Grade Three

Since I haven't blogged all summer I figured I should at least show a back to school photo.  Sophie is loving grade three and we are getting settled in to the new school year nicely.  Lucas is having a great start as well and he has continued in the gifted itinerant program this year.  He has his first cluster session for grade six this week.

Waiting to have her name called to meet her new teacher!

Musical Lightbox

Last winter we were gifted a switch adapted musical lightbox.  Sophie has become very proficient at using her switches so this was a nice addition to her adapted toys. I haven't used this with her as much as I should because she really enjoys the response she gets when she activates the switch properly.
 

 The lightbox is from American Printing House for the Blind.  It lights up and plays music when the switch is activated.  I am hoping to get a latch timer for Sophie because she finds it hard to hold the switch down for any extended period of time.

Since Halloween is on its way I added some little spider and pumpkin stickers for her to look at when the lightbox lights up.  She was very interested in them and I will have to think up more ideas of what to place on the lightbox to keep her visually interested when playing with it.

Choir recital

Sophie once again performed in the choir at school.  They just had their Choir music night and performed songs from Broadway shows.  It was excellent and very entertaining!  I was so proud of my girl up there in front of such a large audience.  She loved the singing as much as us and she was quite happy to sing along in her own way to all the songs whether it was her choirs turn or not!

It is hard to see her in these photos but she is to the far right of the group...

My parents and my niece were able to attend with us so it was a very special evening for Sophie.  Her wonderful EA also took time out of her evening to come and be with Sophie for the recital.  It was so nice to be able to watch my girl be in the choir with all of her friends.

The choir directors have made a real effort to have Sophie even more included this year by having a singing buddy with her all the time.  Her friends love doing this for her and Sophie can watch them and learn from them as well.  A special education music teacher even came to the school to give some suggestions on how to work with Sophie to make it a positive experience for her in choir.  So many good things came from her visit and we know that Sophie benefited from the effort of all involved!

A healing arm

We are now past the 5 week mark for when Sophie's wrist was fractured.  We are impatiently waiting to be able to remove her splint for good.  She had the cast removed a couple weeks ago and has been wearing a splint 24/7 while it heals.  It is nice that we can remove the splint to bathe her arm and keep the skin healthy.

Sophie doesn't seem to bothered by the splint anymore but I know we will have weeks of physio to get her arm back into it's pre-break condition.

Her new splint..

About a week to go then we will have some new x-rays and hopefully we can ditch the splint in time for swimming season!

Fractured

Sophie had some swelling on the back of her hand two days ago and was having some pain when we touched it but otherwise seemed fine.  It was a tiny bit red but wasn't bruised so we kept an eye on it but were puzzled by it.  After school yesterday it was more puffy so I decided to take her to be seen by the doctor.  So we went straight to the urgent care centre that is a couple blocks away.  I was afraid that she had some kind of infection under the skin or something like that.  We were sent for x-rays and to my shock we found out that Sophie has a fractured wrist.  I was not expecting it to be that because there is no bruising and she hasn't been complaining other than when we touched her hand.  We have no idea how she broke it and unfortunately probably never will.  She is such a strong little girl and I hate that she got hurt and wasn't able to tell us and can't tell us how it happened or when it happened.  She hasn't had any crying or upset periods with us so we really don't know if it hurts when not being touched or not.

She has a cast which covers the fingers to the elbow on one side and it is all wrapped tightly from top to bottom.  When I picked her up from school today all of her classmates had signed it.  I am sure she had a tale to tell them today!  She has such great friends to help her get through this.

We are feeling so guilty that we weren't able to keep her safe and we keep trying to think of how this could have happened.  We know that she most likely has more brittle bones than most because she is non-ambulatory but we hate that this has happened to her.  She was finally feeling healthy and just finished her latest round of antibiotics for a double pneumonia two days before, she has had such a rough winter health wise. I hope that she heals quickly and my girl never has to go through something like this again. :(

Easter 2014

We had a pretty quiet Easter this year.  My parents were away and Sophie had pneumonia so we kind of laid low around home.  We had an egg hunt in the morning which is always a hit around here. Later we went for brunch with my niece and my sister.  The food was great and we were all stuffed full by the time we were done.

It was a beautiful sunny day and I was able to get the kids corralled long enough for a few photos!

Sophie's new transport chair

Sophie has her new Rodeo!  We were so excited for it to arrive, I was super impatient and was so happy when we received the call that it was in.  After some minor adjustments for her size we had it home.  Sophie has been using it now for just over 2 weeks and it has been working really well.

Sophie seems very comfortable in it, sometimes too comfy.  She has quickly found a way she likes to sit in it, one leg up in a funny yoga pose with her knee sticking out the side.  She does this each time she is in it, always the right leg up.

The harness/seatbelt system and special headrest add-on supports her head and torso well and the rigid seat with contouring we added has helped immensely to hold her in the chair properly.  Considering she had never been able to try this chair out before we ordered it, it functions very well.

We added a rain/sun canopy and a medical basket/tray for underneath for her feeding pump.  I still have to find a caribaner to hang the feeding bag from but otherwise we are good to go.  It rolls really nicely up into the back of the van so I haven't had to figure out how to collapse yet, but apparently it is fairly easy.  We chose a nice dark burgundy for the colour of the chair and I love it.

I hope this will provide her with many years of comfy touring on our many adventures.