Play day

Last night I pulled out the parachute for us to play with after supper.  We hadn't used it in a couple weeks and Sophie was very excited to see it, as was Lucas!  It is a great sensory experience for Sophie with all the colours, noises of the fabric as it is moved up and down as well as running under the parachute which puts the wind in her face.  Lucas was pushing her under the parachute and she thought that was the best part, she may not have even cared that the parachute was there at that point lol.

I asked Sophie this morning if she wanted to play with the parachute again and she said yes with big smiles, so we had another go at it.

I managed to find the parachute at a garage sale just by luck early this summer and it was only $10!!!  I have always wanted to have one so I was very excited when I found it.  Lucas loves it as much as Sophie and everyone loves getting a turn being the one to be under the chute.

Sophie was concentrating very hard, she is always mesmorized by the multi-colours.  Sophie has a severe cortical vision impairment and I think that these bold bright colours that are constantly moving really help keep her attention. 

Later today we decided to try and get Sophie's Wike trailer set up.  It has been sitting in the garage for most of the summer so I figured it was about time we got it out for a ride!  Thank goodness for the internet because we were able to watch a video on how to attach everything since I had forgotten all the instructions.   So we got it all together and the four of us headed out on our first bike ride as a family.  :)

The helmet was a disaster, Sophie moves her head around so much with her head back that it kept coming down over her eyes and was strangling her from the neck part.  It was basically crushing her nose as well after a short time.  So part way through the ride I ditched it.  She was happy because she could see (and breathe) and we will just have to figure something else out.  We just stayed on the sidewalks and the quiet streets in our neighbourhood.  If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them, the helmet fits her properly but her body movements are the issue.  I was thinking I could prop her shoulders more forward but I don't know how comfy she would be. 

 I put the cover over her for the ride so at least she has the roll bars and she is strapped in a car seat.  Anyway, she has to have one on by law so we will figure it out. 

The trailer itself was definitely a success,  the car seat rigged into it worked great and I LOVED seeing her out on the ride like that.  I was so happy :) and I think she was too.  I am pretty sure it was a bit overwhelming for her as she was very quiet but she didn't get upset and loved seeing me on the bike near her and of course she got to see daddy straight ahead.  Hopefully we will get lots of use out of this over many years to come.