Sorry- I kind of fell off the face of the earth with the start of school. This summer we were fortunate to have a fantastic caregiver start with our family but she had to return to school in September. All of sudden I didn't have any free time at all to write a blog post- go figure.
Both girls started school quite happily. Anya is in first grade and ended up in a class with many of her friends so she was psyched. Her teacher is pretty amazing too so we were pleased with the placement. Elin is back at Meadow Crest in the same classroom and with the same teacher and para-educator (one on one) like last year. Her first day back she was over-joyed and very boisterous about being back in her class again. It was awesome to see her so excited!
Elin was able to start up with hippotherapy again at Little Bit Adaptive Riding Center. She absolutely loves to ride horses. It is such an amazing thing to see the way she connects with the animal and how the horse responds to her energy. I look forward to taking her every Friday.
For Elin most therapy is REALLY HARD WORK! But horse therapy is totally enjoyable for her. She gets an amazing workout sitting up on the horse for 30 minutes and she doesn't even know she is working. Now if I could just invent some sort of exercise regime that made adults feel the same way I would be a billionaire!
Elin averages about 4 different types of therapy sessions a week outside of school. She has private OT, PT, hippo and AR (aural rehab- akin to speech therapy for kids with CI's). So we are busy pretty much everyday. Fitting her regular medical appointments around all this is somewhat of a challenge. I feel like I am a personal assistant trying to manage both these girls schedules.
Anya is playing soccer again this fall and I'm her coach. It is a great opportunity for me to feel like a "regular" mom and for Anya and I to have an activity that is completely our own. Her team is comprised of many of her friends and they are all 6 and 7 years old. Trying to coach these little spit fires is a bit like herding cats but I love it. They are fun and seem to be completely loving soccer despite our rather (uh huh) terrible record. So I guess my goal of having the girls play for fun and not worrying about winning or losing has been met.
As far as very exciting news for the fall, we welcomed in two new baby girl cousins/nieces. Christel and Jorge welcomed their daughter Stella on Sept 29th and Natalie and Scott welcomed Cora one week later on Oct 5th. Anya was eager to hold both baby girls as soon as possible. It's hard to imagine my little girl was that itty bitty once too! I LOVE babies.
