watch the Paralympics for inspiration. I just need to put the extra effort into finding what works for him.
I'm not really sure what the purpose of this blog post is. Complain about all the snow? Wish for spring and summer? It's March, the snow has to melt sometime right?

Olympics

It's time for the Winter Olympics again.
I have been very excited. But I missed being able to watch it 24-7 like four years ago. But work has been getting in the way.
Four years ago Nickolas was just 3 months old, and there was so much I worried about, that I didn't know I didn't need to worry about. And whenever I think about
I will always, always think about Alex Bilodeau and his brother. Putting things into perspective. Having a role model: his brother.

So here we are four years later and cheering on our Canadian Olympians again.
We had a medal count down on our wall. We talked about the sports we were going to watch and cheered them on!

Katheryn's favorite sport is the skeleton and curling. So we decided to practice...

Skeleton (she's smiling on the inside...)

Curling (she's pretending to hold the broom, and the ice is the curling stone.

I asked about hockey, and she says that hockey is just 'ok'.
But Nickolas really likes hockey. And he wants to go skating too.

 

Nickolas has been wanting to go skating. On skates. Like Katheryn (who hasn't actually skated on skates yet either). So we've been staying away from the skating ring for now.

Right now it's just enjoying the snow (which Nick likes for about 5 minutes anyways)

 

Brr It's cold outside!

One of the great things about spending a couple of days at the cottage, is the snow

Katheryn has been dying to go outside and play in the snow!

So we all bundled ourselves up, got out the sleds and were all excited to go!

Even Nick wanted to go and play in the snow

For about 5 minutes

We had the sled all ready for the kids to go in.

But the snow didn't let anything slide on it.

So there was snow-trekking

And snow throwing

And burying mommy

Katheryn didn't mind the cold at all

But pretty soon this face was coming out (this picture is from new years)

He didn't want to go out on the sled, or play in the snow

So we went in for some promised hot chocolate!

And Nick watched the rest of the play from here

And was happy about it

Believe it or not, this -19C day was the warmest of the week!
On our day we went home, this is what we had in the morning!

Ending 2013 with some white stuff

We decided to head up to the cottage for the end of the year

It was beautiful
As long as you were inside...

And maybe if you were shovelling to keep warm

Or if you were a Bernese Mountain Dog
With a coat all ready for the snow

Everyone else stayed inside

and stayed nice and warm

All ready for the new year!