THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 31, 1994 TAG: 9410290024
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DIANE TENNANT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
IN HIS CRAYON and bumblebee Halloween costumes, 4-year-old Andrew Kidder had a little identity problem. In fact, nobody could identify what he was, because the tray on his wheelchair blocked their view.
So his mother, Mary, dressed up the wheelchair.
``This way, when he's in his wheelchair, he's actually in a fire truck,'' she explained.
Kidder bought a large box and spray-painted it red. She mounted another box on the front to be the engine and made a silver grill and bumper. Foil headlights, a toy ladder and a stuffed Dalmatian dog completed the truck, which is marked with the letters for Virginia Beach Fire Department Company 8, where Andrew's dad, a volunteer with the rescue squad, sometimes meets the ambulance.
Andrew, who has cerebral palsy, will wear a natty bandana printed with Dalmatian dogs wearing fire hats.
``It probably cost me $10,'' Kidder said of the costume. ``The box was the most expensive thing. It cost $7. It was a very durable box.''
Kidder was inspired by a magazine picture of a jack-in-the-box wheelchair costume. She chose to make a fire truck because that was the first thing that Andrew could follow with his eyes.
``He would actually catch them in his vision and follow them,'' Kidder said. ``He's aware and he knows what's going on. I know he has to be in a wheelchair, so why not make the best of it?'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by PETER D. SUNDBERG, Staff
Four-year-old Andrew Kidder compares his wheelchair-driven fire
truck costume created by his mother to the real trucks housed at
Oceana Fire Station in Virginia Beach.
by CNB