Home Fire Drill & ABR

Today I went to school, things are really beginning to settle down... my usual aide wasn't there she was malade... I did really miss her, so my mum stayed for 40 minutes till a person applying for my permanent aide, came to meet me... mum didn't want to cramp my style..  During mum's 40 minutes, one of the alpha's as mum calls them came and hit me (several times) and then they screamed that I hit them... mum let the first incidents go... and but the third time mum wouldn't stand for it and told the  "alpha" directly and very loudly, whether what he was saying was true or not... and the "alpha" did confess that I didn't hit him.... he didn't try to hurt me after that....  I wish I could speak like my friends or my family, I feel so suffocated sometimes in this body, I mean it's cute and all... supercute and I'm a spitting image of my big brother but I think I have a cuter dimple... we even have the same glasses prescription...!  Handy !

I counted to twenty in French to show my new aide that although I'm trapped, I'm still a bright clever person.

Well today, we did 2.5 hours of ABR and now I'm zzzz-ing on my super buzz lightyear bench (Machine ABR) in my Buzz Lightyear Pyjamas....

This evening we had a discussion on what to do in the event of a fire each year we do a very detailed fire escape plan... (My parents are both Scout leaders... so BE PREPARED!!!) mum even has handy velcro evacuation kits, with foil blankets, LED ligths, whistles etc...My Elder brother is super smart, maybe now as smart as me (rib rib) but he and I really bonded last year... (till then as there is a 4 year age gap and I'm impaired....) when we did our first fire drill... I was in a baby cot, and we were discussing strategies how to get out of the house and what order etc... and my brother couldn't lift me out of the side of the cot (In the even mum and dad can't get to my room) so mum and dad said if my brother couldn't get me out even with my sisters help, then they'd have to leave me in the cot... and get out the house and call for help... at which point my big brother broke down in tears and screamed no... "I WILL NOT GO WITHOUT OATIE!" and made mum and dad cry... oh and my sister...  at which point, I was pretending to sleep in my cot for the drill... my big brother who was only 6.5 at the time, reached over and grabbed me from under the arm pits and pulled me out....

Well, since starting ABR my body has improved as you also know, so I can now sleep in a NORMAL bed !!!! it was my big brothers till he got is bunk bed.  But now I have the ABR machine.... so dad thought that it would be an idea to discuss fire strategies with the machine... So mum and dad asked my big brother (7.5) how it would be best to free me from my machine...My brother worked out that the best thing to do if the house was an inferno was just pull the grey hoses from the bladder and then I Oatie could go outside with all the wraps, bladder etc... still strapped around me...

What made me choke, I guess was when my big bro said.. oh but what about the machine if there was a fire, I LOVE the machine, it's really helping Oatie, to which mum and dad said, that our "family" at ABR would rather we got out of a house fire and we could replace the machine but we couldn't replace us kids/our family.

So on Sunday, we're doing a full fire drill where my brother and sister get to press the FIRE button , the only difference is that we'll be wearing our snowpants and coats in bed for the drilll, and I hope mum will let us put our boots on just for the drill....

Even things like keeping our rooms tidy (laughing out loud ), well mum says every night the path to the door from our bed should be clear...

Little things like putting window stickers or hanging an article out the window and close it again, to identify which rooms have people help the fire fighters locate you in an emergency rather than trawling through an unfamiliar house to find you.

Mum says that you can never be too prepared and like you do at school or work, you obviously don't want a disaster to ever occur, but should one happen, we can take it in our stride or hop in my case and you can remain calm, focused and level headed....  If you practice you can take time to think out the best way and discuss why, where as in an actual disaster/situation every second is critical... especially for one that can't walk.

For all families, please take time to practice your HOME fire drill...