Our Little Monet

We can't believe Elizabeth's emerging drawing skills. She continues to amaze us with her talents. She drew this picture of our house on her own.

Not Too Timid

Elizabeth loves swimming and is desperate to swim on her own. We had done swimming lessons in the past but withdrew her as she was having a hard time keeping up with the lessons. I enrolled her in a new program called Timid Toddlers and with this group parents have the option to stay in the pool with their child (for Elizabeth's age group she would now be on her own by now). We join her group on the first day (late as usual) and the children are holding onto their parents with all their might and the parents are looking quite fearful of what is to come. I carry Elizabeth into her group her arms and legs are thrashing, she is splashing everyone within ten feet and she is squealing 'let me go, I need to swim, let me go'. It took all of my strength to hold onto her and keep my swimsuit on. A father says 'looks like we have a dare devil in the group'. I think he is right as she is trying to figure out how she can go down the massive water slide they have. She really is trying to swim at home in her pool and when we put her water wings on she is lifting her legs and kicking in the water. Learning to swim is probably a good idea as Miss Elizabeth is quite fearless and sees no wrong in jumping into any body of water on her own.

Shoe Shopping

Elizabeth has a total shoe fetish she loves shopping for shoes. She always goes for the pretty, dainty shoes and this year is desperate for a pair of flip flops. For any other mother of a little girl summer is seen as a time for sandals and cute flip flops. For me it another reminder that I won't see Elizabeth running in a sundress with sandals. In hopes to find a summer pair of shoes for Elizabeth we head off to the shoe store. As soon as we get there Elizabeth is eying a pair of flip flops and and ladybug rain boots (neither work with AFO's). I find a couple of pairs of sandals/mary-janes and begin to try to fit Elizabeth's AFO's (ankle foot orthotics) in them, pair after pair is rejected as they don't fit and so we go to runners again. While trying to find a pair of shoes a family in the store begin staring and I hear the kids ask 'what is wrong with her?', of course the kids are learning from Mom because she has her eyes fixated on Elizabeth's braces. I try to ignore the kids but they get more persistent with their questions so I politely explain that Elizabeth is not as strong as other kids and her braces help her to walk. I can't blame the kids for their curiosity kids are kids and they need the right information but adults are adults and somewhere I am sure they have been taught that staring is rude.
Once in a pink pair of New Balance runners Elizabeth exclaimed 'Momma they work, they work I can walk!'. The mother pipes up and says 'God bless her what a sweet soul'. It takes all my strength not to tell her 'yes God bless my daughter's sweet soul. Are you and your children finished staring yet?'.

Happy Canada Day

Another crazy busy weekend. It was Canada Day on Tuesday so we had an extra long weekend from Friday until Tuesday. Elizabeth needed to go to Sick Kids Hospital for her hearing check and since Mommy was at work Daddy took her and they stopped off at the Royal Ontario Museum. Elizabeth loved the dinosaur exhibit and the bat cave. She couldn't believe how big the dinosaurs were. Her hearing test was her best this time which is great because the last one was quite poor. The audiologist is going to try to find us someone who specializes in Brain Injury as she feels that her articulation problems may be due to Ataxia and not hearing loss. Elizabeth has an amazing vocabulary but it difficult for others to understand her.
We also were finally able to go up to my parents cottage, Elizabeth was so excited to be there. We went swimming, played at the beach, she went kayaking with Grandpa, canoing with Ivan and I, played at the park and went fishing. She loved to fish and caught the most fish. She loved to reel in her line and look for fishes. We had a small crisis when Mommy dropped the camera into the lake but it dried up and is still working. Elizabeth and my sister also enjoyed watching movies together and Elizabeth saw Beauty and the Beast for the first time.
When we got home Elizabeth went swimming in her new pool. With water wings on she really is trying to swim and loves the water. The only thing with her pool when she is in we need to be in as it is very deep and she falls quite a bit. Our apologies to the neighbors for having to see us in our swimsuits in her pool.
Lastly we went to see the fireworks at the lake for Canada day. We decided to ride our bikes there as parking is a bit crazy. Elizabeth loves the bike trailer and it is a great workout for her parents. She loved the fireworks and fell asleep on the way home in her bike.
Have I said how much we love summer?

Backseat Driver

Elizabeth is becoming a quite the backseat driver. She loves giving directions and recognizes familar routes, she is often heard from the backseat yelling 'No Momma you need to go left/right'. When Daddy is driving she constantly yells 'Daddy slow down, you are going to fast', this might have come from me as I frequently scold Ivan for his speedy ways. While looking for our friend in the parking lot the other day Elizabeth pipes up 'Momma you need to turn on the GPS'. She of course gives her music requests throughout the drive and always wants me to 'turn it up LOUD'. She is becoming quite the backseat dancer and loves to sing to Madonna and JT.
MRI update Elizabeth is back to herself now, she is still pretty wobbly but after good night sleep she was up and ready to go. We were pretty concerned that night as she had a hard time keeping her head up but after sleeping it off she was fine.

