Tooth fairy, we have a present for you.

Sophie has had a wiggly front tooth for a few weeks now.  I was terrified that she was going to swallow this tooth like she did with the first tooth she lost.  I was so sad that I didn't get to see her first little tooth come out and have the chance to save it for the tooth fairy.

The possibility of Sophie aspirating on her tooth is high and we actually ended up having emergency x-rays with the last tooth because she was presenting like she had aspirated it.  It turned out to be a coincidence we believe and she was sick but didn't aspirate the tooth.

So as this tooth got looser and looser I was so afraid that she would swallow it too.  With the teething Sophie has been drooling like crazy as well.  But tonight I realized it was very loose so I got some gauze to wiggle it a bit and it came right out onto the gauze!  Her gums bled a tiny bit but I was so excited that it had fallen out so easily, I didn't even have the chance to try to pull it!

Her new tooth is already part way up and will fill in the space in no time.   The tooth fairy will be making a visit to Sophie's room very soon :) 

Grade one, here we come

We have had a jam packed end of summer and I hate that it is almost over!  It is always amazing how the last few weeks of summer just slip away in the blink of an eye.  We had another trip to the cottage for five days and had amazing weather and just relaxed.  No big hikes or long road trips, we just chilled.

 

For years we have driven past this old wooden floor iron bridge.  I have wanted to stop and do a photo shoot here for as long as I have known it existed.  I finally got my chance and I am so happy with the photographs that I captured.  I can't wait to stop here again when summer has turned to fall and I can take some photos with the leaves in their autumn glory. 

 

 

For a few days I was able to leave behind the chaos of planning for the start of school.  Sophie starting grade one has turned into quite the production over the last little while and even though I am excited for her to go, I am worried that she will not get the opportunity to shine, like I know she can.  I have now arranged to stay in the class with her for the first week of school.  We have learned that her EA does not have the experience we expected and there is much for her to learn if Sophie is going to have a successful beginning to her year in an inclusive classroom.

 

When we asked Lucas if he is excited that school is coming soon he told us he was excited since the first week of summer.  He shouted "I love school!"  I hope that Sophie will be having the exact same thoughts as she begins her journey at grade school.

Yesterday was a day with many tears as we said goodbye to the daycare teachers that have made Sophie's days there her fave place to be.  We have been attending the day care for 8 years now and it is sad to say goodbye and lose that comfortable place we call little school.   Lots of Sophie's friends are heading off to grade one as well and there were smiles all around and so much excitement in the air.

 

One last weekend of fun before we set off on a brand new adventure at big school with Sophie.  I know that I am nervous enough for both of us but with a village surrounding us and Lucas in the class down the hall Sophie is going to love grade one.

 

 

Easy as 1,2,3

With school just around the corner our house is becoming a flurry of activity.  There are going to be goodbyes that are sad, but lots of new faces to meet just around the corner.  We have many appointments this week and next

Our first, last appointment.  Saying goodbye to Sophie's Speech Language Pathologist of the last four years. 

 

 

We have learned so much from this friend and we are sad to say goodbye.  Giving Sophie a way to communicate has been my number one goal for many years now.  Working on yes/no and choice making has been something that we try to include throughout Sophie's day and Sophie has become very successful.  For some time Sophie has been able to give a smile for yes and look away for no.  She will now nod for yes and will vocalize sometimes with what sounds like a yaaa.  It is music to my ears.  Learning all of these methods of communication was not easy but so worth the effort.  We are so thankful that we had a therapist who believed in Sophie and knew that she was capable of learning anything that we worked on.

Her therapist Kim brought out some numbers and letters for us to work on before school.  Sophie and I got out her numbers and started using them right away.  First on a velcro board and then on the light box.  Sophie was all over it.

