I have really been loving our daily program. We haven’t had to do any crawling or creeping laps yet and it gives us a lot more freedom in our day. We don’t have to be so scheduled to complete all our laps around the house. We can actually mix our day up a bit and even be a little spontaneous. This is part of what we want to accomplish with Kevin so he can make choices about his day.
A recent Friday, was one of these exceptionally fun spontaneous days that turned out to be full of surprises and made me feel so proud of Kevin.
We got a jump start on our program that morning, checking things off the list, and had most of the program completed by 11:00 am. Our city parks and recreation was hosting the annual Touch A Truck event that I wanted to try with Kevin again. We had attempted this a couple times in the past and never got very far with it. In the past, we basically parked, walked in, and almost immediately turned around and walked out. It is a lot of stimulation, lots of people, and lots of honking horns from the trucks. So I thought, if we had a good morning we would try it again this year. So we parked, walked in, walked around to see what was going on, and he didn’t seem overstimulated or indicating that he wanted to leave. I was really hoping they would have a garbage truck there but I guess they were busy that day. But they had some similar trucks that we looked at and watched some of the kids climb up in. Then I saw there was a short and fast moving line for the school bus, so I thought we could give that a try. Kevin patiently waited in line and patiently waited while walking through the school bus. That went well, so I thought I would get brave and try a little longer line for the ambulance truck, and he did it again. Kevin patiently waited in line and sat in the driver seat of the ambulance and even let me take pictures. So the next line was a long very slow moving line for the fire truck. So we tried that one too and it worked again! Kevin waited in that slow line and I was able to get him up in the high fire truck seat and take pictures. And of course he shook the firefighters hand before we left. It was so nice to participate in this event and see that he was aware and understood that these are the trucks that he loves to see go down the street.
So after the truck adventure we came home and had lunch. Typically, we go in the hyperbaric chamber after lunch. But like I said, we’ve been trying to mix it up a little so after lunch I asked Kevin if he wanted to go in the chamber or go outside in his little pool. And of course he chose the pool. I thought it was supposed to be warmer but he didn’t seem to mind and was making all kinds of happy sounds while he was in the pool.
When it began to rain and he began to shiver we moved to the front porch. Our neighbor and her dog came over for a visit. Kima is a rescue dog and has needed some extra love and attention. Kima came right up on our porch and Kevin and her hit it off real well. Kevin was touching her and giving her treats and Kima seemed to enjoy the attention. So this is another big deal, not only for Kima, but also for Kevin who used to have a real fear of dogs and animals.
The city was also having a farmers market this same day that I wanted to go to. So we went even though it was raining and Kevin adjusted to this situation too, when in times past this would never have worked with him.
When we got home, Dad was home from work, and we had one more Gravity Free session to do and I was easily able to put Kevin’s harness on him and accomplish the last task of our day. Which in times past, once we started the “fun” part of our day, there was no going back to program.
Lots of proud moments for this Mama!
I like how Kevin is actually "touching" the fire truck at Touch A Truck
Kevin giving Kima a treat
No comments:
Post a Comment