Weekend at Bernie's Experience: Wheelchair Style

The other day at work I was talking to a few co-workers about a situation that happened while I was trying to take my son to the doctor. After the conversation, I realized that there may be some parents in wheelchairs that could make use of my "dilemma", so I decided to share it with you. I wasn't aware that my son had missed his shots. At the last minute I had to schedule an appointment with his doctor. My husband couldn't get away from work so I had to take him by myself. Taking my son to the doctor by myself isn't the problem. Taking my son to the doctor to get shots by myself is! I do not like to hold my son down while some nurse pokes him with needles and makes him cry. Most of the time I have to cover my eyes. Since I made his appointment at the last minute, I had to take an early afternoon slot, which is right in the middle of his nap time. This should have been my first clue that something would go wrong. At about 15 minutes before time to leave the house my son decided to take his nap. I thought to myself " No big deal right". I was so wrong. Since I am a wheelchair user, I transport my child to and fro via my lap. In order to do this he must be alert and able to sit up by himself. Unfortunately, 15 minutes into his afternoon nap there was nothing alert about him. Everytime I tried to roll with him in my lap he would fall over, or forward, or backwards or any which way his sleeping body decided to fall. Just to give you a mental picture about this imagine Bernie from the movie Weekend at Bernie's sitting in my lap while I try to roll around. The only difference in my case would be that Bernie is much smaller. I tried everything that I could think of to get my child to wake up. Nothing worked. After a moment of trial and error I found a solution to my problem. Using one of my husbands belts, I placed the belt around "Bernie", strapping him to my waist. Amazingly my solution worked like a charm. That kid did not move! Needless to say I busted up in the doctors office with a child strapped to my waist, wearing a child size book bag and looking like I just parachuted out of somebody's airplane. I have to admit that the situation was quite amusing to me so when the other parents in the waiting room stared at me in disbelief all I could do was laugh. So, lesson of the day everyone: buy a belt. Maybe even two of them because they come in handy when "Bernie" tries to visit.