We're Leaving Town

School is still going very well. I believe Gracie has talked to every adult in the building, sometimes even at length about whatever might be on her mind like the fire drill, a toy she enjoyed or most recently, that she's not scared anymore of the book We're Going on a Bear Hunt.
We leave for St. Louis Saturday morning. We are going back to see Dr. Park, the neurosurgeon who performed Gracie's SDR surgery in May. This is a standard 4-month follow-up visit. We don't expect to get a lot of information but we are anxious to see how he feels about what she can now do that she couldn't do pre-surgery. We are staying in a nice hotel for a treat to our little Eloise who loves hotels. We are going back to the zoo, too. Who knows what else. We'll be back Monday night.

GO TITANS!!

New Crutches

Take a look at Gracie using her new crutches!!!

Short Crutches

Gracie has outgrown the pink crutches. These were just loaners from Vanderbilt, so we have now ordered a taller pair of her own. Bad news: They were out of pink! We ordered purple; they should arrive any day.

While Gracie continues to perform well on her crutches, she is still fearful of falling and insists that someone be right by her side or behind her. For that reason, she is using her walker at school. She just completed her first week of school and has amazed us all! He prepared ourselves for a difficult, sad transition, but it just didn't happen. She loves her new school. She is such a star there. Everyone stops to talk to her in the hallway. I'm sure her teachers hope that will calm down soon! I believe it has helped her feel more comfortable there. Starting Tuesday, she'll stay at school all day and ride home with me. That will make for a long week but kids adjust so quickly.

Oak Hill School

Gracie has had an amazing first 2 days of pre-K! She has not had one bit of trouble with the transition to her new school. Drop-off has not been an issue, and she is just as happy when she gets picked up. This week, school only goes to 11:00 but she is still having a full week. She goes to therapy at 7 AM, goes straight to school, then she hangs out with one of her wonderful grandparents until Doug gets off work. We truly couldn't be happier with how things are going. She has even come home talking about liking some of her classmates. This thrills us since Gracie usually prefers to play alone or with adults.

"I love my new school, and I love my new teachers," she said after her first day.

Preschool Visit

Gracie toured her new classroom today! She met her teachers, Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Neely. She also met 3 or 4 of her classmates. She was thrilled with the toys in the room, especially the kitchen area. I see her spending a lot of time in that area this year. She didn't want to leave, so that's a good sign. She will return next week for half days (until 11:00). After Labor Day, she will be there all day, every day. Before going to her classroom, she stopped by my room to meet my students. They were very sweet to her. She entertained them by drawing on the board. See below.

School Starts Soon!

I went back to work today, and Gracie starts at Oak Hill next Monday. It's hard to see summer go but I'm anxious to have Gracie at school with me. She will be in loving, capable hands with Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Pratt in pre-K. Gracie will be able to get around easily in her classroom by cruising from furniture to other stable pieces. However, for the longer journeys to the gym and playground, she'll need to use her walker. She could use her crutches but for the sake of time, the walker will work best. This will also allow her teachers more freedom to leave her side when she's walking. She still wants someone close by when she uses her crutches.
For those of you who don't know, Gracie loves the show, Nanny 911. In the picture above, she is dressed up as one of the nannies.

Gone Fishing

In order to have Gracie practice standing and squatting, Heidi had her use a toy fishing pole and velcro fish. As always, Gracie negotiated how many times she would need to squat to pick out the fish she wanted to try to catch. By the end, she learned to pick out 2 fish at a time. She's such a smart girl! Later, Heidi had her walk on the pulley machine. She didn't like walking forward but she loved the way the belt pulled her backwards.

In a Box

While we were watching the olympics the other night, Gracie disappeared for a few minutes. She called us to come see her, and this is how we found her... This is a great example of her improved flexibility with her legs. She could never have lifted her legs and gotten into a chest before the surgery. Exciting!

On the Beam

Just like the competitors in the olympics, Gracie practices her walking on the beam. Her therapist has her lean against the wall and walk sideways. Gracie is enjoying watching the olympics, especially the gymnastics. She now even shows us her own floor routines.

X-rays

Doug and I took Gracie to Vanderbilt last week to have hip and leg x-rays. She needed the x-rays for our follow-up visit with Dr. Park. We will go back to see him in St. Louis on September 15th. It will be great to hear what he has to say about Gracie's progress. Gracie was not nervous about the appointment since she's had x-rays taken before.
We are preparing for school. I start back on August 18th and Gracie starts on the 25th also at Oak Hill. She will be in pre-K just down the hall from me.
We are eager to see Gracie's therapist, Laura, on Monday. She has been gone for 2 weeks. We'll be able tell her that Gracie has earned 3 stickers on her goals chart.

