Indoor Residential Gym?!?!

I’m looking for ideas.

 

In order for Selah to be manageable, she must be moving.  She’s much easier to handle when she’s able to roam around our ranch (supervised, of course), running, jumping, climbing, and exploring.

 

Now that the time change occurred, it’s dark around 6:30PM at our house, making it difficult for Selah to roam around outside.  Plus, it’s getting colder outside, and no one really wants to follow Selah around with a flashlight outside!!!

 

So, I’m trying to come up with ideas for indoors.  Selah just isn’t safe in our house.  She literally climbs everything…bookshelves, cabinets, dressers, even the walls!!!  She stacks things like boxes and tubs on the floor in order to get higher.  The higher, the better for Selah.

 

Selah’s also really destructive.  We’ve had more items broken in our home over the last few months (by Selah) than in 16 years of raising kids.  I’m not exaggerating.  Selah climbs everything, then grabs anything she can reach, throwing it as far as she can, all in a split second.  We’ve never experienced anything like this.  She’s pure joy, but, man, we’ve gotta protect Selah, as well as ourselves, and our stuff!!!

 

Selah also cannot be contained or restrained without her hurting herself or others.  This is just part of who Selah is and what her brain requires.  Praise God that He gave Selah to us after raising numerous little ones so that we would know it’s not us or the way we’re parenting.  This is all part of Selah’s multiple brain malformations, and no combination of parenting techniques make a bit of difference.

 

Oh, and Selah doesn’t play with toys.  She doesn’t watch movies or TV, she doesn’t play with puzzles or dolls or learning toys.  She moves.  Constantly.  Doesn’t sit still for 15 seconds.  Ever.  Which is all fine and dandy until we need to “contain” her indoors!!!

 

Selah is medicated and doing better, but we must make adjustments indoors to meet Selah’s needs during the times that she cannot go outdoors.

 

That’s why I’m searching for ideas.

 

Ideally, we’d LOVE to have an indoor “safe room” for Selah.  In my mind, this would look much like what you’d find in an occupational/physical therapy gym.  Or even what you’d find in a gymnastics gym!!!  This is the type of stuff Selah loves.  Large motor activities with lots of climbing, jumping, crashing, and swinging.

 

Unfortunately, that type of space is not what you find easily in residential spaces.  That type of equipment is outrageously expensive, way out of our price range.  That’s why I’d like to pick your brains for alternative ideas.

 

Currently, I’m thinking about purchasing a huge camping tent, simply in an effort to have an indoor space where Selah could be safely contained.  (Hopefully.)  She shouldn’t be able to climb the walls or climb out of a tent, although we’d have to secure the zipper system so she couldn’t just unzip it and climb out.  Someone would be in the tent with her at all times to supervise her, but we’d need to find some equipment to put inside the tent to occupy her or she’d go crazy.

 

That’s where I’m stuck.  What could I put inside the tent, that’s affordable, that would keep Selah occupied?!?!  Since she doesn’t play with toys, and her brain needs large motor movement, our options are limited.  We have a small Little Tikes climbing cube with slide, but Selah really doesn’t use it.  She likes bigger and more daring stunts.

 

Please leave a comment or email me at BossYourHeart {at} gmail {dot} com if you have any ideas or suggestions or if you know where to get equipment for cheap!!!  I would so appreciate any advice you may have!!!