Wednesday, March 31, 2010

A swing set, and a slide

When I got home yesterday the kids, and I went on a walk. During the Spring and Summer I try to walk every night, and I am determined to lose ten pounds. Anyway, we walked up to the park which was by the prior model homes, and Emily wanted to swing. I decided to maneuver Jude out of his wheelchair, and take him on a swing too. I held on to his neck to support his head, and I placed one hand in his mid section on his diaper. We then began to swing, and I began to hear giggles, and squeals. Emily stopped swinging because she was having so much fun watching Jude. So why had it taken me this long to take him on a swing set?? I harp on my blog about how special needs children need to be treated the same, yet I had held him back from a normal childhood event. I sometimes forget that Jude is a stroke victim trapped in a normal child's body. He understands what he wants to do, but he cannot communicate it. So after the swing I got very adventurous, and let Emily take Jude down the slide. That was not as easy to accomplish because I had to crawl up the playground equipment to position Jude carefully on Emily's tummy. I then secured her hands around him, and ran back down to make sure they both stopped. He seemed to like that as well, and looked like he was ready to play more, but then he had a seizure....it was all to much. So we loaded Jude back up, and walked back home.

Jude had several more seizures throughout the night, and Mike mentioned giving him his new increased dose of the Felbatol. I am so resistant because it seems his seizures have increased, he is throwing up, and he has insomnia since we started the Felbatol, why make it worse?

We are taking another walk today, and heading back to the park. This time Mike wants to come with us too.

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Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

8 comments:

Searching for Grace said...

I just wanted to share that your blog is truly an inspiration for me. With my son, Matthew, even the smallest things ~ liking swinging~ are hard to accomplish. Knowing there is someone out there going through the same thing and making it all work allows me to see clearly how blessed we truly are. Thanks for the posts! I am a true fan :)

Our Journey said...

love it!! frankie also LOVES to swing!!! did you know that there are alot of parks in our area that have special needs swings? im not positive that it will work for jude but im thinking YES!

Katy said...

You need to do some google seaching and see if there's an adaptive playground in your area. Our playground has HUGE swings that fit a grown person so you can swing with your kid in your lap.

Also, I asked about swings on my FB page yesterday and people mentioned ones that work with their kids. So glad he had a good time.

Linda said...

Tell Daddy to get busy! Jude needs one of those big wooden swingsets right in the backyard :)

kate c said...

Hi Jenn - We have the Little Tikes swing bought from Toys R Us. It's the blue one with a high back. We have to use rolled towels for positioning but it works pretty well. Hours of entertainment! Love that Jude was squealing - that is the best sound ever.

Ali Harper said...

So happy you all had a great time at the park... hope you find an adaptive playground to enjoy once in a while :)

love, love, love the pics ~Jude is just too sweet!

Sarah said...

I just LOVED reading this.... :P You are a wonderful mommy.

Swing sets Australia said...

It's sad that the poor kid cannot enjoy his life like normal kids do. However it is lucky that he got surrounded by people who love him.