Author: katherineambos

Madison started her day with a play at Pam and Medfords.  She loves playing with their kitchen sink water and outdoor hose! Then she was off to March of Dimes for C.E. with her buddy Ben.

Highlights at C.E. today were wall standing, playing catch with a ball, rope walking and cruising in and out of furniture. She also did some good stretching today too. 

After C.E. Madison and Mama went on a date to Memories of Japan for a yummy late lunch/early dinner. Madison was pretty good with the chop sticks.

After some shopping she ventured over to Papa and Nana ‘ s house to head down to the Jazz Fest in the Beaches. She loved the live music, Tiny Tom donuts and chocolate chip cookie from Moo Milk Bar. She danced to the music with Papa, waved and blew kisses at strangers and put money in the firefighter boot for their charity. She was pretty impressed with her new bubble machine too…thanks Papa! It was a fun, but busy day!

Madison had a great time at the zoo this morning with her buddy Charlotte! They saw the monkeys,  ostraches, lions, giraffes and had a nice visit with each other.

After a quick nap Madison was off to C.E. at March of Dimes with her buddy Ben. They worked hard together walking between ropes, wall standing, walking with the ladder and crawling up and down the ramp.

Madison was back at My Gym today and did several activities that really pushed her level of comfort. I was so proud of her that she tried different activities that she didn’t want to do at first, and then after trying she wanted to do them over and over again.

Madison spent her afternoon with her good buddy Ruby. Madison was very lucky to receive gifts from Ruby from her recent trip to Taiwan. They coloured together, had some yummy cookies and went for a swim. It was a great afternoon visiting and was so great hearing about Ruby and Sara’s trip.

Madison’s therapy for today was at Grandview with Kate. She did an awsome job working on her transitions, side stepping, stairs and standing independantly against the wall. She’s making big progress this summer we are so pumped!

Madison ended her day cheering on Aunt Nadia and Uncle Mark at their softball game. She loved being silly and watching all the players with her cousin Nate.

Madison had a very active day that started with a trip to Home Depot. Today was the first time we brought Madison’s walker out in the community to use in a store. She did a fantastic job walking up and down the aisles helping Dada find light bulbs. It was harder then I thought seeing peoples reactions. They were giving the usual “she’s so cute” look but also looks of feeling sorry for her which is always hard to see. Taking her out in her walker and not just her stroller is something we have to start doing more often to help her build endurance, confidence and independence. She took some great steps forward today and her Mama and Dada did too.

This afternoon Madison started back at March of Dimes for her conductive education class. She worked on lots of side stepping and walking. It’s so encouraging to see how strong she is getting.  The best part of the day was when her conductor did an exercise with her for Madison to try and stand independently….and she did it for 1 second!!!! She’s back at March of Dimes Thursday and Friday this week so maybe she will do it for 2 seconds!!!

Madi certainly worked her butt off today and is now passed out in bed.

Grampa took Madison for a walk this morning to visit the Athletes training at Birchmount Stadium for the upcoming Pan Am athletic events. Apparently she was quite the hit with the Cuban woman’s relay team.

This visit was good motivation for Madison as she had a great afternoon of physio around the house. Her activities included chasing balls around and giving them to Stitch and helping Dada unload and load the dishwasher sitting up on high knees, twisting and turning to pass the dishes.

Any sort of activity that Madison shows interest in thats repetitive in gross motor movements we encourage, give attention to and show lots of enthusiasm and excitment so that she will continue in the activity as long as possible. Even though we stayed home this afternoon to beat the heat, she had a very busy and active day.

Madison had a typical day playing and being out & about…little did she know we were hiding physio exercises in most of what she did. It’s a good way to get some goals addressed and to have fun at the same time. When Madison sat in the cart during our grocery shop I alternated sides of the cart to pass her things. She took it in her hand, turned her body and then dropped the item in the cart. Great core and balance workout.  When she played at her water table in the backyard, she stood by herself at the table for almost 45 minutes side stepping around and around the table. The coordination of her side step is getting pretty good.

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Happy Soul Project!

On our journey to the cottage this past week we made a stop in Kingston to a local shop to pick up some tshirt ‘ s to support the Happy Soul Project!

The Happy Soul Project started out as a way for a mom to share her story of raising two children, one who has down syndrome. The Happy Soul Project is about striving to be grateful no matter what happens in life. It’s about accepting the life fate gave you, seeing the beauty in the challenges and the hope in the hardships. It’s about finding joy unexpectedly, becoming a kinder person and continuing to always have an open mind.  It’s about breaking down stigmas, changing perspectives and celebrating differences. We fell in love with this blog when we were first introduced to it and have been following it ever since. It was a big inspiration for starting Madi Moves. We will always encourage Madison to show the world her magic and beauty and help spread the message of the Happy Soul Project that #differentisbeautiful.

Madison had a great 5 days on vacation. We ventured to Westport which is north of Kingston to a rental cottage. It was an extra special time as this was the first vacation Nana and Grampa Gregoire had been on since Nana’s transplant. Madison and Nate had secretly planned some early morning play dates which everyone ended up being a part of. They practiced their sitting together, had many wrestling matches, swam, blew bubbles, bounced on Grampas knee, sang with Nana and tagged off on alternating naps. Madison had a bit of a break from her AFO’s and physio although we squeezed in stretching when we could and Madison fell in love with walking up and down the deck stairs. Poor Grampa and Dada’s backs will be sore for the next few days. Uncle Mark and Grampa taught Madison how to play crockette and she was so proud hitting the ball.  She went to the beach, found ice cream in town, had a fire by the water, went for a boat ride and out for dinner on our last night to celebrate Auntie Nadia’s birthday. She loved watching Carter swim and chase his water toy and then run right back to shake all the water off. I think most of all she loved all the yummy food and time with everyone.

We are away for the week on family vacation with limited reception. Madison had a blast with her car buddy Carter pulling his ears the whole way. Her and Nate are now inseparable.  Day one was full of play time, bubbles and baby wrestling. We will be doing a big post at the end of the week. Have a great week and Madi Moves will be back on Saturday.

Madison started her day with Nana and Grampa while Mama prepared for the cottage and Dada delivered Stitch to Aunt Emily’s house. Madison read with Nana, played with hers and Nate’s new standing activity centre and prepared breakfast in her kitchen.

After her nap, Madison practiced sitting in her pack and play. Most people would look at this picture and probably think – what’s the big deal. But we were so excited and happy and celebrated how she was sitting.  Usually Madison can only sit independantly by crossing her legs and tucking them in front of her. She was able to do what her therapists call ‘long sitting’ with her legs straight out in front of her. We were so happy!