Month: September 2016

Madi had a rough go at physio today. It was the perfect storm between her being tired, being a 3 year old and limited snack…Stephanie’s patience certainly was tested but she did an excellent job of giving Madison lots of choice, re-directing her and working her hard when Madi was ready. Madison did her best work on the stairs today. They practiced going up and down, remembering to slide her hand before stepping and bending her knees. Thank you Stephanie!!!

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Madison loved opening her birthday present from Ruby… Princess Ariel for the bath tub!

After physio, Madison had a great play with Sara and Ruby while Mommy coached. They played on the Variety Village adaptive playground. It was very windy and the climbing structure they played on had a cave beneath that was a giant wind tunnel. Madi loved it and had a blast! Thanks Sara & Ruby!

A note from Monika at M.O.D. sharing how Madison’s first class went yesterday.

“I just wanted to share with you, that Madison had a nice day yesterday. She was a little bit tired at the beginning of the class, but she came around. She spelled her name with the magnet letters independently while walking in her obstacle course. She did great walking with her canes and took some independent steps. It was a very nice afternoon!”

Madison had a great morning at school. It was her turn to shake hands with her classmates during the good-bye song. She did a great job manoeuvring her walker around so many people in the circle. Madison can also read all of her classmates names, so she was given the job of handing out their take home journals at pick up today. She was very proud to do that for her teachers.

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Madison was excited to go to Deer Creek Golf course tonight. She went to help with the set up for this weekends Mike GREGOIRE Memorial Golf Tournament. Mommy and Daddy feel very honoured and appreciative that Madison will be one of the recipients of funds raised at this years tournament. Madison helped push the door button to hold the door open for everyone as they brought in box after box of silent auction items and golfers registration bags. It was the kick off to a great weekend and great event!

Madison had a busy day and went straight to bed. Her sleeps have been amazing since receiving her Botox…no more late night cramping!

Madison had a great morning at school. She is talking more and more each day and loved playing with shaving cream today! For sensory time she used her hands to wipe away shaving cream from photos to see pictures of her classmates. 

Jack had a great morning with his buddy Owen at Mother Goose class singing lots of fun songs!

After school, Madison spent her afternoon at March of Dimes. Madison is participating in a group class for two hours every Wednesday afternoon. She was happy to be back and was excited to learn that her group mates name is Jack!

Madison spent the rest of her day/night at Nana & Papa’s house. She and Jack played and had a nice dinner while Mommy was coaching. 

Jack continues to progress, and today he shocked Mommy while playing. He pushed and walked with his play table! He continues to get so strong!

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Madison and Jack had a fun afternoon chasing each other all around the house and playing lots of peek a boo! Jack is getting quick and Madison thinks it’s amazing and fun!

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Madison had her third ballet class tonight and she is showing steady progress with her ability to demonstrate the skills her teacher does but most importantly, her confidence is growing. She loves standing and bending her knees up and down while she stands with her pizza feet with hands on her hips. She loves trying to walk like a duck. She also did a great job letting go of her walker to use her arms high in the air. 

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Madison had multiple opportunities for performing in front of an audience today. Her first opportunity was at school during story time. Madison had a turn for show and tell today. She stood in front of her class and held up pictures from her birthday party on the weekend. She told her class about her party and did a great job explaining things with a big loud voice.

After school, her Aunts Janine and Suzanne took her to see Sassy for riding therapy. It was cold and rainy so she stayed indoors for her lesson. She did a great job sitting tall. She had many people watch today’s ride, including her buddy J.R. who had his lesson with Sassy right after Madison. 

Madison then went to Nana and Papa’s house for a play and some dinner. She pretended to call different people on their phone, gave out lots of tickles to everyone and watched her brother Jack pretend to be a gymnast on the toys and furniture crawling and moving everywhere! Madison also tried walking around their house using furniture, walls and other objects to help her stay upright walking without the use of her walker. 

