Fortunately our Eli (8) has been doing very well in terms of health over the last few years, but when the Corona came to the Netherlands we became very cautious. Especially because we had already experienced in 2014 that he was on the respirator. We therefore kept him at home already a week before the national lockdown. At Eli's tyltyl school they fortunately also had understanding for this
Eli is not very mobile and physically the care is of course a bit heavier when he is at home all day. But fortunately we are well equipped with a hoist to the ceiling and I have been working at home since March so I can help lift him into his adapted chair.
Fortunately, Eli is the easiest man in the world. He doesn't really care whether he is at school or not and he likes almost everything at home and can entertain himself very well in his big playpen in the living room. He has a lot of baby toys and you make him happiest with toys where he can press buttons and turn wheels. He can spend hours with that. He is very happy and can babble a lot. We have also noticed that now that he does not go to school every day, he has more energy at home.
The biggest disadvantage of being at home is that Eli now misses his therapies at school. Unfortunately, home schooling does not make much sense with a child who is functioning at the level of a nine-month-old baby. But the most important thing is the physiotherapy. At school he stood in his stand-up every day and at home we didn't have that. I do try to practise walking every day by lifting Eli under his shoulders and letting him take the steps. That was going better and better, but because he was no longer standing every day, his legs became weak and walking became more difficult. In consultation with the physio, the standing table is now in our home and he is doing better. We also practice a lot with letting him sit by himself and that is also getting better and better.
When the schools started to open again, we kept Eli at home for a while. The last few weeks, he has been back for a few days, but we didn't take the bus, we brought him there ourselves. That also went well. That bus was also a bit crazy, because he had to wear a mouth mask for that. Good luck with that with Eli, who pulls glasses, hats and hearing aids off his head within a minute if he gets the chance...
Now it is the big holiday and Eli is back home. It's a crazy time with a lot of commotion in the house because Eli's two older brothers are also at home all day, but fortunately with Eli it goes very well and our cheerful little man gets through it easily. Oldest brother Yuri has already babysat for one evening so we could have dinner together and that went fine too. Eli will be staying with us for a few more days at the end of August and then return to school every day from September onwards. Hopefully normal life will return a bit then.
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