Waiting for spring

So Sophie is sick again.  Last weekend we all caught a cold and of course Sophie's is holding on the strongest.  It has gone into her chest and sinuses and she is pretty miserable.  Last night she was having very high fevers.

She stayed home from school today and had a two hour nap this afternoon, rested and watched some Wiggles.  Her nurse called me at work to let me know that she was having terrible nosebleeds.  She didn't want me to worry when I saw blood on all the blankets. 

Tonight Sophie was happy but exhausted.  She doesn't really know what to do with herself.  It is almost 10pm and she has awoken again.  She is not a happy girl anymore.  Daddy is on duty.  :)

 

These photos were from Thursday when I picked her up from school.  She had had a rough day with her cold, but a happy day nonetheless and she was so happy to see me.  We turned it into a photo-op with her nurse, EA and teacher.  We got some great photos.

 

It has been a rough entry to spring for many of us and our family has gotten off lightly.  Over the past two weeks we have had three friends' children in hospital, two in the critical care unit.  We have been there too many times and it is a very real reminder that we have to be thankful for every healthy moment with our girl.  I am really hoping that Sophie will start feeling better this weekend.  Fingers crossed.

Baby pool ball pit / sensory bin

Do you ever have an idea that you know what you want to accomplish, but just aren't sure how to do it?  Well, I have been planning this little sensory ball pit in my mind for some time now.  When I started looking for some birthday presents for Sophie I came across some different trays for special needs uses that I thought would work well for Sophie in her wheelchair. 

 

We have always used little plastic Rubbermaid type shoebox containers to contain balls, sand, Epsom salts, beads and other items that would just roll or fall off of Sophie's tray otherwise.  The problem is that Sophie's arms don't bend the way that they should so it is really hard for her to get her hands and forearms up and in the containers even though the sides aren't really all that high.

 

So here is where my plan came in.  I found this online and I thought it would be perfect!  It has squishy sides that her arms could rest on but it would still hold items in the centre.  The only thing is it is too big for her tray.  Then, one day Lucas and I were wandering in the dollar store and we came across an inflatable baby pool.  It is the funniest thing because it is only as wide the kitchen sink.  You aren't gettin' the neighbourhood kids in this pool.  However it is perfect for what I wanted to use it for and it is only a dollar!  I love it when a plan comes together!

Lucas and I found all the balls, the easter egg garland that had fallen apart, a flashing ball, some other squishy things and through them all in.  She loved it.  She got her arms and hands right in with no problem all on her own.  Active learning, check.

I put the foam covered mirrors in next and she loved that.  She checked herself out for quite a while (Sophie LOVES mirrors in all her play) and was very happy entertaining herself.

This really has endless possibilities and I am already thinking of all the ways we can use this, including as a ball pit on the floor when she is in her HOPSA.  There are no hard sides that she would hurt herself on when stepping into it in bare feet.

When we had her in the HOPSA later that day of course we used the new baby pool.  Lucas got in on the fun too, Sophie thinks the fun factor goes up by 10 billion if Lucas is involved.

My next task is to find some sort of table surface that is tall enough to hold the pool at the right height for her but we improvised in the meantime.  With spring and summer on the way this will be fun to use outside too.  Shaving cream, water, bubble baths for the feet, lots of fun for her is just around the corner.

 

Easter fun

After a couple weeks of illness Sophie was finally feeling a little better by the time Easter weekend was upon us.  She had been off school for the previous week since her birthday, so it was nice that she was up to playing and visiting a bit. 

A few days before Easter we had fun playing with an activity bar I made up for her filled with Easter eggs.  My mom also made one for Sophie at her house for Easter day.  The big Easter bunny on her tray sings and the little chick pops out of the egg.  I received as a gift in the hospital when Lucas was born and it still entertains all these many years later.

 

I wanted to expand on the glow Easter egg hunt that we did last year so I found a bunch of little glowing lights that continuously change colour and the Easter bunny brought some too.  I also purchased a whole bunch more of the lit up eggs I found last year, as well as some prism/shiny type eggs.  It really helps attract Sophie's attention and makes it more fun for her, her Cortical Vision Impairment (CVI) makes a regular Easter egg hunt basically impossible.

Sophie was very engaged with the new light up toys and loved them in the glow beads that we have.

 

On Easter morning we had a great egg hunt.  Lucas helped Sophie out quite a bit but he also had fun dive bombing on all the eggs he could find.  Sophie had her own basket attached to her Kidwalk but she mostly wanted to watch Lucas find his eggs.

 

Because Sophie does not eat anything by mouth she doesn't eat candy or chocolate.  So I make sure that we have stickers, felt shapes, stampers, etc. for in the eggs and little toys like the lights or books for her on Easter.

Lucas wore his England shirt because he said it was the only one he has with a cross on it.  :)  So that was his fancy shirt for the day.  I think the angel wings were just serendipitous.  He is always thinking in his very own, brilliant way.

 

After our morning egg hunt at home we headed to my mom and dad's for an Easter lunch.  We had another quick egg hunt at their house with Zoe, it was raining by then but it didn't really slow anyone down! 

 

 

 

Lucas had been wearing his bunny ears to school all week so it wasn't a shock when we wore them for the egg hunt and hopped the whole way through it.  He just cracks me up.

I hope you had a blessed Easter!

Like a prima ballerina

The day before Sophie's birthday we had a big delivery.  We had been planning this for quite some time and the day finally arrived, we had a lift system installed.  Doesn't sound too exciting, right?  Well, normally that would be true.  It is a functional piece of equipment that will hopefully save my back from total blowout in the future.  Which is great, but not really exciting.

 First ride at home, on her birthday night

The exciting part is that we not only got a sling with the lift, we also got a HOPSA dress.  I have talked about Sophie using the HOPSA before, here.  It is the most visited post on my blog, viewed multiple times every single day.  Sophie loves using the HOPSA at her therapy centre and we have longed to have one at home for her for a very long time.  That wish has come true!

 Being raised up and playing soccer

It is an amazingly simple walking sling but it provides so much.  Sophie is able to walk around the room without a big gait trainer.  She is able to pirouette around the room like a prima ballerina.  And she does!  This was not something that I ever expected to see my girl do.  I have to say it was a pretty exciting day.  :)

 

Getting ready to be hooked up by one of her awesome nurses

I have so many ideas of things that we can do together now that she has a HOPSA dress.  She already received a piano play mat for her birthday from her grandma and grandpa.  It has been fun to use, Lucas and Zoe also think it is fun so that is a huge bonus because Sophie loves watching them demonstrate!

Playing the piano and textured materials that make noise and feel funny under foot

I have a plan to build a play table, kind of like a sand and water table.  There are sand and water tables for special needs children available, but they are soooo expensive.  Once again, call something special needs, jack the price up 100x.  So I am going to build my own.  I am just waiting for the right table, hopefully I will find one at a garage sale this summer.  It is all planned out in my head, I just need the pieces!

 Trying some supported sitting

Unfortunately Sophie has been quite sick for over a week now, we had to postpone her birthday party with her friends from school which was really sad to do.  She hasn't been to school and has just been recuperating at home.  Because of this she hasn't tolerated the HOPSA for longer than about 5 minutes at a time, but hopefully by next week when her antibiotics are done she will be back to herself and enjoying playtime more.