Author: katherineambos

Madi and Jack had a fun morning at Nana & Papa’s house playing with a new play dough set, dancing and helping put new soil and water in the pink flowers. 

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​After her nap, Madi & Daddy were playing when they heard the ice cream truck! Madi crawled as fast as she could to her walker, put her shoes on and ran out the door to find the truck. They ended up walking all the way to the park and after about an hour they found the truck! Madi had a pink ice cream cone! Daddy was so proud of all the walking Madi did!

Daddy and Jack love having naps together 

Daddy came up with a clever idea to attach Madi’s walker to the stroller! Mommy was having a hard time Pushing the stroller around and carrying Madi’s walker at the same time so it would be available for when she wanted it – this is now so much better!

Madi had a great visit with Shannon this morning. She has not been this spastic/tight in a long time. Her hips & pelvis were locked up, quads tight causing knee caps to raise and swell and Achilles pulling as well. Shannon did a new combo for her tape which has already made a big difference in the quality of Madi’s walking/movement.

Madi took it easy all afternoon trying to relax her muscles and recover from a busy week of camp. After a long nap she went to get some fresh air with her cousin Nate. 

Madi went with Nana, Nate and Uncle Mark to explore the new splash pad in the neighbourhood. It was lots of fun and completely accessible! 

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Mommy was so proud of Madi at the playground. She was able to be completely independent on a jungle gym for the first time!!!! She climbed and crawled all the way from the bottom, all the way to the top to the slide. It was amazing to see!! 

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After 2 weeks full of fun and lots of progress, Madison had her last morning of camp at March of Dimes today. They helped her work on her potty training each day, practiced lots of walking and did lots of creative and fun activities. We are so grateful for all the progress she has made these past 2 weeks!

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Madison had two great visits with two of her favourite little guys – Owen and Nathan! She helped Auntie Rachel open her birthday present while playing with Bauer and then later in the day played with Nate and all his awesome toys! 

After a great day of camp and play dates, Madison and Jack helped Mommy grocery shop for some items for dinner.

Madison had a great morning at camp! They made pancakes to sell to all the staff at March of Dimes to raise money for CE. Madison’s job was the cashier. She helped to collect $105!!! On her way to the car she decided to try and hop down the ramp in her walker which started quite the giggle fest. Madison took some of the pancakes home to have for lunch but ended up eating them all in the car on the way home.

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​Jack had a fun visit with Sara this morning while Mommy and Ruby worked together at Variety Village. Sara’s son Jack and little Jack had a fun time playing together. Jack squared!

After some down time at home, Madison went to the Village for a swim with Ryan. She did an awesome job today! She tried lying nice and flat during her back floats, practiced pushing her feet from the wall and did lots of great bubbles! They also tried some standing and walking in the water. Madi loves her time with Ryan and talked about how she poured water on his head the whole way home in the car. 

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Madi ended her night with a visit from Nana who played with her and Jack while Mommy & Daddy had a special visitor. Now that Madison is consistently independent with her walker and her independent walking has extremely progressed, it is time to start making Madison’s house more of a home by changing the design of the front and back of the house to allow her to access what she wants independantly and safely.  A contractor that was recommended by other Grandview families came to look at the front and back entrances and to discuss options. The rough sketches were very exciting to see. Once final sketches are designed we will share more. The front of the house will have both stone steps and a stone ramp with a garden feature in between. The front door will be wider and have a seamless frame entrance. The back door will have a new deck with built in bench and flower box. A ramp will exit one side of the deck with a step down to the grass on the other side. While waiting for a quote, Mommy & Daddy will start the funding applications to March of Dimes and Presidents Choice Charity. Within the next year Madison will be able to enter the front of the house all by herself and go out to play in the backyard all by herself! 

Mommy, Nana & Jack picked up Madi today from March of Dimes camp and went to Great Grandma Lynch’s for a visit! 

Madison showed her Great Grandma her toy phone, they talked about the art work around the room and ate some yummy cake. Lots of visitors popped by the room to say hello as well. Madison also showed her Great Grandma all the walking she has been practicing. She walked around the whole upper floor of the building in her walker. It was a great visit! 

Madison and Jack then headed home and had a nap together in the car on the way. Madison was thrilled to see Pam this afternoon who gave her a plate of butterfly decorated cupcakes! Thank you Pam they were a big hit!

Madison and Jack then spent the evening at Nate’s house while Mommy was at a meeting. The presentation was at Holland Bloorview to discuss “what’s new with cp” for parents of children with cp. The topics that were discussed were SDR surgery, therapeutic options, research opportunities, cord blood use, SPML surgery, constraint induced modified therapy, deep brain stimulation, bone health, hip health and gait analysis clinic.

Madison played with Nate and all of his toys and went for a wagon ride to the park to fly a kite and go down the slide. When they went home they had a yummy dinner and then had a bath to get ready for bed. Thanks Uncle Mark and Aunt Nadia for a great night!

Madison had a great afternoon visiting with her Aunts Janine and Suzanne. They played with Buddy, had some lunch and then went to visit with her Great Grandma Gregoire. When they got there, her Great Grandma had just put pink curlers in her hair. Madison loves pink but she wasn’t a fan of seeing them in Grandmas hair. 

Suzanne and Madison then headed to the ballpark to watch Mommy play softball. Madison played with Jack and Nate, cheered on Mommy with a super loud voice and ran the bases with her walker in between games. It was a hot night but a great night for baseball.

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Madison is back at camp at March of Dimes this week. Potty training and independent walking are still the main goals. Madison was thrilled to report that she got 2 stickers for her chart for using the potty two times at camp! She talked about it all day and told people “Daddy will be proud of me” and “Daddy will be impressed”.

Madison had a good ride with Joe this afternoon. She was happy to have Uncle Mark and Nate watch and to meet Joe. She had a new teacher Cori who helped her work on lying on her back and sides while on Joe and learning how to correct her posture without cueing. Madison also worked on taking deep breaths to project her voice when giving Joe a command. Madison and Nate gave Joe an apple and a carrot to thank him.

Madison ended her day with a visit to Emily’s house. They went for a swim and did some good stretching.

This is the result of a good day of activity. Her legs are loose and feeling good so she relaxes in her car seat by crossing her legs by herself.

Jack loves snuggles with Daddy at the end of a long day while he practices looking to the right.

Madison enjoyed a Sunday sleep in followed by a fun morning at Nana and Papa’s house. Her afternoon consisted of running through the sprinkler with Daddy, crafts and reading with Mommy and then selfies on Mommy’s phone.

Watching trains with Papa

Helping to water the flowers

Playing at the water table and enjoying a freezie


Jack is so silly!

Sprinkler fun!

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After dinner song time

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Selfies!

We are happy to share that Madi Moves is back and better than ever! Thank you for your patience. We were working on updating and rolling out our new package and contract for another year of stories, pictures and videos. A big thank you goes out to Nana & Papa Gregoire for helping to make this happen. 

Here are the highlights from the past few weeks:

-March of Dimes summer camp

-Summer riding with Joe

-New ABM therapy

-SDR Doctor consult

-Grandview Kids cheque presentation

-Summer swimming at Variety Village

-New hamstring stretching with Nodachair

-New taping at massage 

-walking with sticks

-challenger baseball

-10 independent steps!!!

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