Month: June 2015

We are extremely thankful for the opportunity Madison had to participate in the baby physio course. Today was her fifth and final day and she did amazing! We are blessed to have such an easy going and trusting little girl. Madison had 7 physiotherapists/occupational therapists working with her this morning; each trading off and taking turns with her for a total of 1.5 hours of non stop therapy! James watched and encouraged her and I quickly wrote down as many new exercises, tricks or ideas as I could get from all the wonderful therapists who were incredibly creative and caring. She has grown so much in the last few days and we are grateful.

Madison had her fourth day of physio this morning in Richmond Hill. They focused on doing stretching and sitting activities using our bolster from home so we could learn some hip and inner thigh stretches that are easy to replicate at home. Madison has been invited back for an extra day tomorrow with a smaller group of kids. We are thrilled to have her participate in as many oppertunities as possible.

After a short nap she was off to the zoo with her cousin Nate to see the Ah Ah’s (monkeys). Nate loved looking at all the fish and Madison loved watching the monkeys.

This morning was day 3 for Madison’s physio course. Her focus this morning was loosening her core by rolling on a bolster, climbing stairs and side squating using a block to step up onto.  We also experimented with switching Madison’s handles on her walker to have a more open upper body position.

Madison spent her afternoon visiting with family at Aunt Martha’s house for her annual summer solstice party. She played with Tika and Quinn, climbed the stairs and had a yummy lunch.

Madison had her second morning in the baby PT/OT course. Today they focused on trying to relax her core by wiggling her on a physio ball to take her out of her “comfort plain” of motion. It worked really well as the following activities she had more range of motion and control. They also worked on going up and down stairs and walking with her arms out wide to the side to force the engagement of her core. It was another great morning.

Madison practiced dressing herself by taking her shirt off and then back on and taking her AFO’S on and off.

Stairs!

Walking to the car

With all the appointments, driving etc. Mama and Dada hadn’t yet celebrated the end of the school year so a visit to The Works for dinner and then the movie Inside Out was much needed. Nana and Grampa hung out with Madison, read stories and played around the house while it continued to poor rain. Thanks Nana and Grampa for the date night!

Selfie in the Elmo balloon!

Today was day 1 out of 4 of Madison’s participation in the Advanced Baby Couse in Richmond Hill for PT’S and OT’S further enhancing their training with children under 24 months currently not walking independently.

Madison participated with about 15 other children. She worked with 3 therapists this morning- 1 from Grandview, 1 from York Region and 1 from Thunder Bay. It was a great morning practicing skills towards her short term goals and meeting new people.

She loved the play kitchen! Possibly a new purchase in the near future

The best motivation…Dada holding Elmo

Today was Madison’s last day at her daycare. She had a fantastic day that included a cupcake party with Elmo cupcakes!

All of her teachers gave her lots of hugs and gifts too! She was a very lucky girl! We are going to miss all of them so much. To top it off they gave Madison a signed tshirt and 2 home made cards. One with all the other children’s hand prints and a card full of special notes, pictures and memories of her time there. It brought tears to my eyes seeing how loved she was. We then took Madi out for dinner to celebrate her special day.

Thank you to the whole Discovery Place team for all their love and hard work with Madison. Thank you for all the very thoughtful gifts and for making her feel so special. She is over the moon excited with all her new Elmo books, toys, balloon etc. Thank you!

Tomorrow is Madison’s last day of daycare. When we came to that realization tonight, it made us sad thinking back to her first day when she was 11 months old and how much she has accomplished and all the changes since she started. But we know it’s the right decision to move her to a program that will be smaller group,  with focused therapy and teaching to her specific needs and goals and has the expertise in working with children with physical disabilities.

Today Madison had the oppertunity to visit her new school and teachers for September.  It was a fantastic visit! James and I were extremly happy and impressed and are excited for what Madison will be a part of starting this fall.

Madison will be attending Centennial Infant and Child Centre located in downtown Toronto.  She will attend 5 days a week for mornings. She will be in a group of 6 children with similar needs as her with a special ed teacher and a 1:1 volunteer instructor each day. They met with us this morning to learn about Madison’s history, and to do some informal assessments and observations. From this they will develop a learning plan for her based on goals for fine and gross motor, social and behavioural. Madison will also receive PT, OT and possibly speech while at Centennial. Each day they also incorporate music, reading, crafts and quiet time. Madison was a rock star this morning. She played, and did everything that was asked of her and was confident and showed them her true personality and sparkle. I was so happy that they got to see a true picture of who she is. We will be going back for 2 weeks at the end of August for “intro days” for her to slowly transition into the program for September.

Madison loved sitting for tea time with the babies. She was able to sit in the little blue chairs for a long amount of time and did great!

Madison loved playing with the Lego and cars table. It was the perfect height for her to cruise around it and play with all the new toys.

 

Madison and her PT Suzanne

Madison and her new teachers Calene and Sue

Trying out a new chair. She wasn’t too sure about it at first but I think she just has to get use to it.

Madison’s cupboard that will house all of her toys/activities specific to her learning plan. It was nice seeing it with her name and all ready for her.

It was a wonderful morning and we are looking forward to her start date on September 8th.

Madison helped Mama put together her friendship gifts tonight. Thursday is Madison’s last day at daycare and she will be giving her little friends a small gift to thank them for their friendship. We know Madison will miss her daycare, all the staff, her little friends and we will too. Tomorrow we are visiting her new program for September by seeing her classroom, meeting her teacher and she will be assessed by their speech therapist, physiotherapist and occupational therapist. We will update everyone tomorrow on the visit.

Madison loves playing games so we never miss an oppertunity to make a game out of a physio activity.  It takes some creativity sometimes but she usually cooperates.

Activity #1) Playing hide and go seek to practice going from a low squat and then pulling herself up to standing tall.

Activity #2) Sitting on the floor for tea time trying to stay balanced while using her hands to poor tea for her Dada.

Whoopsie!

Madison had a day packed full of celebrations for her Dada, Grampa Gregoire, Godfather Uncle Mark and her cousin Molly ‘ s Baptism.

Madison and Dada had some snuggle and gift time in the morning before the busy day started.

Off to breakfast with Nana, Grampa (Papa), Uncle Mark, Aunt Nadia and Nate the Great! She loved her breakfast and ate up all her toast, pancakes and bacon while Dada focused his breakfast on keeping her sitting up. The highchair she was in had very loose straps and it wasn’t until later in her breakfast that she figured out the foot rest to keep herself from slipping out. Grampa Gregoire had a good idea of “borrowing” a restaurant highchair that fits her well, paint it a different colour and then take it with us to every restaurant we visit. Something to think about.

Madison spent her afternoon celebrating

Molly ‘ s Baptism. Who knew that church pews would be the perfect height for Madison to practice her sidestepping. I guess we need to attend church more often.