Other Therapist Friends

Since Laura is still away in Africa, Gracie saw Mandy today for water therapy. She knows Mandy and has always enjoyed cutting up with her, but it was still great to see Gracie perform well for her. Gracie entertained Mandy and a couple of other therapists with her standup jokes in the water. She also walked up and down the platform in the water several times. When Mandy had Gracie hold a toy behind her back she was able to walk several steps on the platform without assistance. This is always the case with Gracie. If you get her to lean forward even in the slightest way, her balance improves. However, it scares her to lean forward so you have to do it without her realizing it, like having her hold a toy behind her back. We see this with her walking also when she pretends to have the crutches. Her balance is improved and she takes more steps. As soon as she gets scared, she pops her arms up and loses her balance.

The Poster is Complete!

As you may have read in an earlier post, Gracie and I had a blast at Michael's picking out the supplies to decorate her Goals poster. Well... we finished the poster. I drew the hill, wrote the goals that Gracie helped establish, and put motivational stickers along the bottom edge. Gracie did the rest. Nana was with us, too. She assisted with opening bottles and sticker packages as well as cutting out letter stamps for Gracie to use. If you enlarge the photo, you may be able to see her goals on the hill. I will be adding smiley face stickers to the poster when Gracie achieves these goals. If you look closely, you'll see a sticker!

Take Two on the Tape

On Wednesday, Heidi put some kinesio tape on the front of Gracie's legs. The tape is supposed to give her feedback from her muscles and help her toes lift easier as she takes steps. Gracie did not like the tape. I had to take it off Wednesday night. It's intended to stay on a few days. The therapist tried the kinesio tape again this morning on the front of her left leg. We'll see how long she can handle it.

Monkey on the Monkey Bars

Gracie enjoyed climbing up the ladder today to use the monkey bars. Her therapist also had her kick a ball to me, both sitting and standing. The ability to pull her toes up toward the ceiling is a difficult thing for Gracie to do. Kicking and walking require similar movements from her feet. Kicking a ball is something we can practice at home.

Gracie was a real trooper today. After we left therapy, we headed for the dentist. Dr. Adams said her teeth looked beautiful! We later treated ourselves to lunch with "Crazy Aunt Peggy" downtown.

Reaching Goals

The other day at therapy, Laura drew a hill on a dry-erase board. She explained to Gracie that she was climbing this hill as she worked toward her goal of walking. She asked Gracie what ultimate goal Gracie would like to achieve. Gracie told her she wanted to walk around in Pet Smart all by herself and look at all of the animals. This is something Gracie has enjoyed doing in the past, using her walker. So Laura wrote that goal at the top of the hill. Laura also got other input from Gracie about things she can do now and other goals she'd like to reach along the way to her ultimate goal. By the time Laura was finished with the drawing, Gracie seemed motivated and recharged. Because of this I decided to take Gracie to Michael's today to get materials to help her make a visualization board to keep at home. Gracie loved the idea and thoroughly enjoyed choosing all of the fun supplies we'll need to decorate the poster. This is a project we'll work on this week. We'd like to have it finished to show Laura when she returns from her 2-week vacation to Africa with her family. While Laura is away Gracie will be seeing Heidi and 2 other PTs that work at Vanderbilt. We have been so blessed with the quality of therapists there.

The cute photo of Gracie is one Jenna took earlier this summer at the zoo.

Walking in Water

Here's a video from this week's water therapy. Gracie does a great job in the water with Laura!

Note: Laura is wearing the funky glasses temporarily per her doctor's orders. Gracie likes to tease her about them.

Miss Hawaii

Gracie has been working on walking with only one hand supported. In the video you'll see her walking with one hand on the way and the other hand free. We have also practiced where she holds only one of my hands. This will be helpful when she starts school. I was most thrilled by her work on standing yesterday. I don't have any footage of it but Laura sat behind Gracie as Gracie stood up and threw a ball back and forth to me. She caught it and threw it back to me several times without falling!

After Work

Doug met us after work today for a quick swim at the Y. He was eager to see Gracie use her water wings again. It is great to see her so excited and so confident about something she can do.

Steps!

Laura spent some of the time today at therapy teaching Gracie (and me!) to walk up and down the steps with her crutches. This is not something she should be able to do independently yet. I asked Laura to help us with this because Gracie wants to be able to do it. You will see Gracie practicing in one photo and coming down the slide as a reward for a job well done in another.

Gracie walked around the track in the gym before we left. This is something she does pretty well. However, you will see the disapproval in the photo when I come away from her to take a picture. She still insists on someone being right beside her when she uses her crutches. She has just gotten comfortable with me moving to the side of her when she walks rather than being directly behind her. I'm hoping to gradually move away from her as her confidence builds.