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Madison woke up bright and early to participate in ‘Run Ajax’ for a 1km children’s race in support of Grandview Kids. Madison and Jack receive different therapy every week from Grandview so they were pumped to walk to raise awareness for an organization that has been so important to the family. Grandview Children’s Centre is an independently operated not-for-profit organization. They are the only Children’s Treatment Centre in Durham Region providing specialized programs, outpatient clinical treatment, and support to thousands of children and youth with special needs and their families.

Madison was happy to see her friends Zoey and JR at the walk. They all did a fantastic job and tried their best to walk as much as possible. Madison was scared of a minion character who walked in the race, but when he was out of sight she was able to walk and did great! 

They all crossed the finish line, got a medal and then headed to the different activities they had for kids. It was awesome seeing other Grandview families and cheering them on as they all worked so hard to cross the finish line and to celebrate all their successes thanks to Grandview. 

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Madison loved the baseball activity where she tried to hit the floating ball with a bat. 

Jack was Madison’s biggest cheerleader today!

Today Madison celebrated her 3rd birthday at Variety Village with her friends! She had friends from school and some of her ‘CP Warrior’ friends join her for play time in the field house, followed by pizza and cupcakes. All of her favourite activities were set up for her friends to try: the air mattress, obstacle course, parachute tent and turtles! All of her friends were able to find something they could do to make them smile. After lunch they all had a fun play on the accessible playground in the quad. She handed out balloons and loot bags and thanked everyone for helping make her day so special. Madison is a very lucky girl to have so many friends who love her and were so kind to find the time to celebrate with her. All of her friends have busy therapy schedules just like her, so it was great to get everyone together. Madison had a wonderful day! Happy 3rd Birthday Madi Mouse!

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Madison was very much a teenager this morning. She didn’t want to wake up, hid under her blanket and kicked and screamed to stay in bed. Once Stitch visited her to say good morning, she decided to finally wake up. It has been a very long week with very busy/long days so Madi had every right to not want to get up…but everyone needed to get through just one more day until the weekend. 

Madison’s teachers were thrilled with her participation today! Madison loved playing with ice cubes in water at the water table during sensory time and demonstrated some great transitions during music circle. Her one teacher reported that she was showing some weakness on the stairs which is common for her after Botox, so they will continue to work on it next week. 

Mommy and Madi had about an hour to kill after school so they went on a lunch date!

After lunch it was back to ABM with Judy for her last day. She worked hard and enjoyed herself. She demonstrated some excellent sitting positions and did well walking with no Walker, holding Judy’s hands.

Madi spent the rest of her day relaxing at home, napping, lots of stretching with Mommy and helping get things ready for her party tomorrow!

Mommy didn’t see Madison until bedtime. Mommy and Madi always have little chats before bed about what happened that day, the best part of the day, something that was challenging and something to look forward to. Madi said the best part of her day today was playing on the computer and eating meatballs. Madison spent her afternoon/evening with her Aunts Suzanne and Janine. She had some lunch after school and used Janine’s laptop. After lunch they took Madison to ABM therapy with Judy. She fell asleep right after and they drove around for a bit while Madison slept. They had dinner at Suzanne’s and had home made meatballs that Daddy also enjoyed when he picked her up. She had a great day and has already rebounded and recovered from her Botox yesterday. 

Madison was back at the Botox clinic this morning at Grandview for her third treatment. As soon as she was in the parking lot she knew. She said…”I’m not getting my leg medicine today”. Mommy and Daddy looked at each other with nervous faces and responded with…”you are such a brave girl. Remember that the leg medicine helps you and it will be a fast visit”. Madison agreed and then walked in. She played in the waiting room. When it was her turn she showed Dr. Mason her walking, he wiggled her legs, talked with Mommy & Daddy and then went into the procedure room. Madison received 8 needles in her calf and hamstring muscles. She squeezed Mommy’s hand tight the whole time and was very brave. 

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​After her Botox she went back to see Judy for AMB therapy. She started to fall asleep half way though the session which worked beautifully to relax and let Judy do her thing. 

She spent the rest of the day playing and relaxing with Nana and Jack.