The average day for Neil Riding starts at 6:45. He wakes up, get's dressed, and fixes his hair. He is then off to the kitchen for breakfast. It usually consists of toast, yogurt, orange juice and his daily amount of vitamins since his muscles are somewhat weaker than the average body. He's happy to drink the orange juice, but the rest is a battle between his mother, Margaret Riding, and him.
Here, you see the after math.
He then goes to the front door and waits for the school bus to pick him up.
In this photo, Neil is getting help with his letters from him teacher.
It takes him multiple tries, but as you can see on the left page, his letters are getting much better.
Next, his teacher asked Neil what his name was. At first he said his mothers name, but quickly realized he had said the incorrect answer. He then proudly said, "Neil Riding!". As you can see in the photo above, Neil needs help with small tasks such as writing his name.
At first, he has a hard time knowing where his letters begin and end, but after being shown once can usually do it very well on his own.
For the last period of the day, Neil gets to move to the computer to play educational computer games. I found it extremely interesting that as soon as Neil sat down at the computer, he knew exactly how to start the program, what his password was, and how to play the game.
Neil absolutely loves to ride his bike. After returning home from school, he begged his mom for a long time to go on a bike ride. His mother replied by telling him that he wasn't allowed because last time he went for a bike ride, he took off and had to be chased in a car. This didn't keep Neil from asking several times more.
Neil finally gave in and came in the house to clean up his tent from the night before. His dad is on the mountain hunting, so Neil wanted to 'camp' too. Here you see Neil taking his tent in the living room down.
Margaret has taught him how to play 'I Am a Child of God' on the piano. Here you see her directing Neil as to where to begin.
Neil than began to play the song for me.
After a few notes, he got frustrated and stopped playing.
Neil is an extremely smart and interesting boy. He loves to make people laugh and has almost perfected the skill. I can see how it would be a challenge raising Neil, but after spending a day with him, anyone would see that he is definitely worth the time. Margaret has an incredible amount of patience and love, and has raised a really great person.
