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The bather in all its glory<\/p><\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

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This is all great…for now. But yesterday this happened:<\/p>\n

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Riding low. How did he fit in the top part yesterday?<\/p><\/div>\n

I took Charlie to a craft store\u00a0(Alas, I am not a crafter, but I needed a picture frame.) and when I went to put him in the upper part of the shopping cart, I realized he no longer fits. With arms straining and still a half a length of Charlie yet to go, I just could not origami him into those leg holes. Clearly, he was not broken up about it. But I had to take a moment. This was the beginning of the end of our current situation.<\/p>\n

The signs have been coming on for a while: 1) I can\u2019t easily carry him from the car into school. 2) He\u2019s the longest four-year-old I\u2019ve ever met, like a pale Gumby. 3) His room is upstairs and might as well be outer space for all my trying to get there with him at bedtime. 4) Our house has stairs at every single entrance. We carry the wheelchair and then him.<\/p>\n

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Behold, the longest four-year-old.<\/p><\/div>\n

So we are going to have to adapt our adaptive living situation. We\u2019ll eventually buy a van with a lift. We will beg our insurance for a motorized wheelchair. We will either move Charlie downstairs to our master bedroom or hire a contractor to make our house more \u201chandicap friendly\u201d: ramps, wheel-in shower, motorized lift on stairs, etc. The Cerebral Palsy organization has a great resources list for companies who specialize in this kind of gig. For moms who need to be in the know, here\u2019s the link: http:\/\/www.cerebralpalsy.org\/resources\/government-resources\/housing\/home-modifications<\/a><\/p>\n

We must evolve or devolve. We’re animals in the wild and we’re fighting for our territory. So we will create a workaround. It\u2019s what we have been training for. Forget marathons or Tough Mudders. This is our\u00a0test of endurance. Without Charlie I might never adapt. I might never see change as both\u00a0necessary and\u00a0good.\u00a0But he\u00a0calls me to it. He changes my stripes to spots and this I know for truth: he’s the only one I\u2019d give up my bedroom to.<\/p>\n

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Just doing a little Thinking Out Loud<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"