“How will you get around with both the boys”. This was the most popular question I was asked when I was pregnant with Finn. I figured I would just wear Finn and push Mikey in his chair. I didn’t consider that I’d need to lift Mikey while wearing Finn, hot tip – don’t do this! I also tried pushing the pram and pulling the wheelchair, this doesn’t work very well lol! Anyway we have survived and Finn is now 15 months but he’s not walking yet.
I really wanted a seat attachment on the wheelchair for Finn to make getting around easier. It’s a shame that there isn’t any kind of seat/board attachment designed for wheelchairs, but I guess they are all so different so it makes it challenging. So as we’ve been doing since day one we got our thinking cap on to come up with an alternative.
I found the Veebee (Valco) EZ Rider Sit / Stand Glider Board which was a good fit as it has a seat with a back and strap so younger kids can use it. It couldn’t be attached to Mikey’s chair without a few modifications. I thought I’d give you a rundown of what I did. I should say: you shouldn’t try this at home as I have no idea how safe it is!
While Mikey does have a bar at the base of his Sorg Mio Wheelchair, it has anti tippers attached to it and it very far under the chair. So we made a new bar. We used thread bar through the holes in his transport lugs with bolts on each end to keep it in place. That was the right height to attach the buggy board.
The board itself is adjustable, you can have it sitting slightly higher/lower/further away and there are different plastic caps to suit the size of the bar it is being attached to. We simply followed the instructions to set it up.
We went for the plastic caps with the smallest fitting. When we attached it to Mikey’s wheelchair we discovered that it was a bit too close and if Mikey kicked (as he loves to do) the bar from his headrest could whack into Finn’s head – less than ideal. So Andrew added a plate to extend the board so it was further away from Mikey’s chair. This does mean that it is harder to reach the push handle but we are tall so this isn’t an issue for us and we just walk to the side anyway.
Voila! we have a buggy board attachment for the wheelchair! It is removed really easily and is pretty lightweight. Most importantly the boys love it! Mikey spends the whole time turning around to watch Finn and say “Finn on chair” and Finn is a happy little Vegemite.
