Maybe it's time...

Max is at a stage in his life right now where he has 3 modes of transportation:

1) A wheelchair, which we push him in when we're going relatively long distances.
2) A walker, which he's not completely stable in yet and requires not only assistance but PERsistance because he'd rather stop and enjoy the scenery than get to where he's going.
3) We carry him, which up to this point has been pretty easy to do because of his size.

For six years I've been torn between facing the reality of his disability by accepting the fact that he can't walk and simply needs and deserves a wheelchair and being aggressive in our attempts to get him to walk by forcing him to use only his walker, thereby adopting the philosophy that practice makes perfect.

But the third option has been available too and to be honest, up to this point it has been the easiest and frankly, the most convenient for me. Call it laziness, selfishness, whatever you'd like... but it's the truth. Such was the case a couple days ago. I had just gotten off work and picked up the boys. It had been one of those days and Matt was working. So I knew that as soon as I got home, I would end up setting the boys in front of the TV while I crashed on the couch. I just couldn't do that to them, so I decided to stop at McDonald's to take them to eat and let them play on the playground.

I instinctively grabbed a high chair and put Max in it since I'm not 100% comfortable with Max sitting in a chair by himself without support. We sat by the playground and ate our food. About halfway through the meal, Carter announced that he had to go to the bathroom. I immediately went through all the obstacles in my head. I'm not going to send him alone since we're at the opposite end of the building and I can't even see the bathroom whatsoever from this point. I can't leave Max here alone, but bringing him is difficult because once we got there, he can't stand by himself while I help Carter and I'm certainly not going to sit him on the floor of the bathroom. Once we leave, is someone going to come clean up our food that we're not finished eating yet? I can't just leave my purse sitting there.

After more insistence from Carter, I decided the best option would be to just bring Max and figure something out when we got to the bathroom. I went to go lift him out of the high chair and couldn't. He was stuck. His legs were too long for the small openings and it was then that I realized just how tiny this high chair was. By this point, Carter was out of his chair and cupping his rear end while shouting, "Mom! I really have to go poop! Hurry!" What could I do?

Imagine if you will Carter grabbing his butt while I followed, dragging my 6 year old in a high chair(without wheels) across uneven tile while he yelled, "Wha hoo!! This is FUN!" The confused faces as I brought the high chair into the bathroom was priceless. I must have looked like an absolute wreck. Even more so, I'm sure, when we got back to our table and realized I still had the problem of Max being stuck. I pulled and pulled and tried to maneuver my child out of this dang high chair. He was absolutely stuck.

Luckily, we were in South Jordan and I happened to know a certain cop on duty. I called Matt, and he showed up. We both pried and twisted and did everything we could think of to get him out, but failed miserably. Just as I was about to swallow all pride and go ask for an allen wrench to take apart the high chair, Matt pulled some magic and twisted him just right to be able to free him.

A few things became abundantly clear that night: Max is growing and getting to the point where I can't just carry him wherever I go. He's also getting too big for high chairs. There's absolutely nothing wrong with wheelchairs and they can be extremely helpful... much easier to transport someone in than in a high chair. Max can stay in the wheelchair so you don't have to set him down anywhere while doing something else.

And Carter REALLY needs to learn how to wipe himself.