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Sunday, June 24, 2012

A Bike For B

I have been looking, for the past year and a bit, to purchase a special bike for B. Because of her stroke at birth, her epilepsy, her spatial and attention problems, B cannot ride a regular bike and especially not in traffic. When she was little and could go on my bike it was not an issue, but now she is 13 and 130 pounds so trail-a-bikes and gators are no longer an option.

I have found the perfect bike. (See the link) We have to order it from the states. It is $1300 plus $700 shipping. We've looked into funding options, but they have not proved fruitful. Some charities only pay for specific items, some have very limited times to apply, and another wanted us to consider Canadian companies, at a cost of several thousand more for bikes not as appropriate. People have been offering to contribute to purchasing this bike, but I wanted to check out all of our options first.

Turns out ther aren't really any. :/ And the sooner we could get it, the better for B, who has been waiting for a bike for quite awhile.

So I am putting this out there. If you feel like you would like to contribute to getting B this bike, she and I would be very grateful. I have a paypal set up bikeforb@gmail.com. And please share this post with your friends.

Monday, June 4, 2012

The Positive From A Rough Morning

     B awoke in a rage this morning. Andrew had turned on SpongeBob Squarepants on her computer. The "Are you ready?" of the opening song compels B to get up. It is her weakness, and she does not appreciate that we know this. She got up and growled, then watched some and ate her breakfast. When it came time to get dressed, she grew very angry at Andrew and shut herself in her room, determined never to talk to either of us again.

      The positive things are that she didn't hit, and she actually told him why she felt so mad.

"I am pissed because you touched my personal belongings (computer) without asking! Wouldn't you be pissed if someone did that to you? Huh?"

     That represents a huge leap for B. Her anger usually has no explanations, she just has rage and she does not know why. Thinking about it and expressing herself like that makes a huge difference in trying to calm her down.

     We gave her a few minutes, and then I got her Anger Scale and went and climbed into bed with her. We talked about where she felt she registered on it at that moment, and where we needed to get to (baseline). Then I drew some pictures on her back, and put her bra on Sparky, and all the planets aligned for her again.

     I have to say, Sparky's bosoms look simply fantastic in a bra. He needs some depilatory cream, though.