And She WALKS.....

The Morning Look

Yes, our little Miss Amelia is walking! That's right, she started walking with her AFOs on Wednesday, June 18th! It was so exciting and she was so beside herself with pride. The therapist was so proud of her! I was so shocked and surprised! We didn't even have to ask her to walk, she just looked up at me, smiled and started walking toward me. Suddenly, I felt this pressure in my chest. What could it be, I thought? Then I realized it was my heart, ready to explode for joy for my little girl. She fell into my arms and the pure delight on her face was something I will never forget! We hugged and laughed and cried all at the same time!

It really was one of those special moments that I will never forget! I'll never forget the smug little smile on her face right before she let go of the chair and walked to me. I'll never forget how that smiled changed when she fell into my arms and the transformation that followed. Amelia seems so much happier now that she is mobile. It really is amazing. Her gait isn't really pretty, for us, it's beautiful, amazing and incredible.

Doing Pullups...

Now she's walking all over the house without any help at all. She is even walking without the assistance of her AFOs. The AFOs give her a flat foundation to stand on, but they can also make her dependent on them. Imagine my delight when I watched Amelia walk to me without her AFOs. Another special moment.

I talked to the doctor in St. Louis and they were thrilled to hear she is walking. They also said that the more she can walk without the AFOs, the stronger her legs will get!

So hip-hip-hooray for Miss Amelia~she's motoring all over the place.

I just can't stand how cute she is!!!

First Haircut

Lots of firsts this week, more on that later!!!! We went to Cookie Cutters and got Amelia's first haircut. She did great! She looks like a little girl now without that scraggly hair. It was hard for me to get it cut since it took so long for her hair to grow! I just love the way she looks!

Make a Smilebox postcard

Riding the Carousel at the zoo....

Another trip to the zoo and Elise was adamant about riding the carousel this time. So, on the way out, we stopped and rode the carousel. I wasn't sure how Amelia would take it since she was clinging for dear life to my friend, Joan, on the train ride.

This shot is before the carousel started to move. Needless to say, she had her arm so tight around my neck I thought I might choke. With that in mind, remember that I am on the carousel with her. Are you getting the picture??? Yes, I was squatting up and down as her lion went up and down with Amelia's arm tight around my neck.

Looking at the giraffe's with Joan.

Cookin' with Cinderella

I've been promising Elise for days that we would make cupcakes. Since a "friend" had passed on a "friendship bread" starter to me 10 days ago, today was the day to make our friendship bread. So after yoga and after we picked up Tucker from summer gym, I helped Elise with the recipe.

Well, it didn't take long for Miss Amelia to want in on the action. Before I knew it, she had crawled right up on that IKEA stepstool and was right beside her Jie Jie "helping". It really was a sweet moment. Elise was kind and generous with Amelia and Amelia was sweet and giving right back. It was a rare moment as they tend to want to bicker a little bit.

Enjoy the video. My Cinderella's are learning to cook!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Summer time....swimming time

Amelia has a new love....the swimming pool. I didn't think it was going to be so much of a hit with her on the first day. She was very resistant to being in the water without me holding her. But on day TWO...this is what we saw....

It was so refreshing to see that genuine smile on her face. As you can see, we are deep into the "What's that?" phase. She's also talking a ton. I can get a three word sentence out of her if I poke and prod. By the way...that sound in the background is not static. That is the sound of cicadas singing in the trees surrounding the pool. I didn't think we were going to get the little buggers this year. We were invaded about 4 years ago with a huge brood. But alas, they are EVERYWHERE around our house since we have long standing trees.

We have planned a family vacation to the beach. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to it!

Control, Control, Control

Yes, the battle continues. Just when I think that we are making progress and I grant a small liberty to Amelia~the battle for control starts to rage again. You would think that after ten months she would figure out that I won't give up!!! I can only imagine what the teen years will be like~maybe I'll be old and worn out by then!?! NOT!!!!

Here's the story...I'll attempt to describe this "event" with some humor. Believe me, it wasn't humorous at the time!

Saturday was Matthew's graduation from high school. The ceremony was in the morning and we were having an open house in the afternoon. The girls did not go~for obvious reasons~way too much confusion! So they stayed at home with their aunt. I decided to put Amelia down for her nap at the normal time and let her enjoy the last half of the party. My reasoning was that if I let her stay up until 2 p.m. then I might as well let her skip her entire nap~skipping naps is not a good option around her. It makes for grumpy and unpleasant toddlers.

I put Amelia down at 1 p.m. with little resistance (just the normal wailing when I leave the room). Unfortunately, people started arriving at around 1:30 p.m. and the noise level escalated way earlier than I expected. Naturally, Amelia voiced her disdain for the fact that she was napping when there was action going on in the house (she voices her disdain when there's no action) so this wasn't a surprise to me. As per my usual response, I ignored her "unpleasantness" since I refuse to acknowledge her nasty demands (it's more like screaming).

Fast forward about 30 minutes and I head to her room to change her into her party dress and take her down stairs. Imagine my surprise when I walk into her room and see her bare butt sticking up in the air as something drops from that bottom!!! Yes, she pulled her diaper down and pooed in her bed. This action still stuns me~I really don't know what to say about it. I still can't find any humor in it. If I had been even one minute later, who knows what kind of a mess I would have found. Fortunately, there was only a small amount of "stuff" on her brand new, very expensive brace! My head just spins when I think of it! Now imagine all of this happening when I have a house full of guests!?!

So I learned my lesson...I can't let her go to bed without her no-nos on. We put them on her so she won't undo her brace~if she undoes it, then she risks relapsing. A relapse is what we are dealing with now ~ which means more casting and surgery. As you can imagine, messing with the brace is unacceptable. But she continues to do so. She's a smart little girl~just very manipulative.

After this little "episode" I now know that she will pull down her diaper if she wants to. I guess that means she can pull her pants down for potty training. Looks like "Potty Training Boot Camp" is right around the corner!!!!

The battle rages on...it should be an interesting summer. Maybe the our one year anniversy will bring some progress~I'm not holding my breath!