The Zoo

Hello Lily! I posted another page today just for you. I'm sorry I've gotten behind. I hope you enjoy this video and photo of our last trip to the zoo. Gracie loves the carousel.

Some people wish they had bodies like the stars. Well I wish I had arms like my daughter. Check out her muscles! We can't wait until her legs build up too.

Climbing Nashville!

Take a look at these pictures from Gracie's latest physical adventure! We took her to Climb Nashville. We were invited by Charlie, one of my students. His family decided to ask for donations to a worthy cause in lieu of birthday presents this year. So, he had his guest bring donations to the March of Dimes in honor of Gracie who was born 12 weeks early. Is that fabulous or what?

In these pictures, you will notice a couple of things. Gracie working hard, coming very close to reaching the top, and Doug following her up...in his dress clothes! He couldn't resist when Gracie said, "Help me, Daddy!" She proved to all of us, again, how determined she is. We were so proud of her!

Gracie Walks!

View the video below to watch Gracie achieve one of her goals. Gracie is walking from her bathroom to her bedroom using her own strong legs! I am following her simply to spot her. She decided to do this one night over Spring Break. She does this in therapy often, but she does not walk unassisted much at home. We were very proud of her! This happened after a week of walking solely with her crutches. She did it! We put away the walker for Spring Break and required her to use her crutches. Honestly, she didn't show much resistance. Hopefully she knows she is ready for the next step toward independent walking.

Spring Break

Our Spring Break begins today. We have prepared Gracie for a big step... She is putting her walker away over the break. She will be solely using her crutches, pink of course! She has used her crutches for a long time. However, we've allowed her to use the walker, too. She has gained confidence and no longer requires someone to be close beside her when she walks with them. However, she is still fearful and a bit slow. For this reason, she will go back to using her walker primarily at school after Spring Break. We will use the crutches at home.
Because she wanted to (this is huge for her), she used her crutches to walk to her classroom this morning. She took about 300 steps on them. It took us 20 minutes because her classroom is a good distance from the front door. She was commended the whole way! Everyone stopped to congratulate her which caused her to smile the whole way. It was fun to watch her be that proud of herself!
Wish us luck!

Morgan, A Friend

Calling all Gracie fans!
Check out this website: http://www.morgansangelsofhope.com/Home

This is a little girl who has a lot in common with Gracie. We will be praying for her and following her progress.

Snow Skiing in Nashville!

Gracie and Daddy love to play the Wii together. Here's a video clip of him coaching Gracie on her snow jumps! By the time they had finished playing, Gracie had worked up a sweat and "exercised" for 30 minutes. We are all big fans of the Wii.

January into February

Gracie has had a wonderful first month of 2009! She has been very excited about practicing her walking. We are all thrilled! We have often said that once she has the desire to walk, the rate of her progress will increase. I believe this. Gracie has taken 14 consecutive steps unassisted!

I look forward to Spring Break. I'll be the one taking Gracie to therapy. I will get more video of her for the blog. There is a big improvement in what she can do lately that will be more evident in a video clip. Gracie is also not being as adamant about having someone stand close to her when she uses her crutches. Whew!

A friend at school today reminded me that over a year ago I said it was hard to imagine Gracie taking a step on her own. While I realize she has a long way to go, I am very proud of Gracie and the progress she is currently making. I'm so glad my friend made me stop and reflect for a minute.

Magnetic art above by Gracie

A New Year

Up until this point, Gracie has always found comfort in the fact that we could carry her anywhere she wanted/needed to go. The other night she asked me a question that shocked me and excited me. She asked, "When will I walk by myself?" I made a big deal of it and told Doug. We were excited that she was thinking about it and hopeful that her mind would become focused on this goal. Since this conversation, she has been eager to practice walking without assistance. Something she enjoys doing right now is walking between two people, back-n-forth. Her steps are more slow and accurate. In the past, it was more like a lunge or forward stumble.

School is going well. Gracie is happy there and enjoys all of the people she encounters during the day. She still goes to therapy 4 days a week before school. She enjoys her time with Laura, her PT. We do get resistance from her some mornings though because Laura wants her to wear her theratog under her clothes. Gracie complains about it itching her and being tight. I believe her. It would drive me crazy. However, it helps her legs remain in a forward position rather than turned in. We will both be happy when she gets permission to stop wearing it.

Gracie still uses the electric stimulation machine at night and some during therapy. This promotes muscle activity. She doesn't mind it at all anymore.

This is going to be a great year for Gracie! This new interest in walking is so exciting!

Christmas Program

This is a video clip of Gracie's Christmas program at her school. It's a little unsteady but you can still see her with her classmates. She was actually shy on stage. That surprised us!

"Walking Beauty"

I just love the smiles in this recent video! Gracie is walking with her crutches in the hallway at home. We are all viewing the Christmas break as a time to devote to serious progress on Gracie's crutches. Fear of falling has been the hurdle with this skill. However, her confidence is slowly growing. I haven't seen it but her therapist has even persuaded her to walk with one crutch some during therapy!

