Physical Impairment vs Playground

I used to play on the playground with Isaac. At least the swinging and sliding and such. I always left run and chase to others. Since Riley's existence I find myself parking it on a bench more often than not. God, that sounds sad. Maybe it is...I'm very hands on at home. I color, paint, build with blocks and all that good stuff often. Outside, even in my own backyard I do a lot more watching than playing. I do make frequent use of the swing though.

Today (covered in SPF 50), I took Riley to a new playground. I went on crutches, thank goodness. There were a fair amount of challenges.

As you can see in this picture there was a plastic barrier around the sand area. A very tall one. I think it hit Riley near chest level. I was unprepared for this and not super quick about observing it. I set our stuff down, shoved the camera in my pocket and abandoned one crutch. Bad call as it turned out. I made a few failed attempts to swing my legs over before enlisting Riley's help. Bless her she tried, but alas I was gravity's victim once more.

Recovering from the fall "into the playground" was something of a puzzle too. I had very little traction in all that sand and only one crutch. Hmmmm....I ended up on the 4th try digging my back foot into the sand and pushing the crutch against the plastic half wall. Then I was up and limping.

It was a meager little playground, long since abandoned for the fancier upgrades in the distance. It has a slide, a swing set with toddler sized bucket swings and a bouncy pelican. I told Riley it was a playground just for her. She was excited and slightly dubious, but she had a lot of fun.

By the time I started to go around the slide to help her up the ladder she'd made it to the top. It was shady enough that she didn't scald herself on the way down either. Of course with so few options I knew we were headed for the swings soon. I did take immediate notice that they were all "tot seats" as the sign called them. Not a "big girl" swing among them which meant two things: 1)I couldn't swing too 2)How in the heck was I gonna get her in there?!? When she was a baby no big deal she was a light weight. At home these days it's rare for her to request the "baby swing", but if I'm in my wheelchair I let her climb me and then from standing in my lap put her in. Otherwise I drag a lawn chair over and let her climb that.

From the ground, in sand, into a seat that high...I didn't get this on the first try either. I propped my crutches against the the swing set (I always choose the swing next to the support so Riley expects it now). Then I attempted to brace myself and lift. Fail, of course. I tried a few things before I finally backed up against the aforementioned pole and pulled on the swing to see how far over towards me I could get it. That's how I did it, picked her up leaning on the pole, pulled the swing toward us and aimed her feet in. Once she was situated I picked up a crutch and pushed her until my arm was falling off.

Talking her out of a swing it always a job, but I convinced her to go bounce on the pelican. We used the same exit procedure we do at home: she stood up leaning on me, I leaned on a crutch while lowering her in kind of a roll down my body until her feet where on the ground. The pelican was super appealing to me because she could do it by herself and it was outside of the sand. I caught my breath for a minute while she figured it out. We decided her name was Princess Pelican. She and Riley had a few adventure while I caught my breath.

Right before we left Riley got creative she decided the top of the slide was a tower (hers is at home, Daddy built it) and then she was a trapped princess. I tossed her the key to her tower from the bench. She caught it, unlocked the door with gusto, discovered the "tunnel" (slide), took it to freedom, ran excitedly through her private playground and then climbed the ladder to repeat the whole thing.

So, now that I've done it once I've got systems in place for this playground and will happily return. Many thanks to my amazingly smart little girl for insisting I swap her sandals for sneakers before we left. The last obstacle and only unsolved issue was the potty. I suspect it's by the new playground that was crawling with summer camp kids in the distance. There was no way I was making that hike or braving that crowd to be wrong either. We rushed home which is about 2 minutes away (and made it). I felt both proud of myself and Riley's teamwork and totally frustrated at points. The truth is my daughter would have enjoyed walking around an empty field, but I hope she never feels defeated by a problem. I'm also happy that she had so much fun playing a game with me while I sat on the bench.

Now that I write that we do that in the backyard a lot. We swing together or she climbs the tower and I swing. All the while having a dialogue/playing games/singing songs. I guess we ended on a rather cheesy note, so I leave you with Galaxy Quest: "Never give up. Never surrender!" (Take that playground.)