Month: August 2015

Today Madison celebrated her last day of summer with Mama and Dada. Sadly, Mama goes back to work tomorrow. Madison went out for breakfast this morning with Nana and Papa after a good sleep in. After breakfast she went over to Nana and Papa’s to get her new car seat installed for all her pickups from school. She was a good helper.

Madison spent her afternoon watching the Jays game with Dada. Her cousin Nate was there for his first game. She watch the TV intently looking for Nate.

The last of her summer was spent helping Mama do laundry, fold clothes and get things ready for the week. She blew bubbles, played with Stitch, coloured and explored her toys around the house.

Madison had an awsome summer! She worked her butt off everyday at therapy, enjoyed lots of time with family and friends and did lots of travelling to cottages and fun places. We all feel truly blessed for how much time we had together and how far Madison has come in the last few months.  Thank you to everyone who contributed to Madison’s awsome summer!

Madison got her back to school/photo shoot hair cut this morning. Last time she went she needed help to sit up straight and adjust in the chair and her horse ride at the end needed hands on her. Today she got a gorgeous hair do and sat up in her car all by herself! She rode the horse all by herself too! Her core strength has greatly improved. Check out her before and after pics.

Before

Driving her car

After

Dada took Madison and Mama out for dinner to Memories of Japan for our last weekend of summer. Madison loved watching the fire and the chef cook on the table in front of us.

Today was Madison’s last day of orientation at her school. She has been downtown for either school or therapy everyday for the last two weeks. Partnered with afternoons at therapy and swimming to add to the crazy jam packed days….we are finished and we survived!

Madison had a great morning at school. She loves playing in her egg chair and having story time. Nana and Papa Gregoire visited her school today to check out her program, see the building and plan parking for pickups. Madison got fitted for her new chair and her walker is placed in her classroom and ready to go. The next time Madison is there will be for her first day on the 8th.

During Madison’s nap today we heard her scream “Mommy! Daddy! Pee pee” and repeated it several times. We went up to her room and found her standing in her crib, butt naked with no diaper in sight and with her whole crib and sheets soaked. We hope she learnt her lesson of what happens when she takes her diaper off during nap time.

Madison finished her day with a girls night out for dinner with Auntie Liz. She had her classic choice – chicken fingers and fries with apple juice. Her Auntie Liz knows well about Madison’s obsession with books and brought her 2 new ones to explore during dinner. It was a great way to end a crazy few weeks.

Madison had a great morning of therapy at March of Dimes. Suzanne and Janine visited to watch Madison’s class and plan their trips there for Madison’s September sessions. She showed them her ladder walking, rope walking and crawling up a ramp. She also did some independent standing which went great!

This afternoon was Madison’s last swim class. Grandma Ambos visited to watch Madison practice her floats, bobs and kicking. Madison also tried opposite handed high fives that Ryan did in a pattern with her in the water. This will help her learn to reach far forward one arm at a time when swimming on her front or back. Sadly, the Variety Village pool is closing for a few months so Madison wont see Ryan for a while. Madison and Mama will keep up the swimming skills at a Durham pool in the meantime.

Madison had a jam packed day of on the go fun. Her day started back at school for another morning of orientation. She loved sensory play today which was squeezing chocolate pudding out of small holes in a bag. They also fitted her today for her school walker which she will use daily instead of binging her home walker back and forth. Suzanne and Janine also visited Madison’s school to see some of her final activities, see her classroom where they will be picking her up and to scope out parking for pickups.

Madison also had a great swim class with Ryan. The main pool was closed so her lesson was in the hot pool. We are all thrilled with her progress with her kicking, bobs and floats. She is a natural fish.

After swimming Madison spent some time with her cousin Nate, Uncle Mark and Nana. Her and Nate had a nice play together while Dada and Uncle Mark helped move furniture around, put garbage on the curb and empty out Uncle Marks old bedroom. Nana and Papa are putting together a nursery/bedroom for Nate, Madison and Grand baby #3 on the way for lots of play visits and sleepovers!

It was great getting so much done in one day, but we are going to try and not schedule so many back to back things for a while…crazy day!

Madison had two physio sessions today. One at March of Dimes and one at Grandview.

Ben and Madi continued to work on wall standing, side stepping and standing while using their hands to play. They also walked with their legs on either side of a beam to train their gaits.

At Grandview Madison worked on squats to standing and using a technique of vibrating her lungs when she blows out for bubbles. Her physio Kate does this by shaking her upper body while Madison blows out. This will help Madison increase her lung capacity for when she starts speaking with more than 3 words in a sentence.

This morning at Madison’s school orientation she explored the snoozlyn room, had some sensory fun with cars and paint and tried out a new chair/foot rest combo. The new chair allowed her to sit up right with her feet positioned flat and legs at 90 degrees. She met some new friends and had another great morning.

Madison also got her AFO’S back today! They added extenders to the toes and calves and took the top part off her boot to allow for more movement and less top pressure.

Her swim lesson with Ryan tonight went great! She worked on bobs, side floats, back floats and kicking. The pool made a big difference tonight with her tone. When we did some physio tonight at home she was much more flexible and exhibited less tone with her movement.

Madison also tried her new chair from Corinna at the dinner table tonight instead of her highchair. She loved it and it was nice to all eat at the table together.

Madison spent her Sunday morning doing one of her favourite things with Nana & Papa…visiting the ducks! She loves to feed them and watch the boats and planes and say hi. Before she went down to the lake, her and Nana got ready by brushing each others hair.

This afternoon Madison had a big day with some of her physio. She is scared to stand independently against the wall, but we continue to try and today she did an awesome job! We usually sing to keep her distracted. Today she tried following the song actions with her hands and lasted a whole song! To top that off she climbed up the stairs all the way to the top all by herself! She brought her Mama to tears and her Dada cheered her on the whole way.

Madison had a good day of summer fun! No physio, stretching or classes. Her day started with breakfast with Auntie Em! Nothing like a Saturday sleep in, breakfast out and lying around the house. The whole family then had an awsome nap.

This afternoon Madison went to The EX!  She had poutine,  an ice cream waffle sandwitch and Tiny Tom Donuts! She went on the carousel, puppy dog ride and played the ducky game. She was excited to see the “neighs” as she calls any horse she sees, but when she went to sit on it for the ride her legs were too tight to allow her to straddle the horse. She ended up sitting on one of the sleighs. We can’t wait until she is old enough to receive therapy with the horses at CARD as it is clearly something she will benefit from. She loved going to see all the barn animals and seeing all the rides on the midway. It was a great summer day!

Madison was back at March of Dimes with Ben this morning doing their workout together. Madison pulled herself up off her sitting block by herself to standing using the ladder. Her and Ben are not fans of independent standing against the bars but are getting more confident each class.

Madison had a swim lesson this evening with Ryan. After a few short tears she had a great class. She did a bunch of bobs for Ryan, some kicking on her front, some side rolls with her head in and tried some bubbles. It’s nice to see her trying what is being asked of her and how much more comfortable she is getting with Ryan. The best part was seeing how relaxed her legs were after the class as they were stiff for most of the day.

This picture is of Madison about to go under for a Bob.