Is the wagon still big enough for her and not too tippy? My 7 y.o. was developmentally delayed, and spent a lot of time in clothes baskets. for that matter, both of my own children spent a lot of time in clothes baskets when they were youngsters, from the age of just learning to sit up, till they were about 2 - 3 years old. I'd strap a rectangular clothes basket to one of the cheap plastic toboggans, line it with a blanket, and put baby in, or set toddler in, and off we'd go. You could do the same with a clothes basket, or a milk carton with one side cut out. They provide a lot of support.
It's more a matter of the tethering in her spine, LG, than her being too big for the wagon or it being tippy. The spinal cord adheres to the surrounding tissue so when it stretches it causes further damage. I cut and pasted this from the SB website because it explains it so much better than I can:
"Tethering can happen before or after birth in children and adults; and most often occurs in the lower (lumbar) level of the spine. All forms of SB can be accompanied by spinal cord tethering; but it rarely occurs with Spina Bifida Occulta (SBO). In children, a tethered cord causes the spinal cord to stretch less as the child grows. In adults, the spinal cord will stretch during the course of normal activity like bending and stretching. If a symptomatic tethered cord (tethered cord syndrome) is left untreated, it can lead to progressive, permanent spinal cord damage.
What is tethered cord syndrome?
Tethered cord syndrome is the presence of several clinically recognizable signs (observed by a physician), or symptoms (reported by the patient) that occur together as a result of the tethering. These signs and symptoms can include: sensory disturbance, significant muscle weakness (as determined by neuro assessment), pain, and incontinence."
That muscle weakness is why it is so hard for her to maintain balance. Thing about how your back muscles fire to adjust your position when you shift your weight even slightly when standing or sitting. She can't do that very well because her muscles are weak, and because the nerves in her lower body don't fire well. So things like that wagon ride on uneven ground can easily cause further injury to her spinal cord. In her chair she has a solid back and seat assembly, all one piece. It's a pain in the butt because her chair doesn't fold for transport, but it holds her securely in her straps. It's why she didn't learn to sit unassisted until almost a year and half of specialized seats and physical therapy. Trying to maintain balance for her is actually painful at times because her spine moves, but her spinal cord doesn't.
I love all of you, my friends, for caring so much about one little girl! God forgot to tell Kendra she has a disability, and we're not gonna tell her either. We'll just do what we've always done...adapt, adopt, and adore.
Blooie: First, I love your avatar pic. Awesome!!! My hubby has been the axe man. Unfortunately, my meat roosters are reaching the day of reckoning, and hubby is not able to do the deed. He's still recovering from back surgery. On a side note, I am deeply grateful for the skill of a surgeon who was able to remove his pain so completely and successfully. God has greatly blessed us with a good surgical outcome, and the timing to allow me to have an income to replace hubby's lost wages until he is able to go back to work (soon!) I can't wait until I can have some days at home to catch up with all of the details i'm missing. Any how, I digress... sorry. I've found that once the head is off, the bird is just meat that needs to be processed. It will be hard for me this year to do the axe, but, I'll just have to get through it. My prayer is that i will be able to process each bird without any misses.
Thank you! That photo was the product of makeup and a great photographer! Teehee I'm so glad that your husband shook whatever ailed him and was able to get his surgery done. I'm especially thankful to the Good Lord and the skilled doctors that he's doing so well. I'm pretty much over the chicken processing thing. It was temporary, and the support from everyone here was helpful. We didn't do the axe thing. Ken just shot them in the head and they dropped right where they were, just like pheasant hunting only these pheasants had been raised in my house for almost 6 weeks. <sigh> You're a strong woman, you'll be able to do what has to be done when the time comes - I have total faith in you!
Last year, when we processed our birds, my 12 y.o. hid out in the house. The 7 y.o. wanted to be outside in the thick of things. She laughed hysterically when she saw the birds run into the bushes without their heads. Not exactly the reaction i was expecting.
Katie surprised me too. She was very matter-of-fact asking Grampa what this part was, or what that part did. I had to turn away when she admired what a pretty pink color the lungs were. I was trying not to laugh at the image of an 8 year old girl admiring the look of a chicken's internal organs. Silly baby!
They fight over nestboxes.. they always want the box the other is in.
At one point I had THREE chickens in one of those plastic nestboxes. The two divas and the poor chicken trying to lay her egg.
