Into the sling of things

It is amazing what having the right equipment can do.  At school they were able to get a sling for Sophie to be transferred out of her wheelchair and onto her change table in the washroom. 

Up until last week when we got the sling she needed two EA's to transfer her.  Sophie often had to be changed at times that were long after she needed it or when she didn't need it at all, but that was the scheduled time.  Now, Sophie's EA can change her whenever she needs it and there is no waiting for a second person's assistance.  Such a simple thing that has made it easier for Sophie's care during the day.

We weren't sure what Sophie would think of the sling the first time we put her in it.  In true Sophie style though she thought it was awesome and smiled the whole time.  She was ready for the rollercoaster ride to commence lol.

Sophie uses a HOPSA dress at her therapy program and we wonder if she thinks she is going to go for a walk each time she is put in the sling now.   Her EA and nurse has told me that Sophie has been super talkative in her sling, I love that she is having fun at school no matter what they are doing!

Kids on the Block

At the beginning of the year I had suggested to the school that the Kids on the Block puppet troupe would be a great way to teach the kids about children like Sophie, disabilities and about inclusion.  The Learning Support teacher was interested and asked me to get the information for him.  I was so excited that this morning at Sophie's school it had become a reality and there was an assembly for the JK to Grade 3 children.  It was fantastic.

The puppeteers were awesome and they were able to tailor it towards some of Sophie's disabilities.  For example one of the puppets was in a wheelchair because he had CP.  They explained through the puppets that some children can manouvre their own wheelchair and some need to be pushed because their muscles don't work the same as others. 

They talked a lot about inclusion and how it feels to be the one that is left out.  To stand up for your classmates if you hear them being bullied.  They talked about how children with disabilities have many abilities, that they may love swimming or horsebackriding just like other children.

The children at the school seemed to love it, they asked so many questions during the show when each skit was done and you could tell they had really listened to the message being given.  They gave thoughtful insights and wanted to know more. 

Sophie listened quite intently throughout the performance as well.  She was very focused on the puppets and was quite taken with them!  One of her classmates sat beside her while they watched and held Sophie's hand for most of the performance, it was very cute.  

After the show the ladies from Kids on the Block talked with Sophie and I and we were able to get some more photos.  It was such a great experience and we are so thankful that Kids on the Block is out there to spread the message that inclusion is something that everyone deserves.

Weekend fun: sensory squishy bag

A few weeks ago I made a squishy bag for Sophie to play with.  I found the original idea at Play At Home Mom here back in the summer and then adapted it slightly when I found the post by Adaptions4kidz here.  These two blogs are a couple of my favourites for finding inspiration for fun things to make for Sophie.

I loved the idea of putting the foam stickers on the outside of the bag so that Sophie would have something tactile to touch other than feeling the gel in the bag itself.  I had the ocean stickers already so it was a perfect theme.

Sorry the pics are sideways, blogger is being a pain

 I also made a Halloween version.  I had some foam pumpkins and spiders, I found a big googly eye and some pompoms, threw in some glitter and voila, a Halloween squishy bag.  We had played with both of these a number of times but it wasn't until I put them on the light table that Sophie really got interested in them.  It just made everything in the bags jump out and she was very curious about them.

Sophie was a bit of a monkey though at the end and thought it was hilarious to throw the bags off her tray and make me pick them up over and over.

Going,                                                                                              going,

wait for it......gone!                                                                               Now laugh at mommy!

I am so glad that she loved these on the light table, it was a reminder that I need to try more activities with it, I think it helps her CVI alot and helps her focus her attention so much better.

This weekend we also played with the light box with gel clings, used the ipad and did some of her switch work on the computer.

Her favourite app, Awesome Xylophone

She worked very hard with switch scanning and is getting close to mastering the proximity switch embedded in her tray.  Still some work to go with the head switch but that will come.  They aren't using the head switch at school just yet so she doesn't get as much practice with it.

Being a monkey again trying to get the wires :)

Sophie had been quite sick last week with pneumonia and a double ear infection so it is nice that she is happy again and having fun playing.  Hopefully we will be able to put the antibiotics and prednisone behind us for a good long while now that December and all that comes with it are not too far away.

Supergirl and the alien minion

Halloween was a blur.

This year Sophie was Supergirl and Lucas was dressed in a morphsuit.  He was an alien minion along with his friend and another friend was the alien leader.  I know, where do these boys come up with this stuff?

Sophie had a super fun day at school, they all got dressed up for a parade around the block and then had a Halloween party after that.  Two little boys in the class walked with Sophie the whole way, they never left her side.  I love that she has such great friends already, it just melts my heart.  Sophie had alot of fun watching all her friends in their costumes.  She got to hold on to her Super Sophie doll that her great grandma made for her (the inspiration for her costume) and all the kids loved it and asked about it.

Sophie with her awesome new EA and amazing nurse

She was so tired from the activity filled day that she promptly fell asleep when we got home and slept for an hour.  Before we knew it it was time to get into costumes again and head out for trick-or-treating.  We were so rushed I only took about three photos of the two of them!  Urgh!

