Oh yeah... Shake your booty...

Blondie was tearing up the dance "green" at the picnic at her therapists place this past weekend. They had food, music, kites, crafts, and our parachute out there having a GREAT TIME.

Wimbledon bound

I always LOVE watching Blondie play tennis. She is absolutely enjoying the game, and after our break during the winter she seems to be playing even better. She still doesn't wholly focus on what she is doing, but I look at that right arm extending to meet the ball and I know how strong she is getting. If I can help her love this game, and teach her to do well at it (I personally don't play, but may have to take it up to play with them) then she will ALWAYS have something to do with other people. Now, if I could only get her to wear the cute little tennis skirts she owns we would be even MORE FABULOUS.

Momma Bear GEARING UP TO FIGHT

Crap. I am SO TIRED OF FIGHTING THE SAME BATTLES. We have been trying to get Blondie into a magnet school. It is for children with learning disabilities but NOT self contained mentally disabled students. These are kids who may need extra help with reading and math, and may or may not go to resource for help. They have smaller classes, and kids capable of a normal education who just need other strategies for learning. Blondie doesn't get resource help.... we're just starting to think maybe she should be evaluated for help with reading, but that process hasn't really started . This school's teachers have been specially trained in different programs to best meet the needs of their students.

A couple weekends ago I was at an education fair to raise money for the district, and their school had a display for each school. I went over to look at the display, and wanted to CRY because in talking with their resource teacher she knew immediately about Blondie's condition, had taught children with it, and didn't think it was that big of a deal. Do you know what a RELIEF that was?

We applied, and found out today that Blondie didn't get in.

So I took a deep breath, and had Brian call to see if they could let us know why. He was told that she scored 67 out of 75 points. Since she had only been evaluated for speech so far, they felt that her home school could best meet her needs. THEN THEY STEPPED IN IT. They also mentioned the fact that their buildings are currently a grouping of portables, behind another school, and there is "uneven terrain" due to construction. They have to go to the other school for lunch and related arts, etc. She thought it would be too much for Blondie to deal with. She also told Brian that with all of the construction, Blondie might be distracted by the noise.

SO LET ME RECAP.... My kid who finds reading difficult, with deficits due to brain surgery is too capable to go to a school with "regular" kids who find reading difficult, because she only needs speech therapy for processing skills because her school is just starting the evaluation process. If she doesn't qualify does that mean that my kid with h--- a brain is smarter than those with a wh--- brain? IN ADDITION, my child WITHOUT ADD/ADHD is more likely to be distracted by outside noise compared to those WITH ADD/ADHD who attend that school. Finally, my kid limps and "might find it difficult to walk", but spent this weekend hiking miles in the woods on a natural path, and didn't fall once, but can't walk on a sidewalk because construction is back behind a fence.

GROWL! Do you see the problem? Or is it just me?

I was hoping....

I was hoping today would be the day that I could catch Blondie's jumproping skills on video today, but she was so wiped out by the time she got to do it she could barely get it over her head. She worked on the ball a lot today, and changed up her routine. Instead of just lying on the ball, she supported her body (without sagging her tummy) with her arms while her legs held her up on the ball. Then she had to roll herself up onto her knees on the ball. After only a few tries, she was flat out on the ground and really finished. Thankfully she was still cheerful because we still hadn't finished her homework at that point.

Jumprope

FINALLY - Last week Blondie's therapist had her jumping rope, and my mom was able to catch this video.



This week she did even better! So, what's the big deal? A 7 year old should be jumping rope. Well this 7 year old couldn't really use her left hand, but she is STARTING TO MOVE HER THUMB. Did you hear that? MOVING HER THUMB. So she can now hold onto the handle of the jumprope, long enough to jump. Last week she was kind of throwing it over her head and then skip/jumping over it. It would fall out about every 3 jumps. Today, she went the length of the therapy office WITHOUT DROPPING THE ROPE ( about 12 jumps). Of those 12 jumps she managed to actually coordinate the whole "hold/swing over the head/jump it without stopping" thing about 5 times. She was really getting the hang of it.... so the next time you see a video of jumping rope she will look EVEN BETTER - or maybe we'll save it for the talent show in Baltimore this summer.....hmmmmmm.....

Grandma's day at therapy

I am swamped with the end of the school year, so this Thursday my mom took Blondie to therapy. She took these pictures and videos to show her progress.

She worked on riding her bike, and eating ice cream with her left hand. Her PT (in the pics) has her ride the bike to the ice cream shop to get her treat, and then sometimes they eat it together, and sometimes she eats it with OT.

I'm trying to get the videos of her up, but my camera is apparently having issues.