Yesterday Tamet was at Walmart went she saw an ATW or a least a battery powered toy that looks like one. She thought that it was just the right size for Ben so she tried to get him to get on it. Ben didn’t care for it till Tamet sat on it then he wanted to sit on it too. Then Tamet and Kelly pushed him around on it. Ben loved it. Ben has NEVER showed any interst in toys before so she came back home and told me about it. Well I have to see this for myself cause like I said Ben has never showed interest in toys before and that is a big step towards becoming more normal. So we get there and they have it bolted down and won’t bring it down so I can see for myself. So after a few minutes we decide to buy it even though it is very expensive but I figure if in a few months of us helping him if he figure out how to make it stop and go it will help hiw a lot.
When we get the ATV home and it has to be assembled. While it is being assembled Ben wants someone to ride around on the mower so he can watch (by the way he has learned to say mow very plainly). Anyway it takes a while to build it. After I finish I tell Joseph to put the mower away and get the ATV. Ben get so mad he starts screaming (another new thing voicing his feelings). So I figure great what a waste of money he doesn’t like it at all. SO while Joseph rides it around Ben gets on the mower and orders anyone near him to mower while trying to start it. Joseph puts the ATV up and then Dillon comes out and says “wow I wish I had one of these” and “Man I have got to get one of these”.
See Ben’s first ride video here
While Joseph and Dillon are playing with the ATV Ben decides he wants to ride it. He gets on and I help him put his foot on the gas petal. So Ben rides around the yard and I turn the ATV where I want it to go. After he rides for a while I decide I should get it on video. SO while I am videoing I tell Joseph to show Ben how to stop the ATV by moving Ben’s foot off the petal. As soon as it stops Ben starts saying “Go” as he rocks back and forth trying to get it to move. So Joseph puts his foot back on the petal and off it goes again. After riding a few minutes Bens foot slips off the petal and he starts saying “go very loudly. By this time I am at his side again helping steer the thing so I reach down and move his foot back on the petal and around he goes again. This goes on for 3 or 4 more times and then I start poking his leg the is on the petal when he stops when I do off he goes again. This goes on for 5 or 6 times then when he stops and says “go” I say “You make it go” then off he goes.
During all this I am still having to help him steer but he has figured out how to make it go himself. Pretty big for a kid that they said would never crawl, walk, or talk. After about an hour he has started figuring out that he can make it turn himself although he will still run into things and really isn’t aware of things that are in front of him or to the side. All this happen August 8th.
This morning August the 8th Ben gets up goes outside wants to ride again. He is barefooted and has some trouble getting the thing going. Ten to twenty minute go by and I see that he is setting back to far on the seat. I then move him up and off he goes again. I let him get used to going for a while then I say “Ben stop” and he stops. I think could this really be happening so when he has gone for a while I say “Ben stop” then he stops. this goes on for 30 minutes or so then all of a sudden when I say “Ben stop” He shakes his head no and says “go”. This is the same kid that they said will never speak in sentences.
See video of Ben on the second day here
After Ben had riden for a while I let him start running into stuff (how else is he going to figure out how to avoid things). He hits the fence first and seats there saying “go” over and over till I put the ATV in reverse. So I leave him with Kelly and go to get some work done. Ben rides around in the yard till the battery dies. While Ben is inside I recharge the battery and after a few hours I come in the house and say “Ben do you want to ride your motorcycle?” He gets a Big smile on his face and heads for the back door. I have never even said motorcycle to him before so I wasn’t sure if he understood but sure enough he goes straight to it and gets on. Now I let him steer except for a few times when I made it where he would just miss the big bushes in the yard when he would just get close enough to sting from the branches scrapping on him (hey he’s a Gould and Gould’s have to learn the hard way).
Ben has now hit the bushes about 3 or 4 times then all of a sudden he starts steering away from them getting close but not hitting them. Next he starts cutting corners around the light pole getting just a few inches away from it too. Then he start getting really close to the fence close enough that the wheels scrape. When I try to turn him away from them he turns back. The it dawns on me that is what I do when I mow I get reall close to the light pole really close to the bushes and so close to the fence that the wheels scrape. He’s mowing mowing on a motorcycle he has been watching me mow and learning how it is done and when he gets a chance he repeats it.
Ben has now been on this ATV for about a total of six hours now and decides he wants to ride in the street. At first I think he just hasn’t figured the steering out good enough yet. But after watching him straighten it out and go down the driveway I finally get it. I remember when my other kids were little two to be more exact. They would test me. My oldest decided she wanted to play with my stereo and I wouldn’t let her (I can remember it like it was yesterday). My oldest son wanted to play in the street I would have to turn him around and head him the other way. Ben had reached two in his mind he is growing up finally. I am see things that a few months ago I would never have even dreamed of he has learned to steer in about six hours. Not bad for a kid who will never talk in sentences and never hold down a job.
I spend about 10 minutes of turning him around and decide that maybe he wants to ride on pavement so we go over to the neighbors house because they have a long paved driveway. We no sooner get there and he heads for their motorcycle track. AS he is going I think “what the heck does he think he is doing. Then he get to the place where they have made trails and he turns on them. Can really know that this is for motorcycles and he is riding one? Well he answers that question by trying to climb one of the hills they have there. The ATV is battery powered and can only climb a 10 percent grade so it couldn’t make it up the hill so I make him head back to the house and he rides around till the batery goes bad. When I say “That’s it son we have to recharge it” He gets off. He is doing what I told him to without any kind of trouble.
About six o’clock Ben decides he wants to ride again the batteries need to be charged 11 hours before they can be used again so we will go tomorrow and get another battery so while he is riding the other is charging. Tonight about 10 o’clock he grabs my shirt pulls me up out of the chair and says “go” then as I get up he runs to the bedroom flat footed to the bed (another big one most of the time he wals on his tip toes). As we laid in the bed I started talking about what we had done that day and when I said motorcycle he got the biggest smile on his face and soon he was off to sleep. Right now it is 1:30 am I can’t sleep because I am so exicted. This has been one the shortest days I can remember and one of the most exciting to watch my 10 year old son ride a 4 wheeled ATV around the yard. How much is that worth, to see him do what they said can’t be done? To do something I never dreamed he could do. I don’t think it was so expensive after all. How do you thank someone for making a miracle toy?
