The Big WC

We are there. We have it. The Wheelchair.

It is the thing that you scan that list looking for. What list? The list you get when you get the diagnosis. The list that says if your child has level __ they will use various ways for mobility. And the first thing you do is look at that list to see where a wheelchair falls.

But this wheelchair is not on this list. This is a wheelchair to replace his stroller. This is a wheelchair  to show Nick that he has the ability to be independent. To show Nick that if he wants to go and look at a pack of markers in Walmart then he can’t be pushed away. He has the ability to take himself back to those markers. And of course if he looks cute enough, his parents will cave and buy him those markers. But I get ahead of myself.

We had a very busy day yesterday. First Nick got fitted for some new AFO's! Yay, his are currently too small. And I knew exactly what I wanted on his new braces, even if no one I talked to knows what Backyardigans are. But I'll show off the new braces when we pick them up in a couple of weeks.

 I brought Katheryn with me - she wants to come with us so I decided she could come and see how boring the appointments are. The two of them had a blast looking out the 4th floor window and look at the yellow school buses! And see mommy's car!

And we got to look at all the fishies before our appointment with Beth, OT.

And then it was time. It was there waiting for us in a treatment room.

We talked a little about it. There are a couple of different ones and I don't really understand the importance of one over the others. I guess I have some research to do.
But first we needed to do some measurements.

And it was time.

At first he just really wanted to play with his cars on the ground, so he had a couple of teary moments because he couldn't do what he wanted.
But he soon got the hang of it!

And then we had some smiles as he investigated by himself.

We had 2 different ones we tried. And to get Nick going, we let Katheryn try one too.

This green one was still a little big. Something about shoulders and wanting a smaller seat/base so that he could turn the wheels without spreading his shoulders. We want to limit wear on the shoulders - even at 2 years old.
But he could definitely get both moving well.

So we decided to take the blue one home to trial. And we are waiting to get a trial of the lighter one we saw first. I wish I could remember the names of them. (I think one was the zippy something). But this blue one is pretty heavy.

When we got home I wanted to take it out and try.
So the 4 of us headed off to Walmart to try it out.
The trial did not go as planned. We had fits and tears and parental frustration.
Nick really just wanted to be in the cart, then he wanted to be carried. So I ended up pushing him most of the time, but when we stopped he started to get the feel of going back and forth.
Especially in the previously mentioned crayon/marker aisle.

So trial day 1 is done.
The wheelchair is not going into the house, so I'd better start thinking of some new outtings for us to go on!

Take That spina bifida!

Thought I'd start off with a bang!

That is Nick with his new walker - the newest one (and the winner).
And that is Nick walking independently with it. I'm not helping his feet or moving the walker. He is doing it ALL BY HIMSELF! And we were all there!
And he was happy!

So Take That! Spina bifida!!

Of course it had to happen when Nick was wearing his new Take That! Shirt. We wore it to our spina bifida group and showed it off. It was the fundraising brainchild of Colleen (Nate's mom) along with the facebook group.

Trick or Treat!

We showed off our costumes, but that wasn't the end of our halloween. And I wanted to show of my great Pablo pumpkin (I am very pleased with myself!)
We went out trick or treating as well!

This is the first year we've taken the kids out.

Katheryn LOVED it!
She loved every single part of it.

She loved running up to the house
She loved rinigng the door bell

She loved talking to the people
She loved getting treats
And she loved that she ended up with candy!
(Which is weird, because she generally doesn't like candy)

Nick didn't care so much about the people or the door, he just wanted the chocolate!

We did about a dozen houses and then the girls (my neice Madi) wanted to go home.
No tears, no fights, no crying and just the right amount of candy.

My hero! Happy Halloween

Back in August I was trying to figure out what to do for halloween costumes.

Then it hit me! Nick's knight! What a perfect costume, or a dragon and Katheryn could be the matching princess. So I asked Katheryn (because she cares) what did she want to be for Halloween (and this is back in August - I think she thought I was nuts - I know Kyle did).

I had images of doing a dragon or horse or something with Nick's walker. Yes, I did anticipate him walking with it, back in August. Little did I know how resistant he would be! Or how much he would hate it, and trying to find the right one.
Anyways...

Katheryn decided she wanted to be a princess. Then she saw me looking over all of the dragon costumes online and changed her mind and said she wanted to be a dragon. Luckily I know my little fickle girl. The costumes arrived (online shopping - thanks ebay!) A knight costume, a princess costume and a dragon costume. Also a dragon puppet for a prop.

Katheryn wore the dragon costume a couple of times, was upset that it wasn't green - her newest favorite colour. It was red, but she didn't really agree with mommy that all dragons are green, and red dragons are special.

So she started saying, very sweetly, that she wanted to be a princess. (imagine the head tilt and sugary voice "I want to be a princess for halloween). I did have in my head that we can have the whole family halloween costumes like last year. And have a queen and king, princess and knight. Or maybe a witch thrown in there, or the dragon puppet, or something.

But Katheryn has since said that she wants Daddy to be a wall and Mommy to be a potty. Umm, thanks Katheryn. I'm not sure what is worse (actually I do - who wants to be a potty?!)

So we've tried on our costumes, we know that they are adorable and cute.
We are ready to have our first time of trick or treating. We even have the buckets all ready.

Now all I have to do is convince Katheryn that she doesn't want to be a clown!
Maybe a clown princess?

But now halloween morning, everyone is all ready to get into their costume rules!
Including saving the princess and slaying daddy-dragon!

Just clowning around!

And no, these are NOT their Halloween costumes.
Their Halloween costumes have been thought about and bought for 2 months! Including the back-up costume.

This morning when I got home from work Katheryn told me that she wanted to be a clown today. I had just bought some face paint crayons, and thought 'why not?'

The kids thought it was great!
They LOVED posing for the camera.

I was saying to them 'say HA HA HA' and then they'd face each other and say 'HA HA HA'. Of course not looking at the camera!

Then Katheryn started to pick her nose. I said 'Katheryn, don't pick your nose.' Nick looks at me - gives me one of those smiles, and then the finger starts moving up...

Well they both thought that this was hilarious! (it probably did not help that I am taking pictures AND telling them not to do what I'm taking pictures of!)

It must be so great to be a kid. Clown faces, nose picking and silly, silly giggles first thing in the morning! (Actually it's not too bad being the parent either)