The wait is over

Well the 11 month wait is over Elizabeth finally had her MRI. We were so panicked that something would go wrong with her getting sick before or the sedation not working and she would be swinging from the rafters in the MRI suite. I have laid awake at night thinking of all the possibilities that could go wrong and even had a back up plan at another hospital if things did not go well. The sedation worked well she was asleep in 10 minutes, she really got upset about the needle to her leg to sedate her but was forgiving minutes later. She woke up right after and was quick to demand drink, t.v., books, food and snack. The meds have given her a voracious appetite. She has been telling me she is hungry and wants more food which for her is beyond rare. Our only concern that even 12hrs later she still cannot sit unsupported and cannot be left alone as she cannot get around without being carried. She was so tired she was asleep by 7:00. Hopefully tomorrow she will be back to herself but I am thinking our day will include a trip to the Pediatrician.

Move over Lightening

Yes it is true Elizabeth's Lightening McQueen car is now competing for her attention. Rocket from The Little Einsteins is now at close second for Elizabeth's favourite toy. Elizabeth since seeing the movie Cars a year ago is obsessed with anything with Lightening McQueen on it. Much to her dismay Mommy refused to buy her Lightening McQueen crocs when they came out but did settle for a Lightening Jibitz instead. She wears Cars pajama's and pull-up's and envies all the boys with their Cars clothing and backpacks. She has a large selection of Cars toys, pillow's and books. She most often plays with her talking Lightening and loves to bang his nose into objects (or parents) and loves to hear him yell 'ouch'. She spends hours racing her cars down a speedway we have made and also enjoys pushing Lightening around in her stroller (no dolls, just cars). But since Rocket has come into the picture Lightening has been in the sidelines and now she plays games with the characters from The Little Einsteins and seems to have a little crush on Leo. She watches Little Einsteins faithfully each night, squealing throughout the show and ensures that one of her parents is watching it as passionately as she is.

Celebrations

We have been busy this past week. Birthdays galore and of course Father's Day. The first birthday party was for Ashton who is now 3 years old. Elizabeth had a really good time at his party, she loved playing with all his toys. Ashton is the sweetest little boy, he and his family have been through so much and through everything he continues to have smiles that melt your heart. Next was Grandma's 60th birthday party. Elizabeth was so excited about Grandma's party and enjoyed telling Grandma she was 'old'. She definitely is not too old as she has lots of energy to keep up to Elizabeth and all her antics while I am at work. Olivia and Avery's birthday was next and all the kids enjoyed splashing in their pool and slipping down the wet n' wild. The girls also turned 3 and were so cute working together to get their mountain of presents open. Last was Father's Day, Elizabeth and I made Daddy a stepping stone for the garden. Elizabeth was also able to keep our project a secret until today which was great as she most often in her excitement spills the beans.

We really do hate...

BARF. We hate barf and all that it entails. No Elizabeth does have the stomach flu. We are still dealing with her weekly vomits spells and even though they are not as frequent it is still hard to deal with. It is like living with a mini volcano you never know when (or where) she will erupt and spew forth. There are so many variables to her vomiting that it can be hard to pinpoint what has caused it but we can still narrow it down to crying, swallowing food whole, reflux, anxiety, allergies and poor oral-motor coordination.
Last week was one of the scary moments that has lead us to not traveling long distances without another adult. Elizabeth had another huge choking spell on the way home from Toronto on a very busy stretch of highway. I noticed her gagging in my rearview and by the time I crossed 2 lanes to pull over with my hazards on Elizabeth had choked until she vomited all over the car. As there was no side lanes I had stopped a full lane of traffic on the highway to get Elizabeth out of her car seat whack her on the back and try to dispose of as much barf as I could so I get her back in the car. Thanks to the MTO vehicle that saw my difficulty and he pulled behind me and left his lights flashing until I sorted her out. Of course it was a day where heat and humidity were high and the next 2 hrs in the car was difficult to tolerate as the smell was overpowering. Despite thorough cleaning I cannot get the smell out of my car.
We have to get back to some more oral-motor work as we have been slacking here at home and go back to her reminders to chew as she is back to swallowing foods whole. We also have upped her stomach meds as she has been a bit more gaggy/barfy lately. On a good note we saw her Pediatrician today and she has gained 3lbs in 6mths YEAH, she is even a bit squishy in areas.

Medek

We had the opportunity of meeting and working with Ramone Cuevas at his recent Cuevas Medek Exercises certification course for therapists. Ramone is an amazing man who has founded CME, his work that he has done for children and families in helping their children to walk is amazing. Elizabeth's private PT was obtaining her certification and asked if we could come along to learn from Ramone. It was an amazing experience Ramone is gentle and Elizabeth worked well with him. Elizabeth would get upset as she had to wait her turn to work with him, she really enjoyed it and was proud when she would accomplish a task. Ramone even took the time to teach her PT exercises that would help Elizabeth. We have some of the boxes at home that he uses so I am going to try the new exercises at home as well. Elizabeth had done a year of Medek with a great PT in the past but unfortunately we could no longer attend as her PT moved back to Toronto. I don't think I will ever forgive myself for not staying with CME as Elizabeth gets so much out of it and it really helps with her balance. Once again we could not justify the long car ride for an hour of therapy. People from all over the world travel to have Ramone work with their children in his center in Chili and he comes to Canada once a year so meeting him was an honor.