Bike Riding
"clyde" learned how to ride a bike. It's a huge thing for a kid with motor planning issues. I will never forget the day his physical therapist asked me to come out to the hallway to see something.....there was "Clyde" on a big wheel, pedaling with all his might up and down the hallway. I cried. He was 6, and i never thought i'd see the day he learned to pedal a bike.  

It was a quick transition from the big wheel to a bicycle...with training wheels of course. He LOVED the yellow and black bike my sister bought him for his birthday. He rode it EVERYWHERE. We had a fenced in backyard and i'd let him ride it all over the back yard. He and his brother would have "races" around the back yard, down the drive way, and to the cul de sac just one house over. 

Well, as Clyde got older, he felt he could ride that bike any time, any where. With or without his brother or parents. I was out one day. Not sure where, maybe I was at work or shopping, and Dad was on "duty". He was upstairs and he heard the garage door open. He was getting dressed after a shower with the boys. "C" could dress himself. Clyde still had trouble. Dad assumed it was "C" that had opened the garage door and was heading outside. He hurriedly put his clothes on to check. As he got to the garage door, he passed "C" on his way. Shoot. Where's Clyde??

Well, Clyde decided he wanted to ride that bike. He was addicted to riding that bike. We had taken many bike rides around the neighborhood as a family.  Clyde decided that he was ready to ride that day. Off on his bike he went.

He was gone a good 5 minutes when Dad realized he had taken off. Dad put on shoes and took off on foot to see if he could find him. Now, remember, they had just had a shower and Clyde has a seizure disorder and autism so anything could happen.

Dad rounded the corner by the school and there was a sherrif car and a town police car stopped. The officers were standing outside of their cars with shocked expressions on their faces. As Dad nears, he sees Clyde.

Clyde had taken his bike out for a ride. He put on his helmet and his shoes. BUT NOTHING ELSE. 

CLYDE WAS STARK NAKED!!!!!

Dad was embarassed.....tried to explain to the officers just why his kid was out on a bike ride naked. 

Laughing, the officers replied, "At least he had a helmet on!" 

Safety first, I guess.

Great America 2.0

Great America 2.0

Well, it's been a while since i have written anything....sorry. Life is crazy as a single mom of 3 and 2 of them having a rare seizure disorder. It's summer time again which i kicked off with a weekend away in Indianapolis with that group of amazing moms. But this blog isn't about them....though I could write a whole other blog about them and our weekends!!! 

Anyway, we once again have our season passes to the local theme park, Six Flags Great America. The kids LOVE the place. Me? I'm getting weary of it, but its what they want. So, Father's Day comes and of course, their dad goes away for the weekend and I get stuck with the kids on his "day". My brother wants to head to Great America with my nieces for the day and wants us to go too. (We get a special pass so we don't have to wait in lines.) SO, the plan is made. Bonnie, Clyde, and myself will head to Great America, first thing when it opens and meet up with my brother and his kids. Bonnie adores her cousin, K, and spends the day riding all the rides with her, and holding hands with her. Quite sweet, actually! 

So, the next ride is the Giant Drop. It's a tower that has multiple sides. On each side is a "car" with 4 seats. The ride starts and the car is taken all the way to the top of the tower. Once at the top, you sit up there for a few seconds. The view is great. Some days you can see all the way to Milwaukee from up there! Well, we presented our pass and had to wait til the next start of the ride, as the one was just loaded and about to head to the top. We were standing RIGHT next to the gate with an attendant right there on the other side with the ride buttons next to her. As we watched the people on the ride ascend, we paid little attention to Bonnie. 

The next thing we knew, Bonnie's little arm shot out, and hit the red emergency STOP button on the attendant's buttons!!!!  The ride comes to a screeching halt, half way up. OMG. The poor ride attendant starts to freak out. My brother starts to freak out. He says I don't even KNOW that kid!!  He tells me there is no way he's getting kicked out of the park for Bonnie's antics!!  I am laughing. I am shaking my head. ONLY my kid. Seriously, who puts buttons that are that important within reach of kids????  

The booth attendant is frantically trying to restart the ride, He's on the phone. He's pushed the automated voice button that says the ride is experiencing temporary mechanical issues. There's a mom standing nearby who's husband and sons are on the ride. She's trying to stay calm, but is also getting freaked. You see, HER son also has autism and is on the ride. Its the only one he wanted to ride that day and it breaks down while HE'S on the ride. She's hoping he doesn't freak out too. 

Five minutes go by, and the maintenance guys show up. They are in a good mood.....and I call out to them...You should really put a cover over these buttons so no one can ever do this again!!  One of them stops as Clyde says, again always in his dead pan voice, "Dat Builder Bob, Mom?"

The Maintenance guy looks at me and asks why i think there should be a cover, and I tell him, "Well, the ride stopped because my daughter, here(i point to her), reached over the gate and pushed the red button!" The maintenance guys both start laughing. HARD. The other one points to tiny Bonnie and says "That little peanut stopped the whole ride???" Now everyone is laughing. Within minutes, the ride is up and running perfectly again, as there is really nothing wrong with it. Bonnie makes her mark again.