Cruising

Life isn't always about me freaking out like some sort of chicken little.  We do tend to celebrate around here.  And this is one of those moments I ran to try to capture.

That video up above would be Zach and the Good Doctor returning from taking a ride around the block on their scooters.  It's a phenomenal event for us. 

One of the things I think Steve and I were always concerned with post diagnosis, is how much of life would we be able to share with Zach?  The Good Doctor and I basically got to know each other from shared interests - computing, running, hiking, dining, old movies, dogs.  A perfect day for us in our pre-children days would have been to wake up, go for a hike with the dog, get home, shower and off to our favorite restaurant we would go.  Man, I can barely remember those days.

I have been a little bit frustrated that biking wasn't coming along very quickly for either of the kids.  A friend had a scooter at her home a few years ago that was a little different than the ones I saw at the local stores like Target or Walmart.  She went on to tell me that her son's preschool had these and he liked them so much she went online and purchased one to have at home.

We managed to get one for Zach and asked the therapists to help Zach figure it out.  Yeah, well...  The kid must of thought we bought him a Segway because he stood on it and that was about it.  He looked as though he expected it to self propel.  Or more likely, he's got my number and knew I would push him, which I did. But in all seriousness, I have heard some of the therapists describe motor planning issues, and this likely was one of those things with Zach - a circuit just not fully formulated in his ol' noggin.

Anyhow, it felt like another bad investment on our part,  until Dear Daughter stepped on it and off she went!  It was such a joy to watch her take to something so readily, when quite often, when it comes to motor skills, it seems she does not.  She looks so beautiful with her hair peaking out from under her helmet only to blow in the breeze. We were off to buy her her very own scooter and she rides it nearly daily.

She pretty much thinks she is hot stuff on the darn thing, and I am not about to tell her different.  She has even considered making videos of how to ride a scooter and some of the different stunts she can do with it.  She told me the videos are because she wants to train others how to ride it.

Meanwhile, Zach stepped on the scooter just a few months ago after watching his Big Sister doing her thing on it.  He went on to make a few motions of pushing off the ground with one foot.  I was shocked.

Within a few days, you would have thought he had been riding the thing for a year and not the days it took him.  Most kids have a gradual progression when skills are aquired.  Not my kid, he makes leaps and bounds after literally years of flatlining. 

Moral of the story?  Never give up.  Just keep trying. No matter how it might feel.

I am so glad the Good Doctor has something he can share with his son.  I can tell you that it means the world to us to be able to do this with him, and I think he thinks it's pretty cool, too. 

On nice evenings, after dinner which is usually NOT from some fabulous restaurant, we will grab the dog on her leash, get the kids protected with helmets, and off we go for a half mile scoot around the block. 

It's on evenings such as this I think to myself:  This is all we ever really wanted.  Life is good.