Three year old going on 16

Aug. 23, 2009

I never saw myself as being one of those parents who use the stereotypical phrases about their kids and how "they grow up so fast." How "it seems like only yesterday he was in diapers and now their taking taking his drivers test." The crazy thing is, for me it's true. (Of course, he still is in diapers.)

Most parents don't have to think about putting their child on the school bus until he/she is at least 5, we had that decision at 2 1/2. (We couldn't do it, we drive him to school.)

This Thursday marks Nathan's second seating clinic, to help determine what equipment will be best for him. (If you remember the last seating clinic story, we’re hoping this goes better.) This time it's a decision for the next five years. Many of you know about how we’ve been trying to develop skills to maneuver a power wheelchair for the last couple of months. He has to prove to the doctor, therapists and others that he can control the chair, stop on demand, and maneuver at a basic level.

The challenge will be performing on demand. I’ve always said he has two things he’s battling against: 1. his mental/physical self, and 2. the desire to be a 3-year-old boy who wants to run things over and now that he has the means to do things his way. During this practice time, we’ve seen many interesting developments. He’s shown moments when it looks like he knows exactly what he needs to do, like heading straight for a door and rotating to make sure the chair goes straight through the door. Other times when we tell him to stop, he’ll giggle and it’s full-steam-ahead!

Even if he’s recommended for a power chair, by the time all the paperwork goes through, all the insurance is pre-approved, vendor selected, customization complete, we’ll be happy if we see it by the end of the year. Heaven forbid, I actually get a job because then any insurance change starts everything all over again.

So, look out world there’s another Student Driver on the loose, with only the open road (wait, make that open sidewalk, if he doesn’t stop for the street he fails the test) ahead. We’re proud of how far he's come, and know he’ll be going new places in no time.

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