Doing the Dishes

Gracie loves to help in the kitchen. So, to make this more possible, Doug ordered her The Learning Tower. It's an adaptive stool. She feels very safe because she is surrounded by wood. Take a look at this video.

Christmas Cookie Party

Gracie's class had a Christmas party where all of the kids decorated and ate sugar cookies. She enjoyed the party and certainly the cookies!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're heading to Ft. Myers, FL in the morning to spend Thanksgiving with Papa and Grandma Neece. We're looking forward to some sand and sunshine.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Love, The Sloans

Dance Party

Gracie attended Ruby's 4th birthday party last weekend. It was a Shirley Temple party full of favorite old songs, authentic Shirley Temple drinks, and dancing shoes. It was fabulous to see Gracie enjoy herself so much on the dance floor!

Happy Halloween!

Only Gracie would choose to be a British nanny for Halloween! She was adorable though. She got to wear her costume to school and then out that night for trick-or-treating. We went to Grandma's house. Cal and his parents joined us for a stroll around their neighborhood. The weather was beautiful and the night was filled with all of the excitement a kid could take!

Visiting the Campsite

Doug and I took Gracie out to visit my family when they went camping last weekend. They were at Seven Points, on Old Hickory Lake. Gracie loves being at a campsite. We set up her little Mickey Mouse tent and brought all of her dolls, baby sleeping bags, and such. We stayed for dinner and roasted marshmallows. Then we went home. We came back the next morning to have breakfast and hang out with everyone. Gracie used her tall sticks to walk from the campsite top the playground nearby. It was hard for her but she was determined to do it and proud that she did. Donnie took us out for a quick boat ride on the pontoon boat. Gracie loved it!

Music & Molasses

We took Gracie to the Music & Molasses festival at Ellington today. We met her friends Gracie Simpson and Cal Slocum, two of her favorite little people. She had a big time from pretending to be a farmer to eating the great food! Gracie's favorite part was the area for the little kids where she pretended to paint a barn, weighed produce, hung laundry on a clothesline, and plucked the corn-on-the-cob. She wanted no part in feeding the goats so she just watched me feed them. We all laughed hard when Gracie attempted to bob for the apples hanging from the tree! Before we left, we all enjoyed watching the border collies herd the sheep. They were amazing!

New Camera!

Hooray! We got a new camera! I haven't been as diligent about posting new entries since our camera broke. We got another one so I'm ready to post again.
Doug and I chaperoned on a school field trip today to Gentry's Farm. For those of you who don't know, it's a pumpkin patch with animals, tractor rides, oldtime store, etc. Gracie had a great time. She brought home her very own pumpkin, picked right from the vine. Enjoy the photos.

First Field Trip

Gracie went with her class to the Brentwood Fire Station last week. She was apprehensive about going at first because of the gas masks they wear. However, once she got there and realized that they were not fully dressed she was fine and dandy. In fact, she was one of the most eager students there, so I heard. She now can tell us all about fire safety and firefighters.
Her next field trip will be on October 14th. I will accompany her class to Gentry's Farm, a nearby pumpkin patch.
She has now had a full week of fabulous drop-offs. She now kisses me (or a grandmother) at the door, wishes us well, and says goodbye. She promises to "be sad but not to cry." We're very proud of her.
Lisa, Gracie's Metro PT brought a swing to school last week that is easier for Gracie to use. She is having fun in this new swing.

Sadly, I have no pictures to post. Our camera is broken. Sorry.

Using the New Crutches

Our new focus has been getting Gracie more comfortable with her crutches (away from school). She had a bad fall using them last Thursday. She fell straight forward and landed on her chin. She, very bravely, got back up on her crutches later that day. Her chin is okay but it's a wide array of colors from the bruising.

In the pictures shown, Gracie is walking outside to go to her swingset. She has just now started using her crutches without someone either holding onto her or directly behind her. It is exciting to see her get more brave with them.

Visiting Dr. Park

We took Gracie back to St. Louis this past weekend. We took her to see Dr. Park, the neurosurgeon who performed her operation last May. Gracie was happy to see him and excited to show off her new flexibility and skills. She did everything he asked her to do (which is sometimes a major accomplishment with her!). He was pleased with her new level of spasticity in her legs, the healing of her incision area, and her increased mobility. Gracie walked for him in her walker, on her crutches, and independently. She walked 3 or 4 steps by Doug to me. He agreed that she needed to use the walker at school but also noted that it is much too easy for her. He is anxious (as are we) to see her move to solely using her crutches and ultimately walk by herself. We go back to see him in one year. He said he fully expected to see her walk into his office all by herself next year! We all loved hearing that news.

As you'll see in the photo, we returned to the zoo. Sadly, the carousel was closed, but we got to see many exciting animals. Gracie really liked the elephant fountain seen in this photo.

Thanks for all of your support and love everyone!

The Sloans

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.