Month: February 2016

Today Madison was approved and given a spot at WindReach farms for therapeutic horseback riding lessons. She has her first class near the end of March! One of her new exercises she has been doing at home is sitting on a foam roller to work on her posture,  core strength and seated position with feet flat on the ground. It also gives her a big stretch of her inner thigh muscles. This exercise will also help Madison get ready for sitting on a horse. Madison worked with Emily for a few hours tonight and this is one of the things they tried. They also worked on alot of standing together. Madison did great work!

Madison attended a family mass and lunch today in memory of her Great Grandad Lynch that the family puts on each year to get together and have a nice afternoon visiting with everyone. After the mass Madison walked from the church to a party room at the nearby Lawblaws. She walked along St. Clair that was very busy with lots of people out shopping and enjoying the beautiful weather. This was a first for Madison as most places she walks does not have many people or things going on. She was a bit distracted and loved stopping to look around at all the people – but she walked the whole way! She had a big smile on and loved every moment. She is getting so much stronger and even braved the incline, multiple curbs and cracks and dips in the sidewalk. Once the weather gets better we will head out to the park more often to practice with her walker on uneven ground and how to manage curbs. It was a great afternoon visiting with everyone and enjoying some family time.

Madison and Jack spent the day with Auntie Em and Daddy while Mommy was out coaching. Madison and Aunt Emily had lots of laughs, played in her room, looked at her books and played in her tower. She had lots of snuggles and Jack did too! Thanks for your help today Aunt Emily!

Today Madison visited her Great Grandma Lynch to celebrate her birthday! Nana made some cookies and squares and brought a yummy birthday cake. Madison celebrated with Aunt Martha and Lisa, Nana and Grandmas friend Jeanette. Jack joined her in the celebration. She helped blow out the candles and explored Grandmas condo. It was a great Friday afternoon!

Madison had her last winter class with Monika at March of Dimes today. She built a tower of blocks while lying straight on her tummy, practiced walking with a shopping cart and practiced straddle sitting. We are going to have Madison do straddle sitting at home to help loosen her inner thigh muscles and to work on her core by sitting upright. We have a bolster roller she will use for this. At the end of her class she cut up bananas and strawberries and pushed them on a kabob stick following the same colour pattern that was on the block tower she built. Jack went to her class to meet Monika and cheer his big sister on. It was a fantastic winter session – thank you Monika!! And thank you Janine and Suzanne for taking her each week.

Madison also handed in her registration forms for summer camp at March of Dimes today. Forms are due by the 18th of March. If you have a little one interested in conductive ed camp with Madison, send me a message and I’ll send the dates she will be attending.

Today Madison was spotted on posters in various subway stations all over downtown Toronto. She is helping spread the word for a dodge ball fundraising event benefiting March of Dimes and conductive education.  The event is at the end of March. Google search ‘Dodge for Dimes’ if you are interested. We are hoping to get our hands on one of the large posters when the campaign is finished for Madison’s special keepsake box.

Madison’s physio Stephanie found a great push cart that they tried out today.  She bought it from Ikea for $30, toys and items can go in the box, it’s wooden and the wheels can adjust resistance which is perfect for a little one learning to walk. Madison did her best ever walking with it. Her endurance and stability was incredible! She walked three quarters of the 200m track independently in her new AFO’S which provided excellent support.

After her first year of AFO’S Madison was ready for a new pair. Her legs were getting longer, feet growing longer and wider -so it was time. Mommy and Daddy picked out Madison’s first pair and Madison picked out her new design…Blue Jays!! Perfect timing for spring training! She met up today with her buddy Eric who had already casted her feet for the mold. Today they were ready for a fitting.  They are much bigger so hopfully they will get ger through another year. After 3 hours of cutting,  moulding and fine tweaking they were ready! She is excited to show her friends at school tomorrow.

Madison was full of energy and confidence at school today and went full steam ahead with each activity she did. Her teacher and volunteer reported that she was speedy with crawling,  pulling to standing,  walking with a push cart and walking in her walker. She was independant and vocal with each thing she did. Woo-hoo!

All of her activity, fun playtime with Grandma, Grandpa and Stanley and no afternoon nap equaled an exhausted toddler at dinner time…

We were able to wake her up right before Emily got to the house. They had a great session together working on standing with her ski boots, stretching and standing independantly. Madison is super excited to get her new AFO’S tomorrow…stay tuned.

Today Madison had a play date with her brother and his new buddy Owen. She was a big help making sure both babies were happy and had what they needed and helped open some special gifts from her Auntie Rachel. After her play, she helped get things ready for the school week- put food in her cart at the grocery store, picked out her clothes for school, packed her back pack and made breakfast smoothies for the morning. 

Madison had an awsome time at Aunt Nadia ‘ s volleyball tournament today. She was excited for days to go and couldn’t wait to get in the car this morning.  She ran right into the gym in her walker and pushed through the crowd.  Before watching her first game she gave the team some good luck Timbits and then cheered loud and clapped while they played. After the game she did lots of walking through the halls chasing Daddy. She even tried walking up and down a ramp in her walker for the first time. It was tricky but she did pretty good. After going home for a long nap she headed back to the gym to run around with Nate, cheer and clap Aunt Nadia on to a silver medal! She loved watching the ball go back and forth over the net and asked lots of questions – she loved watching volleyball!