Gracie's therapists have inserted some small cork-like wedges in her shoes. They are in the heel of her shoe, to give her the slight feeling of leaning forward. This is not something Gracie does naturally so they thought this would help when she stands and walks.

Daddy's Birthday

Gracie and I made birthday cards for Doug. This involved getting out all of Gracie's art materials. She has a lot! She has always enjoyed art projects, especially the getting messy part. This time I prepared her by putting on a cute art apron. She loved being able to store her materials in the sewn slits in the front.

At therapy, Gracie practiced climbing steps and going down the slide. She is now up to 14 independent steps at therapy!!!

Swimming with Nana

Gracie and I had big fun last week swimming with Nana, Aunt Nell and Houston. Gracie has grown even grown more confident swimming with her water wings. She will now relax on her back and even swim alone to the deep end. Play the video below to see her in action.

We also enjoyed playing at home with Faye and her little friend, Elise. Elise is 5 years old. She was quickly comfortable and was as sweet as could be. Gracie was more interested in playing alone at the time. After they left I talked to Gracie about how it's her job to make sure that friends have fun when they come over.

Birthday Fun & Gracie's Cousins

We went back to My Gym on Friday for another birthday party. Gracie enjoyed Conner's party and certainly enjoyed the equipment in the gym.

My sister (Halle), her husband, and their 8 children were in town for a quick visit today. In the picture, Gracie is showing off her tracing skills to sweet Shalom. I hate that they live so far away, in Kansas.

Friday at Therapy

Gracie spent a lot of time at therapy working on sitting and standing by herself. She is pretty comfortable with standing. She has learned to sit on the edge of the bench and push on her knees to extend her legs. Sitting down is harder because it requires her to lower herself without seeing what's behind her and it's difficult for her weak legs to lower her slowly. So what happens is she gets about 6 inches away from the bench and then plops down. It's scary for her at first but she enjoys it after she learns that she is not going to fall. Laura also had Gracie practice more independent walking. Because of her fear, Gracie is still quite emotional when we have her practice the walking.

I've included a video clip below of her walking. I hope it will be easy for everyone to view. Just click on the play button to begin. If so, I'll include more videos in future posts. In this clip, Laura uses her arms to form a safety circle around Gracie as she tries to walk. You'll see her take 1 or 2 steps in this clip before she tells me to stop recording so she can see my face!

Visiting Dr. Sharpe

We went to see Gracie's neurologist, Dr. Sharpe, on Tuesday. This was exciting for her because she got to see "Nurse Laura." Dr. Sharpe mainly wanted to see Gracie to follow up on her progress after the surgery. He said her legs are still not strong enough to allow her to walk independently. He told us to start using "the tickle machine" again at night. This is a device that electrically stimulates her muscles through probes that are attached to her legs in four spots. She used it for months leading up to her surgery but we have not used it since then. I was hoping it was something we wouldn't use anymore. I'm sure Gracie was too! It cycles through periods of rest and motion while she's sleeping. It sometimes makes sleeping difficult for her, as I believe it would for anyone.

It has been 2 months since Gracie's surgery. She has come so far! Her main struggle now is getting over her fear of falling when she tries to walk independently. She hates to practice because she is so fearful. However, she's amazing when she does it. Gracie has a huge support team. We are all doing what we can to encourage her to believe in herself and to persevere!

Walking 8 Steps!

Gracie walked 8 steps on her own at therapy on Thursday!!!! Laura has been working with Gracie by staying behind her when she walks and helping by holding onto her knees when she needs balancing. This is very hard and very scary for Gracie. She shed a bunch of tears this week at therapy. That's okay though, because Gracie fought through the tears and walked without Laura holding on to her legs. In the first photo you'll see Laura assisting Gracie by holding onto her knees. In the second photo you'll see Gracie walking without Laura holding her legs. Because this is Laura's new focus, Gracie now thinks the crutches aren't so bad. She's even started saying, "I'm in love with my crutches now." It is so hard to see her cry but it is wonderful to see her taking independent steps!

Playdate Fun

I've tried to schedule many playdates this summer for Gracie. She has always enjoyed talking to adults but she talk much to other kids her age. I'm trying to help her get more comfortable around kids. We spent one morning last week with the 3 adorable Whitson girls, and we took Ruby with us to Adventure Science Center another afternoon. Gracie was in heaven at the Whitson's home because of all of the litte girl toys. She enjoyed playing with every doll in the playroom!

Gracie and Ruby enjoyed playing at the science center. Their favorite part of the day was playing inside an ambulance. Mine was listening to them carry on a conversation about the Curious George snacks I gave them. It was precious!