We play with wheelchairs– for fun. That’s how we roll here in Alpine Village, especially when a gently used one is dropped off as a donation for Eastern Adaptive Sports. Some people leave handmedown clothes in bags; we are left handmedown wheelchairs because when people need them, they need them. They are often challenging, time… Continue reading Universal Design: All for One and One for All
You realize how much your kid listens to your conversations with your spouse when your 6 year old son is worried he’ll get pressure sores on his bum from some new pants which have buttons on the rear pockets. I try to explain that Dad is afraid of pressure sores because he doesn’t have much… Continue reading Autumn and Atrophy: Once the Leaves Leave…
Doesn’t every little girl want a Paralympic wheelchair racing Barbie doll? Ours did when she was four, and it remains one of her favorite toys because “wheelchair racing Barbie is so fast and has good clothes” in her words. Echoed further at the Circle Triathlon yesterday, which we compete in as a family, she asked… Continue reading #WeAreAllSportsFans #3: Did You Know in Addition to the Paralympics September is Also Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month?
My second “public support and sharing of a hashtag” ever: #WeAreAllSportsFans. The first being #endpianoviolence, which if you haven’t checked out Meredith Koch’s story, you ought to. The goal of the #WeAreAllSportsFans campaign, launched by Mpower Sports and Recreation on Aug. 1, is to reach the international sports community and sports fans worldwide and have… Continue reading #WeAreAllSportsFans
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about personal independence and how it means different things for different people. We’ve crossed this incredible turning point in our parenting development with Geoff being able to take our kids places alone without the threat of one of them running away or getting some place “inaccessible”where he might not… Continue reading Thinking about Independence on Independence Day…
The above black and white picture of my dad in the sweet aviator shades of 1982, perhaps, is one of my favorite pictures of us for a variety of reasons. A giant blow up version leftover from his 60th birthday party hangs on my classroom door and students comment regularly on it– about how “badass”… Continue reading Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads, “Stand- in” Dads, Uncle- Dads, and Dads in Heaven
There is no doubt that we are giving this parenting gig our best effort; however, in those moments when we realize just how badly a situation could have turned out, we shake our heads in disbelief at how we could have been so stupid. See the kids in this picture, smiling, wearing protective head gear,… Continue reading Parenting: Risk Taking and Mistake Making
Let’s face it- most parenting is adaptive as we learn to adjust to the little people who come into our lives. Just when we believe we have found an answer, they grow, change, evolve, and send us back to the drawing table of sorts. Today, Geoff made a bold mood. He decided, while I was… Continue reading Adaptive Cycling: One Boy, One Dad, and One Bike Path
