Our Little Model

Today we had a great opportunity with Bryce. It all began a little over a week ago when we got an email from one of our OT friends that we work with, Anthon McLaws. He said that he had an OT friend who was looking for a child wheelchair model for a local company that sells mobility equipment. He asked if we might be interested and if he could send our info on to them and see if they would like to use Bryce. We decided that might be fun to try and told him sure. A couple days later, I got an email from a lady at Vantage Mobility (VMI) asking if I would send a couple of pictures of Bryce. I did and 2 hours later I got an email back asking if we could do a photo shoot this week with him. They offered to pay him $100 for about an hours worth of time. I asked a few more questions about it and agreed to meet them today. I was just keeping my fingers crossed that he would be well and smiling again. Luckily he was and he completed his first job today. It actually took about 2 hours, but 50 bucks an hour isn't bad pay when you're only 4 years old!

When we first arrived, he was a little freaked out by the whole situation. Luckily, they totally worked on his time and let me walk him around the studio a little bit so that he would be comfortable. When he was first on the set and I looked at him and said that they were just going to take a few pictures, this is the response I got!


The boy doesn't talk, but he sure can communicate!

The lights and all the cameras and stuff made him a little nervous,


but before long, we had him giggling and enjoying himself. Then we began the photo shoot.


They had him dressed in a red shirt and jean shorts. They are planning on using some of the photos in a birthday scene so they had a big bunch of balloons that they wanted to use in the photos. They also had lots of "treats" for him as he went through the shoot. Great idea since I'm sure they thought, "what kid doesn't like balloons and goodies?!" Well, unfortunately a boy with major sensory issues around balloons and who is fed completely by a g-tube.

Luckily they were very flexible and they were able to work in the balloons behind him so that they were still in the picture, but Bryce was not aware of them. They would take a few pictures and then give him a break where I would take him out of his chair and walk around with him and talk with him as they set up the next scene. Toward the end, Bryce was wearing down a little bit and the smiles weren't coming quite as easily so the guy taking the pictures resorted to what will always work with a boy...he began making farting noises with his mouth. Bryce instantly perked up and began laughing and smiling every time he did it. He is such a boy!

The lady from VMI said that once they crop the pictures and have them all ready, she will email some to me. I can't wait to see them. It was fun to do something a little different and out of the ordinary with Bryce, and the money he earned will go right into his benefit account.