I finally managed to harass Bear enough to take a day off of work during the last week of Atti’s school break, so we decided to make a day of it and go to the zoo.

It was our first big expedition with the wheelchair, so as we were buying tickets to get in I asked the cashier about their disability access. He looked at Atti in his chair and said, “Oh! Hang on a second!” and rang us in over again. I never would have thought to ask, but we got a major discount! Atti’s ticket was cheaper, and I got in for almost nothing as a “caretaker” discount. Super A+ Sacramento Zoo!

My duties as caretaker mainly involved pushing the empty chair around while Bear carried Atti everywhere. In his chair he came right up to handrail level, so he was missing out on most of the sights. But with his dad he had a great time looking at the funny, smelly, birds.

But really, all he wanted to do was ride the carousel, which was of course not included in the entry fee. As soon as he saw it, he could not be dissuaded. He didn’t really want to listen to me trying to take a teaching moment to talk about waiting our turn. Instead he just wanted to yell at the people standing in front of us. But I suppose any communication is better than none, right?

Atti has all kinds of wheels now! We got this little bike for him at Christmas time, but we haven’t used it much. Then our OT helped us adapt the pedals to keep his feet strapped in and now Atti has a bike that’s secretly a therapy tool.

It seems so important for every kid to have a bike, but the one’s that are adapted for kids with disabilities are crazy expensive. Like, you could get a car for the same money. We found this one at Costco of all places. We couldn’t believe our luck. Along with a whole bunch of safety harnesses, it also comes with that caretaker handle on the back so we can push Atti. And then best of all, as we push him the pedals go round and round and it teaches him how to move his legs.

It’s amazing how grown up he looks. My baby is totally a kid.

Last weekend we got together with some long lost friends for a BBQ. A couple of our friends moved back to Canada a few years ago, so now we have to content ourselves with the internet, and the rare visit where all the people who love them fight for time. We were lucky to get a whole afternoon.

Since the last time we saw them there have been new additions to families and kids have sprouted up so that they’re almost unrecognizable. We tossed all the kids inside the trampoline and enjoyed our time to catch up.

The other parents were worried about Atti getting hurt or stepped on, but I just tossed him right in the pile. I figure that kids are supposed to come home with the occasional bruise. This is Atti’s chance. The kids are just awesome because instead of being weirded out or overprotective they just asked, “What’s wrong with his feet?” and I told them that he was born too early for his brain to tell his feet how to move, but the rest of him was just like them.

Atti giggled and shouted “Bounce! Bounce! Bounce!” while the kids jumped near him. And I tried not to cry as I saw my little guy included by his friends.