Progress, softball and other updates

We are fully immersed with life!  Is that a fancy way of saying we are busy or what??!!!

Emma has been getting glowing reports from school since Spring Break.  I mean, it is a bit ridiculous how good they are and I'm actually getting calls with the therapists so excited about her progress that they just have to call and tell me rather than write it in her communication notebook.  They really are that excited and I'm actually taking time to bask in the glow of the good reports!  I don't get them too often and I have noticed that they usually come after long breaks from school....so Emma's refusal to do anything that seemed like a bit of physical work during Spring Break seems to be paying off in dividends.  That's my girl!

We are still in tour mode of schools for Emma's kindergarten and likely her elementary school education.  We have a couple more tours and evaluations lined up and then I guess we'll meet with our school district to discuss our thoughts before we as a team decide her placement.  I do think it will be a hard decision, though, with pros and cons to the various placements.  We might even wind up with a hybrid plan since the district seems very open to creating an education placement specifically for Emma that addresses our wants for Emma.  Stay tuned for further details.

Julia has been enjoying her first softball season.  When asked if she wanted to go on a special lunch cruise on the river she declined in favor of her softball game that is scheduled at the same time.  She has been practicing a lot and it is paying off.  Sunday she had her first hit at bat and then had another hit as an RBI.  Way to go, Julia!  At tonight's game she had another two hits out of three at bats and her confidence in her abilities is gaining with each game.  We are excited to see how the season unfold for her and her team.  Tonight they had their first win and the girls were fired up over winning.  I just love all the energy they have and wish I could bottle a bit for me.

At school Julia attended an assembly for a movie about a child in a wheelchair and his friend who could walk.  Julia didn't mention it to me until the school told me about it and so I asked her to tell me about the movie.  She told me it was about a boy in a wheelchair who didn't have a ramp to get outside his house and play in the yard so when his friend came over to ask him to play he couldn't.  The friend then got some wood and built a ramp so the child in the wheelchair could leave the porch and wheel down to the yard to play.  Julia liked that the friend helped but didn't really comment on the wheelchair.  I took this opportunity to ask her some questions about what she thought about having a sister in a wheelchair.  She told me that she doesn't think Emma minds using a wheelchair and I agreed with her.  She then told me she loves having a sister in a wheelchair because Emma wins lots of prizes and she  shares them with the family.  I didn't understand this so Julia told me that Emma gets to go to lots of amusement parks, special rides on the Blimp, tickets to Disney on Ice and that it's just great because she always lets Julia go with her!  So there you have it - I'm so glad I asked ;-)

As for us, well, Chris is glad to be back at work in his normal routine after a week long stint at jury duty and I've been doing a lot of spring cleaning and still have a long ways to go.  It keeps getting cut short because of all the insurance calls (appeals in progress for the powerchair denials...), kindergarten legwork and visits along with the never ending sea of paperwork that I try and fit into the few days a week where I have a few hours without children around.  Plus I'm trying to purge a lot of our possessions and it just isn't going as easy as I thought because it seems I have a proclivity to want to hang on to things that I'm not longer using for "just in case."  Maybe it's time to watch an episode of Hoarders to kick me into high gear?  Knowing that we will eventually move again keeps me from moving this task to the bottom of my to do list where I would like it.

It is with sadness that I tell you sweet Gavin earned his angel wings.  RIP our little superhero.  Our prayers are with your family.

Winter Concert

Julia's school had their 1st and 2nd grade Winter Concert today.  They have been practicing for months and the children were so excited!  The theme this year was Being human:  Human be-ing and the concert was "the creative outcome of learning and sharing what is truly unique and magical about being human."  Doesn't that sound lovely?

It was.  The music teacher does such a great job with the children and he seemed to be having as much fun as them.  It certainly made for a festive atmosphere!  The children have no inhibitions and gladly sang their hearts out, sounding like little angels.  The concert was about 50 minutes, 12 songs in all, and it went by so quickly.  I could have sat there listening to their little voices and watching their hand gestures and seeing them bursting with enthusiasm for much longer.

Emma was captivated by the show.  She sat at attention the entire time and when everyone was encouraged to clap along to the music she gladly brought her fists almost together over and over.  It was wonderful to see (I've never seen her do that before!) even if it would have looked like she was flailing her hands wildly about to the *untrained* eye ;-)

I love watching Julia on stage.  She has no fear of an audience and likes being in the spotlight.  Some of the children would sway about and make the grand motions that went along with the songs, but not Julia.  She is one of the more reserved children; a bit more serious than some of the others.  You could catch a bit of her wild side if you looked closely for her little smirks, sideways smile and bit of extra swing in her hips.  It's fun to see that side of her.  I like when she lets loose and we are always encouraging her to test her boundaries more.

After the concert, Emma and I worked at the book fair until it was time for lunch.  We joined Julia in her classroom to eat and were surprised to find Julia had set out a couple of place mats for us at her table.  Yellow for me and purple for Emma - she picked our favorite colors!  Once lunch was done we left and were happy to arrive at the car before our meter expired since I found out today the expired meter ticket price is a steep $36!  Then we were off to tour a school I think would be a good fit for summer school for Emma this year.  We'll see how that plays out.

What a great way to end the week!

Best Sister Ever

Julia decided to take some videos with my phone today.  We were at Emma's horseback riding program and Emma was sitting up amazingly well on the horse - actually it was the best I have ever seen her sit up!  So we took some video.

Afterwards Julia took my phone and made this video.  I wasn't aware of what she was doing since I was working on buckling in Emma's legs - which could be considered an Olympic sport - and only caught bits and pieces of it so when I watched the video it touched me deeply.  I'm so glad my girls have each other.  What wonderful sisters they are, indeed!




(Note:  Once the video stopped I fixed Emma's shirt.  We are not encouraging showing off her belly!)