Wheely exciting

I've never really recognised how similarly dread and excitement present physically. I've felt off kilter much of this week. You know that thing when you lie awake at night trying to work out what it is you're worrying about? I've had to conclude that, infact, what is bothering me is excitement.

Aside from the MAD Blog award shortlist fun (which I still can't quite believe!) we have other exciting developments which are all wheel related! Are you sitting comfortably...

Not long after Mojo turned two we went for a walk on the Common and there were lots of children out on their Christmas bikes and scooters. Mojo had a lovely time laughing and watching them. I didn't think much of it but my husband got gradually quieter as the day went on. In the evening when we collapsed into our customary heap on the sofa he told me that it broke his heart that Mojo would never be able to ride a bike. Now that got me thinking. Surely someone had made cycling accessible by now?

So off I went to google and within a few minutes I had come across Wheels for Wellbeing. There it was, accessible cycling 20 minutes up the road. So it was with a degree of smugness that I produced the details for Mojo and Daddy the following Saturday morning and off they went to see if Mojo could ride a bike. I must confess that I was concerned that it might not be something she was able to do given how tiny she was and how limited her range of motion and ability to support herself.

Well, when they returned the pair of them were high as kites! The lovely people at Wheels for Wellbeing had welcomed them warmly and gone to great lengths to find the perfect bike for Mojo and her Daddy to ride together and with the addition of some extra strength Velcro to make absolutely sure the seatbeat was secure enough for her tiny body off they went. I'm reliably informed that the two of them rode round in hysterics for the best part of an hour. We have been back many times since and each time she is a little bigger and can try a different bike. It's just fabulous, and you can even get a cuppa, what more could you wish for!

Mojo was able to experience cycling and I was okay with the fact that it was fully assisted because she was enjoying it so much.

Until of course last week when the lovely Physio at Mojo's school caught me at pick up time to say that she had tried Mojo on a trike at school and been amazed by how much she had completely loved it. Might we be interested in getting Mojo her own bike and, if so, she could set up an assessment for us with the manufacturer. Urmm. YES. So later that week I came into school to see Mojo trying out the school trike. It's a while since I was moved to tears by watching her achieve something but seeing the total joy as she rode the trike around the hall was pretty special. She looked so grown up, so proud of herself and so very, very happy.

As if the cycling wasn't enough we also found out recently that Mojo has been accepted on to a scheme run by the charity QEF (Queen Elizabeth Foundation for Disabled People). The scheme loans mini powered wheelchairs with bespoke controls (Bugzis) to children who can then benefit from being able to explore their environments more independently. It gives me such happiness to imagine Mojo driving around the school corridors under her own control.

I always find it difficult not to go embarrassingly overboard in expressing how grateful I am to the teams of people that make all these keep-me-awake-at-night-exciting things possible for us. I am filled with so much love for the people who get out of bed to volunteer their time on a Saturday morning so that Mojo and her Daddy can go cycling. I am in awe of the clever people who design and build trikes, bikes and powered wheelchairs to allow children like Mojo to have new adventures in mobility.

That's really what it's all about for me, giving Mojo more independence than I had dreamed of and, importantly, the opportunity to get into so much more mischief than she might otherwise have been able to.

There follows some shameless self-promotion...
I am completely thrilled to have been shortlisted for the MAD Blog Award for Best Preschool Blog 2016. If you enjoy reading about Mojo's adventures and would like to vote for The Sun Will Come Up I would be very very chuffed if you took 5 seconds to follow this lovely link and voted Click here for voting form THANK YOU