Author: katherineambos

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.

It was an early start for both Madi and Jack today. Madison was excited to get to school for her friend Ben’s birthday and Jack had a visit with Eric to adjust his helmet.

Jack has been doing really well with his helmet since his last adjustments. More padding was added today to help stop the helmet from rotating and squeezing his ears. 

After school Mommy and Madi got some lunch and did some errands to pass some time before therapy. Madison is doing ABM therapy this week. She will go once a day for 4 days straight to work with Judy. They are focusing on some ‘back to basic’ transitions and positions to increase Madison’s quality of movement. Today they focused on side sitting, sitting in a squatted position for play and walking heel to toe barefoot with her walker. 

After a rest at home, Madi got dressed in pink and headed to ballet! She was so excited that Jack was going to watch her dance this week. She was confident, happy and brave to try a few new things this week. They balanced on one leg like a flamingo, marched like soldiers and walked with duck feet. They also learned to move in a circle when the music was playing and to stop when the music stopped.

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Madison was excited to start therapeutic riding again today! When she got to the barn she didn’t see Joe. She knew right away something was different and asked her therapist “where is Joe today?” Her therapist told her that Joe is getting old and needs to take a rest this session because he worked hard with kids all summer. Mommy was worried how Madi would handle the news. She then said to her therapist “it’s a nice day – where is my new horse?” Her therapist then introduced her to Sassy! Madi loved Sassy! Madi had a good stretch on her peanut ball and then sat on Sassy right after. She had a great session. They worked on taking deep breaths, projecting her voice with commands to Sassy and her therapist reported that she sat tall and had great core stability the whole ride. Mommy was thrilled! 

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Madi and Jack love when Daddy gets home! They play in the backyard while Mommy makes dinner. It’s sometimes impossible to get Madi inside to eat- she is loving her new playground!

All the fresh air from today made Jack have an early bedtime before he was even done his evening bottle. Or it could have been all his screaming from teething…oh well!

Madison had a wonderful birthday celebration with family today. Her and Nate worked in their Cafe making coffee and desserts for their customers. They had a yummy dinner and cake and Madison was thrilled with all her presents. Thanks everyone for making Madi feel so special and loved!

 Madi went to bed nice and early to prepare for her busy week. On deck this week is horseback riding, ballet, Botox, ABM therapy, swim lesson, her birthday party with her friends and Grandviews charity walk! Madi will have lots of opportunity to be active and experience different movements this week which should all help with her increased tightness lately. 

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Madison and Jack had a fabulous time at Ben’s house this afternoon celebrating his 3rd birthday with him. 

MThey ate lots of yummy food, played with all Ben’s toys, sang happy birthday with a super cool super hero cake and jumped like crazy in the super hero bouncy castle. Mommy was so proud of Madi for trying to jump on her feet. She has been working on the feeling of jumping and learning how to bend her knees and then reach high to jump at conductive Ed for over a year. She is always scared to let go when jumping and she tried it today! Check out the video below! 

Mommy & Daddy are so happy that Madi has made such a nice connection with her new  friends. 



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