We picked up Jackson's equipment yesterday, or Tuesday depending on when I actually publish this. The wheelchair is a....hold on, gotta go get the info! Cue boring, put-you-to-sleep hold music......and we're back. The wheelchair is a Zippie Zone and the mobile stander is a Rabbit R82. We met Linda from Fonte (the equipment company) along with Jackson's PT and our new Service Coordinator over at Korpiel Physical Therapy to do some final adjustments and take delivery of these awesome pieces of independence. Both Jason and I were there along with my parents too. <----Did you see where I mentioned a new Service Coordinator? She officially doesn't start until April 1st, but yup, we requested a new one. Long story short, it was way past time for a new one. Let's just say, our last one wasn't a good fit for our team and leave it at that (at least here on this public forum).
Anyhoo, back to the good stuff! With only some minor adjustments, Jackson was up and running. Or, rolling. However you want to see it! He did amazingly well with the in and out, adjust, back in, back out, let's-try-it-again process of adjusting the equipment to fit him. And all on a very, very short nap. What a good sport! I think he was excited too. :) We hung out for a little bit and let him try both pieces out and go out into the main room and visit with all the other patients that were there that day.
Afterwards, we headed back to our house to celebrate with a yummy spaghetti dinner. Jason's parents came over too! Jackson showed off his new equipment and started becoming familiar with the house at a whole new level of perspective. We already have a list of things that we need to toddler-proof.
I believe the goal is to get him in the stander at least twice a day for about an hour at a time. So far, that hasn't proved to be a problem. His Special Ed Therapist (SEIT) may have a problem with him getting to focus on his tasks when he's in the stander though. He LOVES the tray that's on the front of his stander. Why? Because, it opens and closes! He loves to open and close things. We did find a way to fairly easily remove the tray on the front if need be but hopefully the novelty of it will wear off soon. Or, at least long enough to read some books, do some puzzles and play ball with his SEIT.
The wheelchair will be used primarily outside of the home, or at least that's its intended purpose. We are still trying to build Jackson's leg muscles and prepare him for standing and eventually walking. So, we don't want him to be in the wheelchair all the time. We want him on the floor crawling around, building that core strength and getting up on all fours. But, when we're out and about, like for instance at The Strong or the Zoo, he would probably have more fun if he was in a wheelchair rather than in his stroller.
Okay, I know. Enough talking. Let's see some pics! I know how you all roll. <---Get it? LOL. I crack myself up. Even at midnight, I'm still hilarious and witty! Oh crap, missed that deadline. Technically, it's now Thursday. Oh well, you knew I wasn't going to get this done on time anyways! ;)
Tick tock....still waiting for the pictures to load. Maybe I should go brew some coffee. I may be here a while.
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| The wheelchair didn't need much adjustment. They just pulled the back cushion back a little bit and added a seat belt and he was off to the races! He wanted to get out and check things out! Linda said that this wheelchair was one of the smallest ones that she, or the company that built it, has ever made. |
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| The stander took a little longer as there were more things to move, adjust, straighten, angle, etc. But, when he figured out that the tray opened and closed (which he did in like 2.5 seconds) he was all good with the wait. |
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| Who needs to wheel around, when you can just stand there and open and close, and open and close, and open and close...... |
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| "Boom! Gotcha Dad! Good thing you have steel toe boots cuz you're gonna need them!" |
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| "Hey Mom! Catch!" |
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| Trying out the chair at home. He loves the natural slope of the kitchen floor, lol. He can cruise right along with little effort. Getting back up the "hill" is a little challenging though. His little arms will be buff in no time! |
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| Toddler-proofing action item #1 - Find a new spot for this stuff! He had a blast pulling everything off the shelf and throwing it on the floor. I wish I had gotten a picture of his devilish grin. I'm sure I'll catch it again at some point. |
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| Pause for dinner. Spaghetti - yum! |
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| Time to try out the stander. Weeeeee! |
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| In the stander today at Grandma and Grandpa King's house. He loves putting his snack in the tray! |
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| Watching the birdies at the window while at Grandma and Boppy Smith's house tonight. |
One final, somewhat-related side note: We got approval for Jackson to start in the Early Intervention program at Happiness House. He will be going on Thursday and Friday mornings starting after they get back from Easter break. While there, he will also be getting two sessions of Speech Therapy a week. Yay! One downside to all of this though is that his Special Ed Therapy (SEIT) will be cut down to one session a week instead of two. :( She has done an amazing job at getting Jackson to communicate more (whether with nonverbal cues or sign language) and his purposeful play is way better than it was six months ago. We are extremely grateful for all of the hard work that she (and all of his other therapists - past and present - for that matter) have been doing to get Jackson to where he his today. But, we are also excited to start this next chapter in Jackson's life.
Peace out. I have a date with my pillow and blankie that's going to be rudely interrupted in 4 hours by that dastardly alarm clock.
P.S. Did I mention that the wheels on his wheelchair light up? How cool is that!?
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