Summer camp = awesome

Sophie has gone and shown us what a big girl she is, she had a week of camp and she had a blast!  The therapy centre she goes to had a gym and swim camp for kids like Sophie last week, it was for 3 hours each morning and it was just perfect.  There are alot of things that you just assume aren't going to happen when you have a girl like Sophie, her going off to camp on her own at 5 years old is one of them.  But as we know Sophie is a wonder girl and she loved it.

This is Sophie with her wonderful camp partner Brooke.  This was the first morning and Sophie was very interested in everyone that was there and she was definitely trying to figure out what was going on.  Brooke and 7 other awesome young volunteers gave one on one support to Sophie and her 7 new friends along with 4-5 recreation therapists.

This was Sophie on the third day giving me the "mom, can I just go to camp now please" look lol. 

Sophie was exhausted each day when I picked her up and she had some pretty good naps most of the afternoons.  She was very vocal all week and obviously had lots she wanted to tell us.

The Ontario wheelchair sport association came a couple days and gave the kids tips and pointers on wheelchair basketball and other ball handling skills. They did gymnastics and t-ball and soccer and so much more. They also had fun swimming for part of each camp day and did crafts as well. 

Sophie wearing her medal on the last day :)

She was pretty much worn out by Friday and had a strong seizure that night and was very tired the rest of the weekend.  She has been dealing with a head cold since Sunday and it has now traveled into her chest so we will keep a close eye.

On thursday we got a wheelchair fitted for her to trial.  It is a Quickie Zippie and I like it quite a bit.  We returned it today and will now make the decision whether to try another one (an Iris) or go for the Zippie.  There are many pros and cons to the Zippie, so I am not sure yet as to whether we will go with it or not, I will have to see if all the issues I have with it can be accomodated.

My smiley girl :) 

Our other big news is that we bought a Wike bike trailer for Sophie to go on bike rides with us!  I found it on kijiji in another city, so my mom and I hit the road and had a day trip.  The trailer was an amazing deal that I just couldn't pass up, I really lucked out that I found it the day after she posted it.  It was just meant to be. The mom that was selling it was super nice and has a teenage daughter that has many complex needs similar to Sophie.

This is the one I bought  http://www.wicycle.com/special_needs_large_bicycle_trailer.php

I can't wait to get it adapted perfectly for Sophie so we can try it out.  She will need a car seat or something similar to sit her in and then we will be good to go!

Busy being busy

We have had some busy days in our house since the end of the school year.   We headed up to the cottage for the long weekend and had some very hot weather in the days but cooler evenings which was great.

On the ride up Sophie was getting a little bored so I borrowed Lucas' teddy bear Emma and t-shirt (my old sleeping shirt that he sleeps with) for Sophie to cuddle with.  Sophie thought that that was an awesome idea and she held onto that t-shirt like it was nobody's business.  She actually cuddled them both for quite a while.  I was amazed at how interested she was in them and it really distracted her and calmed her down.  She has 2 stuffies that are always in her bed by her feet, ones that we were given when she was born, but she probably doesn't even realize they are there.  Sophie has never had something that she cuddles with and I realized that maybe we have been shortchanging her.  I loved that she seemed to enjoy their softness.

We headed up to the accessible park we found last year, Lucas and Sophie had a great time there again this year.  It is definitely one of the best parks we have found, I really notice how Sophie becomes interested in the different play zones there.  She definitely showed she had favourite things to do there. One day, every park will be an inclusive park like this.  I hope.

What could be better than hanging out with your big brother at the park.  Sophie was in heaven.

Our beach time was not super long because the water was still cold and the sun was hot, but we had enough to keep us going until the next visit.  We were very lucky to have a wonderful nurse come from another Indian reservation an hour away, each night.  So I was able to sleep which made my vacation much more fun!

It was a short trip and we didn't really want to go home.  Tomorrow I am off to pick up a purchase I found on kijiji that should hopefully make our trips to the beach a little bit easier.   Can't wait to show you. 
Sophie has been trialing the new wheelchair as well as going to camp last week, Lucas has also been to camp this week and last.  Lots to catch up on!