Adventures With Low Tone

Mini Meerkat has low tone and weakness in her trunk. It's one of the things we work on in PT (where we have had some good times and some mishaps). It makes some typical kid activities a little trickier than usual.

We've had a ton of snow this winter, and Mini Meerkat loves being pulled in the sled. When she was a baby and toddler, she fit in those awesome little sleds with high backs and straps. Those were great. Then she turned into a giant preschooler, and I had to upgrade to a regular sled. This is what I imagine when I think of pulling a child in a sled:

Yay! We're having so much fun sledding!

We start out that way. Mini Meerkat is quite happy to sit in the sled. So far so good. Then we start moving:

Splat!

She tips over pretty much as soon as the sled moves. Her snowsuit is no help here, because it just makes her puffier and slippier. Sometimes she tries to hold on to the handles on the sides of the sled, but that just delays that inevitable slide downwards.

The snow can be bumpy, too:

Rolling away...

She just rolls right out. Thankfully she thinks this is hysterically, and sometimes she just keeps rolling herself through the snow. I think that counts as good exercise, right? We also have an old school sled that has a back that she fits in, but I think special needs sleds is a niche market that seems to be lacking (disclaimer, I have not actually looked that hard... maybe they exist somewhere?).

Another excellent past time of small children is using their parents for horsey rides. You know, when the parent has to crawl around on the floor with a small child sitting on them and yelling giddy up. Like with sledding, we start out strong:

Giddy up!

Until I move:

Woah!

She tips over. Again. Usually she tries to right herself a couple times before deciding it is more fun to just lie on my back like a saddle blanket and yell "giddy up!" directly into my ear. She goes limp and just flops her limbs over my side and giggles. I usually inch forward pretty slowly, and when she urges me to go faster, the slide begins again ending in:

Splat!

Also hilarious, in her opinion. She decided that I was a donkey rather than a pony. She does a little better on actually pony rides that have saddles and stuff, which is great for helping to strengthen her core. I'm not sure that repeated falling off of me in slow motion or rolling off her sled really count, but I think they are a great part of a home exercise program...