We are now in preparation mode before school starts.  We just learned that we have been picked up by the Speech Language portion of Augmentative Communication Services.  YAY!!!  We have waited 15 months on the waitlist.  Too long.  This means that we can hopefully get into full swing with preparing for a device for communication and we can figure out what to put on that device that will give Sophie a voice.

 

We already know that Sophie can rock the switch scanning with head switches and a latch timer. We just have to add the right info onto a device so that Sophie can tell us what she knows and what she is thinking.

For now we will keep plugging along, learning a little bit more each day and getting one step closer to having a communication plan for Sophie in place.

Summer vacation

We had a 10 day trip to the cottage for our big summer vacation again this year.  We had wonderful weather and went on a few adventures but mostly stayed close to the cottage and the beach.  Luckily over the years we have found the right balance of what Sophie can tolerate medically and physically and we can do so much with her away from home regardless of her disabilities.

In a strange turn of events Lucas had more health troubles than Sophie.  Lucas was having asthma attacks each night due to the heat and natural surroundings.  He is like me and is allergic to everything up north that is in abundance, like moulds, pollen and grass.  But he was fine and we didn't have to have any hospital visits up there like we have in the past with his asthma.

 Lucas had a blast in the water this vacation because it was non stop waves.  We had the boat out one day, the boogie board other days.  Knowing that we were missing the olympics we had some mini olympic trials of our own.

Lucas practicing his olympic speed walking lol.....

Sophie preparing for the women's marathon - freestyle, of course.....

We headed out for a day trip to Tobermory one day and ended up at the Bruce Peninsula National Park and did the hike there.  This was one of Sophie's longest hikes at the Bruce so far, she did 2K.  Lucas and I did 6K with 4K of it being more rugged, so Jason and Sophie headed to the museum.

Some more olympic trials this time on the balance beam, er, stump, whatevs....

Practicing the gold medal finish...

Lucas was really pumped to do the hike with me and he was trying to get me to do the 18K to Cyprus Lake.  This was at about 3 in the afternoon and we had one juicebox with us. :p

He was not too pleased that we were only doing the 4K Burnt Point Loop trail again.  That is until we were gone quite a while and hadn't come across a location marker for some time.  We both figured we must be close to the end as we had already looped around Georgian Bay. 

Then we got to the marker letting us know we weren't quite half way.  Blah.  But we continued on and before we knew it we were finished the side trail.  We all hit Dunks Bay for a swim after dinner and then headed home to the cottage.

We once again had two nurses with us for night shifts this vacation so that I could sleep and be fully awake in the day and enjoy my vacation as well.  Jason's mom also came up for a couple days so the kids loved visiting with her too.   Sophie was pretty worn out after this trip but we all were!

The science experiment

A few days ago I decided it was long overdue to do some crafting and messy play.  I found Sophie's boardmaker binder and asked her if she would like to do some art.  She had the choice of crayons or paint and she instantly chose paint.  She then proceeded to choose red and green and no other colours.  I asked her over and over and those were the only ones she wanted.  So red and green it was.  We did some painting while practicing holding a larger paintbrush.  We have these jumbo brushes and they make it much easier for Sophie to hold onto the brush.  She was very successful with hand over hand painting and she actively moved her hand to paint.  I didn't get any photos but it was a very nice Christmas in August painting.  :)

Then we headed outside and got a bit messier.  Lucas and a buddy were around and they joined in on this one, they had a great time doing this old school science experiment.

We got together some baking soda and vinegar and a bunch of plastic containers.  We also used the paint tray we had just used for painting, so there was some coloured paint/water.  I was reminded of what fun this could be from one of my fave blogs on one of their recent posts here.

Of course we are odd and use Sophie's syringes from her enteral feeding supplies, they work perfectly.  They are great fun for kids to squirt with in the tub too.  :)

Sophie loved her brother helping her and she was quite interested in the messy, cold concoction we were all making together. I think if we had had food colouring on hand it would have been much nicer for Sophie, the brighter colours would have made a nice contrast in the baking soda.