Snow, Snow, Snow

Hey, it's been snowing here since 11:00am yesterday! and it is now 8:30am! We estimate there are about 8" now and it is still snowing and the forecast calls for it to continue well into the night. I think there will be some sledding this afternoon!!! Madeline has only had the chance to sled in our front yard so far this year, so this should be fun.

Alright, time for breakfast and some deconstructing of the Christmas tree.

Sing A Long

Today is the AALC Sing-Along concert. It was postponed from December 19th due to a snowday right before the holidays. So, Madeline is very excited and has been singing the songs since two weeks before the original date. She's dressed in festive red with red bows in her hair.

Well, the Early-Primary kids did a really great job in the concert. They sung, they danced, they really outperformed everyone else.

The day held quite a few events for Madeline in class. A classmate's birthday, her teacher's birthday and the event. So, there were blueberry muffins, ice cream sundaes, and party foods - cupcakes, chips, cheese sticks, juiceboxes, etc. Our girl was quite hopped up by the time we got there. I'm just very glad this doesn't happen every day. Well, I guess if it did, she wouldn't be attending that school.

As far as schools go, we are now committing ourselves to really observing her classes to make sure she is getting what we expect out of them. The concert, as far as Music Directors go, was a disappointment. The direction of the concert as far as the Dean's responsibilities was a disappointment. So, we will be taking an active role in her classes so we can make the most educated decision possible regarding her attendance at AALC.

Madeline is making great strides with flexing her arm. We have created a couple of exercises that she enjoys doing. She shows the ceiling her palms then the floor, then the ceiling, etc. The exercise she really enjoys is sitting in her little pink chair with her hands on the armrests and she raises and lowers herself; she turns this into a bouncing game which is good since it really takes her mind off of what she's suppose to be doing and ends up bending her elbow more than she would if she were paying attention!

Her HUGE motivation is riding her bike. We've told her that if she can touch her left ear with her right hand then she can ride her bike. The catch is that we go back to the way it was in the beginning with one of us walking beside her. She won't get to ride on her own until after she gets the OK from the doctor. When she remembers the motivation, she jumps into her chair and starts bouncing. Yesterday, she was climbing all over her playstructure, and like I said, when she isn't paying attention, she bends her elbow much further and doesn't make note of it. The rest of the time, she babies it, but it has only been 1 day after all! She's even swinging on her bottom again! Yeah!!!

We have a camping trip scheduled for this weekend, so she's very excited about that and I think much progress will be made then. She's in very high spirits so that's good. Last night, she and Zak set up the tent to air it out and she was beside herself excited. She loves an empty room so as soon as it was up, she got inside and ran & jumped around. We had to remind her that it is not a bounce-house.

There are so many other things going on around here. I don't want to give the impression that it's all about Madeline's arm. Madeline forgets about it most of the time, so of course, we do too. She still says off-the-wall things (none of which come to mind at the moment), and runs around like a wild jack-rabbit most of the time. Her Polly Pockets are her primary source of entertainment and she's really into playing albums on the turntable, the Disney tunes are her favorite.

I'll take a minute to post a couple pics from our zoo trip last week. I'll try to get the video up of Madeline with a SlothBear... whenever Madeline (no one else) came up to the glass viewing area of the enclosure, the SlothBear would chase Madeline back and forth. When she went away, he looked for her, then when she came back, it was right back to running back and forth. We tested it with me and PopPop, and other kids nearby, but it was fascinated with Madeline and that flower headband. It was funny, but a little scarey too.

Today was magic day, or so we thought... Madeline had her cast removed today. Yeah! Her elbow is quite tender from not moving it for so long, so that was a bit of a shock to her. The biggest disappointment came when the doctor told her that she could not ride her bike for another 3 weeks! She has been given strict orders to get that elbow bending and the wrists rotating in 3 weeks or she will need physical therapy. So, at her follow-up appointment on May 28th, she needs to be in a lot better shape than she was today to be given the OK to get back on her bicycle. She could not have received worse news today. It absolutely broke my heart to hear her dreams crushed at such a fragile time. I don't know what we were thinking, but it wasn't that. We really went in with rose colored glasses and had them removed very quickly.

She was doing much better tonight, albeit very tired from the anticipation and then the disappointment. She's trying to move it, so I think she'll be getting it done in time for her appointment. We keep reminding her that it's better to have happened now than in the middle of summer.

I plan on keeping notes about her progress just in case this happens to anyone she knows, or heaven forbid her own children someday. I want her to be able to give a clear picture of what to expect so another child or family doesn't go through this day again. The ups and downs are too much for me to bear, I can't imagine what they're doing to her.

Tea Party!

Madeline had a tea party playdate with her friend Emma yesterday and it was awesome. They both really enjoyed getting dressed up, and having the tea and heartshaped sandwiches & snacks served to them. They even had butterscotch brownie/cupcakes for dessert. The playdate ended with them both covered in sand and water from the sand/water table in the backyard! Princesses? hmmmm

Here is the new cast!

Whew! That's over with. Madeline and parents went to the hospital bright and early this morning for the removal of the pins in her arm. We hung out in Radiology for a while getting multiple x-rays to make sure all was well enough for removal. Then, off to Orthopaedic Surgery! Hang out, hang out, hang out, then into the cast room. Madeline was a little upset with anticipation but with a little help from the I Spy book, the cast removal was no big deal. Then came the pin removal. This didn't go quite so smoothly for Madeline. Even though I kept her head buried in the I Spy, she still screamed pretty well when the pins came out. The pins slid out, but the initial pull on her skin is what bothered her the most. Later, she said it felt like ripping a band-aid off of her skin. She chose red for the color of her cast with "fairy dust" (glitter) sprinkled all over it, so she's very sparkly and much more slender (no more bulging pins).

The new cast comes off in 10 days! Yeah! Monday, May 5 is the magic day.