Nate is doing really well with his wheel chair. Although the transition from the small loaner one to his bigger one was a little sketchy at first, he has adapted beautifully. I haven't had much opportunity to get him out into big, open spaces much but when I do he just
goes! Recently my mom and I took him to a Christmas party through his therapy place, and it was at an old roller rink. There was no skating so all the kids were flying around on adaptive bikes and their wheel chairs. I don't think I've ever seen Nate go so fast in his chair! Pictures to come.
One thing I noticed right away that we were having trouble with was finding a place for Nate to play while he was in his chair. He was too low to roll up to the dining room table, and too high to roll under a coffee table. We tried the couch or a chair but those were awkward and he ended up playing off to the side or bending down really far to play.
Solution: Ikea.
We found this table there that adjusts to three heights, the tallest being the
perfect height for his chair. The great thing is that we can also lower it so he can practice sitting in a little toddler chair at the table, too. It's worked like a gem and gives him a great place to play.
We have also been working hard practicing walking in his RGOs. I use the word walking loosely right now. He doesn't really have much interest in doing what it takes to actually walk himself (which, in his defense, is a series of several steps in succession and is probably a lot for him to remember). To get him motivated, I bribed him with stickers. If he walks to the end of the hallway (which is not a short distance-all the way across the living room and down the long hall to his room) he gets to pick a sticker to put on his walker. I only had Sesame Street stickers so far, but recently also got dinosaurs and sports stickers which he was really excited about. It seems to be working...a little. Still not really motivated. But we are working on it. We try to get him to walk the hall twice a day (once with me and once with Ryan). Depending on our schedules that doesn't always happen, though.
Today Ryan took him to a Children's Memorial satellite campus in New Lenox. It's still about a 45 min drive, but a much smoother ride than driving into the city. Our Ortho thought it might be a good idea for Nate to have a therapy session with someone who has worked with kids his age in RGOs before (our PT has only worked with one other kid who had RGOs and he was much older). I think Ryan and I were hoping this PT would have some miracle advice for us, but no such luck. Nate had pretty much the same session as he does with is EI therapist. But any practice is good practice. We'll just keep plugging along.
And in closing, I just had to post this. Tonight I was putting some clothes away while Nate was playing with is word builder (which he is very fascinated with lately).
He will sit there for the longest time, trying a different trio of letters to see if it will sing the song to tell him he made a word. When he finally got a word and I looked to see what it was, this is what I found
I thought it was really cute, and Nate was pretty excited, too!
The Burnett household is nothing short of crazy right now, but this Friday I look forward to having 16 days off!!! Hopefully I can finally catch up on some blogging!
Nate being silly after getting out of the pool
The museum was huge. He enjoyed the train table, making a boat and watching it sail, and this hall of mirrors. The sand...not so much. Still having some tactile issues with the stuff. 
This was the first time we took his chair to the zoo. It was great except for I was paranoid that he was going to get his hands caught in the spokes while we pushed. It allowed him some freedom though, and at one point we just let him go wild in an empty court yard. I also found out how dirty zoos are. His hands, arms and elbows were covered in dirt. Time to invest in some gloves and possibly some elbow pads. 
