A Lot of Testing, Just a Little Driving

We've had a loaner power chair since last Thursday, and boy has it been an adventure!  Several crashes and near little brother misses have kept Brian and me on our toes.  After the excitement wore off, though, Clayton did start concentrating more while driving the chair around the obstacle course the house.  But since the sun was actually shining on Saturday, we jumped at the chance to get Clayton outside in some wider spaces with the chair.

There is no doubt Clayton knows how to drive the chair.  He just drives it where he isn't supposed to!  I would normally not care if he went in the yard, but with all the melting snow, he was leaving ruts everywhere and the wheels were covered in mud.  He also LOVES going in the neighbors' rocks.  (He does this with his bike too).  He was just destined to be a rock climber I guess.  We spent the whole time outside begging him to drive and when he finally did it was straight into a mailbox or the rocks. (on purpose because there was lots of laughter).

The only other issue we had was he would stop and tell us where he wanted to go.  "Help me."  This is why we want him to get a power chair and feel this freedom--we don't want him to get so dependent on us that he thinks he needs us right there even in a power chair. 

I really think that outside is good because of the space but bad because of the distractions.  Neighbors were outside, Jackson was playing, the dogs were running, and there were about a bazillion cars on our otherwise quiet street (they all came out in droves that day!).  It's a work in progress, but he's going to get it!