Sophie was invited to go trick-or-treating with three of her classmates.  I was so excited for her!  Sophie's three little girl friends were giddy with excitement to go trick-or-treating and it was a blast.  The highlight of the night though was that the girls made up a song for Sophie during the day and gave me, Sophie and the other moms a concert in the driveway.  I was almost in tears it was so awesome.  I had heard that they had gone up in front of the class to sing the song as well.  It was called "Super Sophie" and they wrote it themselves.  I WISH I had it on video, it was the cutest thing and they were so proud to sing it for us.

friends :)

Trick-or-treating was freezing and it was pouring rain, so I stayed out for about a half hour with Sophie and the girls and then we headed home so she could help hand out candy with daddy.  I went out and found Lucas with his buddies and their moms and we had a fun time for an hour or more.  Lucas is now all about quantity on Halloween night, those boys were running to as many houses as possible!

Yes, Lucas accessorized with a tie. That's my boy :)

Lucas and his three friends had so much fun and we are already talking about next year's costume!

Halloween activity bar

Sophie and I had a little time alone today while her dad and Lucas went swimming so I thought it would be fun to put together a Halloween activity playbar for her.  Sophie has used these types of playbars for many years, usually in the child life room at her therapy centre. However I also taught the daycare how to make them.  I supplied them with seasonal items and they would add to it from there.  They had rainforest themes, Christmas, Halloween, butterflies, etc.

So since Halloween is just around the corner I pulled out some items I had purchased for this activity.  I had bought the spider lights (which I also used for her sensory mirror) as well as some pumpkin bells and a few reflective patches.  There is also a glowstick pumpkin necklace.  Once it was all rigged up it looked pretty great.

 

The light or glow aspect is one that I always try to incorporate into Sophie's play, because of her CVI (cortical vision impairment) it is helpful to have the mirrors or lights to catch her visual attention.

 

 The full glow effect

The wonderful thing about this kind of activity is that it doesn't have to cost alot.  I bought everything, right down to the elastic to hang everything, at the dollar store.  Luckily the daycare didn't need the activity bar when Sophie graduated so they donated it to us.  So thoughtful!

I was able to raise or lower the bar depending on what Sophie seemed interested in.  When she was making lots of arm movements I lowered the bar so that she would hit the bells to make some noise.  I raised it back up a bit when she was more interested in the webbing on the tray.

hitting the bells when she moves her arm

I added in some spiderweb and a flashing spider onto her tray at the end and Sophie had a ball getting her hands all over the web.

This is such a great activity for Active Learning, a philosophy I have talked about on the blog before and one that is so important to us.  Sophie is able to play at her pace and make everything work without any assistance. 

Halloween is just around the corner, we have found Lucas and Sophie's costumes so now it is just a waiting game until the big night!

Wiggles finale

As many of you know, Sophie is the worlds greatest Wiggles fan.  She loves them more than any toy or any other kind of entertainment you can throw at her. 

We have been lucky enough to go to three of their concerts now, the latest one being last week.  It was kind of bittersweet though because three of the four wiggles are retiring and this was their celebration/farewell tour.  A new group will take over but I don't think it will be quite the same.

Sophie was once again awed by the performance.  She watched so intensely and didn't miss a thing.  The songs were fantastic and it was a fun, energetic show as always.  She was very interested in the ballerinas when they came out.

Just like in past performances, one of the Wiggles came down to say hello to Sophie.  This time it was Greg, he asked her name and told her how happy he was that she came to see them and he hoped that she was having a fun time.  Sophie just stared at him with her mouth open, I am sure she was mesmerized by the fact that one of her favourite stars was talking to her live!!
I got this photo as he was heading back to the stage, waving at Sophie.  I know, the photo sucks.  It was an epic fail, I was so excited for her I forgot to take a photo while he was talking to her.

 

Murray and Anthony waved to Sophie a few times as well.  It was really sweet and I am so thankful that they go out of their way to make the night special for all the children there with special needs.  They do this because they love children and they love their jobs and you can tell.  :)

 

Sophie started to get upset as soon as we left the building, just like last year.  She was ok though and for the first time after attending this concert she didn't have a seizure, yay!

 

 Sophie was excited to tell her friends at school all about her trip to the concert, she chose her new Wiggles t-shirt to wear the next morning and she used her step by step button to tell them about her night.  A couple of her friends wrote Sophie some notes that day and one had a drawing of her with the Wiggles and another talked about Sophie and how much she liked the Wiggles.  It was awesome.

 

Thank you Wiggles for bringing so much happiness to one family's life. xo

The colours of Halifax

This past weekend I was lucky to be able to have a three day getaway.  Jason was at a conference in Halifax so we spent all my aeroplan points and I joined him there on Friday night.

I hadn't been to Halifax since I was a little girl so I didn't remember what it was like at all. It is a beautiful, walkable, friendly city and I am so glad I was able to go.

We had very cold, drizzly weather on Saturday and Sunday and the sun would poke it's head out every now and then.  By Monday the sun finally came out which we enjoyed immensely and went for a long walk to Point Pleasant Park. There is a tropical storm brewing in the Atlantic so all the warm air was getting pushed up, the calm before the storm as they say.

We went to a few farmer's markets which were so amazing, they had delicious food and creative artwork and handmade items along with many maritime fruits and veggies.   We had dinner at a downtown restaurant that had some of the best food we have ever eaten. 

The houses were so colourful and unique. So much colour, just like you picture the little fishing villages.

Searching the ocean shore for shells for Lucas was fun and the water was so beautiful.  The park had some beautiful ponds and the trees were just starting to turn.  If we make it the Maritimes again we would love to venture out to some smaller villages to get that different rustic Maritimes feel.