SOTD

Solution of the day.  No, there won't be a mundane short update every day!  At the moment I'm trying to document my attempts at better posture for Cameron in Ranger so that we can USE it heaps :)

As you can see he is not sitting 100% straight, but I never expected that.  What you CAN see is him in Ranger, at the end of our trip to The Warehouse with his head upright and his body in a relatively comfortable position!  A couple of times on the journey he dropped his head but I can reach through the gap at the side under the sun hood and quickly correct his head.  The test will be how he goes when he is asleep but so far we are much better.  What I have done is put a pram pillow under the board at the bottom so that rather than follow the contour of the buggy seat, it is sitting flat(higher than it was at the back) so it has tilted his pelvis forward.  I put his grey carseat insert in upside down so he has more support further up his sides rather than in his legs, and I lowered the head pillow ever so slightly so it is at his neck and not his ears.  It's all very "bitsy" but if it proves to be effective, I think it will be easier for someone to make us a proper insert.

You can see here he is sitting at a "socially acceptable angle" - that is one that won't attract comments from concerned people walking past.  Of course this buggy seating is not at a "physio therapist acceptable level" but again, it never will be.  But his neck isn't dragging along behind him, he is pretty happy and he is out of the sun(and soon to be rain).  The exposure he has been receiving to the sun was unacceptable to me.  Yes, he'll still get hot in this buggy, but he won't be in direct sunlight which I believe is wrong.  Especially for him who can't tell me how he is feeling.  Hopefully we can also correct some of his body posture when he gets his new CharleyWrap - that will be another major development, in the right direction!

Out of the gate and off for a walk...

My son Cameron recently was lucky enough to be the recipient of a special needs Mountain Buggy.  The Ranger :)  Cameron is three years old, and he has Cerebral Palsy.  I have owned Mountain Buggy prams for 4 years(just a beginner really!) - starting with our black Urban Elite in 2007, and then our lime/black Swift in 2009.  We have been alternating between Cameron's wheelchair and his Swift for a while, but it is getting to the point where he is too big for the Swift.  His wheelchair offers no protection for sun or wind and to me it is essential that he gets those options when needed.

Due to the generosity of Mountain Buggy, yesterday on our doorstep we took ownership of their large buggy, Ranger, designed for larger children than what a normal baby buggy would take.  I cannot even begin to describe just what this means to me, and my family.  We are humbled and overwhelmed and as a result we are going to donate back our Swift so it can be given to someone in need.  I am going to really miss my little Swift, but time comes when I have to face up to the facts, that it simply won't fit us for much longer.  They are made to last well beyond 3 years, but Cameron requires head support, he can't sit up and he is too tall to be lying back much more. 

We took Ranger out for it's first test run today.  It is great to push, it actually made me want to keep going, to get out and go for big walks!  However I am not feeling 100% about it, and as I type I can feel myself getting into a bit of a funk about how to solve the problem of Camerons head control in the buggy.  It does not recline, and the angle of the buggy is more upright than what he is used to in a buggy.  Awake he mostly did pretty good but sleep was a royal pain in the bum and he couldn't maintain an upright head at all.  Even had one lady comment on "that poor boys head" loudly as she walked past(seriously, what gives people the right, anyway!!).  I've got his carseat insert in the buggy for his hips and bum and the head wedge I have in there is from an older buggy he used to have from a medical comany, but asleep it does nothing.  The need I have to have everything perfect is doing nothing at keeping me calm here, as I get frustrated that I can't immediately fix this, and even if I did have an idea I don't sew.  I will keep thinking, I will keep rolling up towels until I can have him fall asleep and maintain good head control - ie BACK and not flopping forward on to his lap!  Only bummer about that is I need to keep taking him out on long walks for him to fall asleep and test my creations. 

Never mind(for now).  I hope to have many adventures with my son and his Ranger, I hope to at least do something exciting with it once in a while so that I can report back and not have you bored to tears.  I am really hoping that I can take it to the beach this coming weekend!  Something the wheelchair would never do.  Today Ranger had it's first trip to the shops and my favourite cafe and I must admit it was pretty cool checking out it's reflection in the shop windows!