Prone Standers and the End Of Summer Freedoms

Today is the official end of summer vacation. No, we still have 7 more glorious days until school begins but TODAY we begin implementing our school schedule. At least we attempt to begin implementing our school schedule. Mornings during school are brutal and that's putting it mildly. We need to get in to the groove of early to bed and early to rise now and not after the fact. Especially me who was up until 1:30 AM last night watching re-runs of Bones on Netflix.

I am nervous about sending the baby to a new school where she doesn't know any one. Remember how hard the first day of kindergarten was? Letting your 5 year old go off into the big, scary world? Imagine that child could not walk or talk well and was only three. The Baby will begin her new communication disorder pre-k class at a local elementary school while the boy returns to the school he attended last year. Yesterday we took advantage of tax free shopping, BOGO offers, and internet coupons finishing up shoe, uniform and clothing shopping. They are ready. I am not!

So today, the minute the baby got off the school bus we began our new schedule in her prone stander. I have to say I've been lax to say the least about her daily time in the prone stander primarily because Popi cleaned out the garage and buried it under a pile of other equipment that i did not feel like digging through. Motivated by guilt i recently resurrected it and cleaned it up. Before The Baby's physical therapist went on maternity leave we made the necessary adjustments and it is ready to rock n' roll. It has a nifty tray pictured above to do art activities and games on but the most fun is when big brother is "manning the wheel" so to speak. Their antics this afternoon reminded me of my favorite former Disney ride, Mr Toads Wild Ride.

Here we go!

This is where I'm screeching, "Stop sailing her across the room! " Obviously she's terrified.

Pondering what mischief they could get into out side.

Peas in a pod.

There is an irony to this particular prone stander. When we were putting it together after obtaining it from a local hospital's loaner program we found a name etched on the under side. The former owner was someone I knew! The last time I saw the original owner, a little girl with severe cerebral palsy, was when I was the nurse one summer at a Hippotherapy camp for special needs children. The therapist who ran the camp bribed asked me to replace the first nurse who "didn't work out." For my nursing skills she would give one of my foster children and the teenager free scholarships. How could I pass that up? We were talking $1,000.00.

It was stinking hot and nothing says pungent like horse poo in the summer. Besides being the camp nurse i also seemed to be the camp arts and crafts lady, snack lady, life guard, fly swatter, side walker and referee. One darling little girl sat next to me at snack time one day and informed me she liked me much better than that other nurse who "never moved." I told her someone should have checked her pulse because the nurse was probably dead. At the end of camp while I was walking from one end of the pasture to the other my pants literally almost fell off. I had lost 6 lbs.

The original owner of the prone stander from horsey camp? She's a freshman in college now! Lord, I am getting old!

For all of you young readers I'm here to tell you that your mom is right. It's a short distance from the cradle to the crematorium. It only seems long when you're young.