Jon’s return to school this year has been great. He has the same teacher this year as last–Tami, the first teacher to really click with him and see his potential. So, there is no transition to speak of, and no burden of trying to communicate all the subtleties of Jon’s situation to a new person with his or her own plans for teaching. Jon hit the ground running, back to all of the computer work and reading exercises that he left in June (in fact, we worked on reading and typing in the summer). So he’s very happy.

On Thursday, his bus arrived and I got on the bus to greet him and assist the driver as she unstrapped his wheelchair. Jon greeted me with a long list of what he did at school today–a paragraph where he’d never given me more than a sentence before. Wow. He was really communicative. Clearly, he was on top of his game.

So we got him inside and we got him a snack. We discovered that we still had some Doritos (pretty much his favourite junk food) from last week’s party and gave him a small bowl.

Since he was so on the ball, I tried something I do from time to time: weasel in a little extra reading time. The TV was on, Jon had a mouthful of chips and I suddenly produced the large-type booklet I print up of his school reading program. The title page reads “I find a baby monster“. Jon, mouth full of chips, studied it with full concentration, scanning it carefully. Then, he read to me: “I…am…eating…nachos!”

I fell over laughing. Jon went back to relaxing. Message received, loud and clear.

We borrowed a walker from Jon’s school for the summer, but due to an unfortunate incident early in the summer (Jon hit his legs on the adjustable bolts jutting from the frame) and the overwhelmingly popular cycling, we didn’t get to use it as much as he does at school. Still, he and I have been out the past two days (note the foam pads over the bolts).

Today, the Snowbirds passed overhead (part of the Canadian International Air Show) as we walked today and Jon froze and made a small noise. I expected terror, but as the deafening roar passed over, I heard a stream of awe-filled, testosterone-fueled chortles.

Maybe next year we’ll find a spot to try to watch them. It will require a lot of concentration for Jon: they move so fast, and out-of-sync from their sound. So maybe the enjoyment just comes from moments like this…

It may not be a sustainable exercise plan for adults, but Jon cycled up Logan hill on his trike to the Danforth, and over to Caffe Demetre, for one of their thick milkshakes (which he consumed entirely on his own), and then home. Round trip 2.5 km (over one and a half miles)!

We finally started the process for getting Jon a new wheelchair on August 19. No, let’s back up a bit: We started the process for getting Jon a new wheelchair sometime last year, but the stars (and government agencies) didn’t align properly until now.

Jon’s been using the wheelchair frame he was prescribed four years ago, which, in a word, is crap. (For those not in the know, wheelchairs start with the basic metal frame, on which you can add all the not-quite-optional extras, like footrests, wheels, backrests and seats.) It’s a Category 2 frame, which means it is not very adjustable – only a limited number of options for wheel/footrest/armrest size, angle or position. He had the chair totally reoutfitted two years ago, and instead of junking it and starting with a better chair (like a Category 3, which is wholly adjustable), for some reason the same crap frame was expanded on and added to instead – which ended up costing about the same amount as the original chair.

Aside: I remember mentioning the cost of Jon’s current chair seat (a bare-bones thing made of hard foam and fabric) to my brother-in-law, who yelled “What! $600! For that price it should be a custom gel seat!” Bit of a difference of size of market for bikes vs. chairs! But I digress.

So, in July 2003 we went to the wheelchair clinic at Bloorview-MacMillan to start the process of getting a new chair. The physiotherapist asked us to put it off until Jon grew a bit, to give the government a nice, easy reason for requesting a new one (seemed reasonable, since they’ll be paying for half of it). Also, we were told to apply for a particular government grant for disabled children so that the full cost of the chair would be covered (sounds good to me!). I’ll leave it to your imagination, the hoops we had to jump through to apply for the grant. Suffice to say I don’t like government forms – especially 20-page ones!

Fast-forward to 2004. We got approved for the grant in April; get a clinic appointment in August. It takes five people to get Jon all measured up for the new chair: the physiotherapist, the seating specialist, the wheelchair vendor and the two parents who have to tell the other three “no, it has to be able to fit in a station wagon” or “no chest strap, because Jon would hang himself on one of those”. Now we sit tight and wait another couple of months until the government approves payment, and then – maybe, maybe – Jon’ll get his new wheelchair by November or so…

Ah well, too bad we couldn’t get one of these babies for Jon’s chair. He’d love the speed!

So you ask: What’s with this Weather Network addiction of Jon’s anyway? He’s been watching it fairly obsessively for about 3 years now, since kindergarten. He was at home sick with the flu one February, and within a couple of days took an interest in both Blues Clues and the Weather Network. Both are still favourites of his, but if Blues Clues was taken off the air I don’t think Jon would really notice, whereas if the Weather Network suddenly disappeared I tremble to think of the consequences!

Everyone who hears of this obsession remarks to us that he must be able to tell us tons about the weather. Uhhh…no, actually Jon has little to no interest in the weather. What he’s interested in are the weather forecasters! He can name all the WN’s on-air personalities and knows when their shifts are. What a groupie!

He also knows when all the different types of forecasts (International Weather, Lawn & Garden Forecast, Claritin Pollen Forecast, etc.) are coming, but the Local Forecast (“every 10 minutes on the 10s”) is by far his favourite to watch and the only one he pays attention to. He even has an eerie ability to turn on the TV just as the Local Forecast is playing (though it could be luck since they are only 10 minutes apart.) Why the Local Forecast? Maybe it’s the predictability of the graphics. Maybe it’s the hummable music (His interest did increase this spring when they introduced a catchy new Local Forecast theme). Who knows?

All we know is there’s gonna be hell to pay if Jon goes over to his Grandma and Grandpa’s later this month and Shaw has kicked the WN off the basic tier of channels like they’ve been threatening to. He’ll have to be satisfied with his other obsession, his LeapPad toy. But that’s another story….

A year or two past the average, and two months of serious wiggliness later, Jon has lost his first tooth, at roughly 7.75 years of age. He takes after his cousin Meghan, I guess.

We think he swallowed it. And as much as I’d love to have the keepsake, he does most of his business at school, and frankly what happens at school, STAYS at school. Sayonara, tooth!

One of Jon’s most endearing (or annoying, depending on our mood) habits is his ability to obsessively track the dates. Every morning, upon waking, his first statements is almost always “It’s Monday, May the 17th!!” (replace with whatever the correct day/date is). This morning Peter (preparing to write in Jon’s communications book to his teacher) asked Jon for the date. Jon said, totally deadpan, “Monday, May the 12th.” As Peter looked quizzically at Jon (Jon doesn’t usually miss the date by that much) Jon’s mouth widened into a little smile. So sly!