She didn't know I was watching her.
She sat in her little manual wheelchair watching one of her favorite movies. I had a view of her through a doorway in another room. The angle was such that she couldn't see me but I could see her.
I saw the back of her head, filled gloriously with growing blond hair; delicate yet thick as it begins to drape over her tiny shoulders. Her shoulders lifted slightly as she placed her hands on the wheels of her wheelchair and with precision she turned herself to the right. Spying an object on a small rocking chair nearby she thrust her arms forward and glided to the chair, expertly stopped one wheel from rotating while she reached with her other hand and snatched up the object of her interest.
She grappled with it a bit as the SMA fought her ability to grip the object. She won. She had the object in her hand and placed both hands again on the wheel of her wheelchair. With all of her might, putting her entire upper body into the movement, she thrust herself forward, trusting the belt to hold her and the wheelchair glided effortlessly away from the chair. She once again manipulated the wheels to make a sudden yet graceful turn and with all intention placed herself back in front of the TV...watching once again one of her favorite movies.
I wondered for a moment what it must be like to be her. I wondered how it felt to be confined to a wheelchair. I thought about what her hopes might be, what her aspirations will be as she grows, what her experience will bring to her.
She is quite a person, this two-and-a-half year old of ours. She orchestrates her life like no other person I have met.
She didn't know I was watching her...
She sat in her little manual wheelchair watching one of her favorite movies. I had a view of her through a doorway in another room. The angle was such that she couldn't see me but I could see her.
I saw the back of her head, filled gloriously with growing blond hair; delicate yet thick as it begins to drape over her tiny shoulders. Her shoulders lifted slightly as she placed her hands on the wheels of her wheelchair and with precision she turned herself to the right. Spying an object on a small rocking chair nearby she thrust her arms forward and glided to the chair, expertly stopped one wheel from rotating while she reached with her other hand and snatched up the object of her interest.
She grappled with it a bit as the SMA fought her ability to grip the object. She won. She had the object in her hand and placed both hands again on the wheel of her wheelchair. With all of her might, putting her entire upper body into the movement, she thrust herself forward, trusting the belt to hold her and the wheelchair glided effortlessly away from the chair. She once again manipulated the wheels to make a sudden yet graceful turn and with all intention placed herself back in front of the TV...watching once again one of her favorite movies.
I wondered for a moment what it must be like to be her. I wondered how it felt to be confined to a wheelchair. I thought about what her hopes might be, what her aspirations will be as she grows, what her experience will bring to her.
She is quite a person, this two-and-a-half year old of ours. She orchestrates her life like no other person I have met.
She didn't know I was watching her...
