Hippotherapy

Oh man I am so so so behind on blogging, as usual! I have SO many pictures from this spring/summer that I want to share, including from the National Down Syndrome Conference (which was a blast!!) But, I think I will start with pictures of the kids on horses because I know my family, those who don't have Facebook (gasp!) will love them!!

Ella did Hippotherapy this summer and the instructor allowed Hunter to participate too! Both of the kids absolutely LOVED it! I liked it because Ella was working hard without knowing it : ) Hunter did so well that by the end of the session he was taken off the lead rope and doing it all on his own, including going around poles!

Here are pics from their first day!



Ella before we left the house....so excited!

and who wouldn't be...especially if you got to wear boots like these!

The kids all had to learn how to groom the horses and did this at the begining of each day.

Cleaning out the hoofs.

Ella riding on Sugar the therapy horse!

Hunter on top of Buddy!

Ella yelling "I DID IT!!" This picture by the way was selected for the NY Buddy Walk and will be shown on the big screen in Times Square in September!

Sitting up nice and tall, working out those tummy muscles!

They all kept saying that Hunter is such "a natural!"

This night as I was putting them to bed Hunter informed me that he wants a "real horse" and it can live in our backyard and he will take care of it and ride it everyday. Ha!

Ella loved it every time they rode next to Bubba! And Hunter was of course so sweet to her : )

We are done now for the summer session, waiting to hear the day and time for the fall decision before we decide if we will be able to go!

T-ball videos

I took some video of Ella at her t-ball game Tuesday night! It had already been a long day starting with Hunter's piano lesson and then off to Hippotherapy (horse therapy) for an hour and a half of working with and riding the horses in the hot sun. Ella really does like t-ball, well the hitting and running the bases part and not so much the standing in the field part, and I'm glad that we signed her up! The girls on her team are all really nice to her. You will notice in the pics and video that Ella does not have her glasses on. Apparently sunscreen plus heat plus running around means that Ella's glasses will NOT stay up and will make her very angry. Not sure how we will resolve that one.....


Tonight we had a very cute little boy come to watch Ella play ball.... Beau!!! His family just moved up here and we are happy they did!!!<

Here are two little videos of her during the game!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Ella funnies and t-ball pics

I've had this sitting as a draft since the end of May and just kept adding to it so I suppose it's time to press Publish Post : ) Ella is talking like crazy these days, I cannot believe how well she is doing in that area all of a sudden. And let me tell you, the girl is FUNNY. I do not know where she comes up with some of the things she says. Here are a few of her "stories."

I was sitting with Ella while she was eating her half "peanut butter honey" sandwich for lunch after school, and I told her I was glad she had a good day at school and she says "yeah Stephanie (I can't even pretend to write her name like Ella pronounces it) naughty." Stephanie is Ella's amazing Para at school. I said "Stephanie was naughty?" "Yeah," she says. I asked her what Stephanie did that was naughty and Ella says "TO ME!" Stephanie was naughty to you? "Yeah! Make me potty 2 times." She made you try to go potty 2 times? "Yeah Stephanie naughty."


On a different day...

Ella is sitting on the potty and I tell her to push. Push like you have to toot and she says "No toot. I fart," I must have smiled (though I was trying not to) because she looks at me and smirks and says " I fart. I fart. I fart." Well just about then Chris comes in to tell us goodbye because he was heading into work for the night and Ella tells him "Daddy I fart," Nice he says. Then he gives Ella a quick kiss on the head and says bye. "Daddy huggy!" she says holding her arms up for a hug. So he leans down and gives her a quick hug and she says "more hug!" So he bends down gives her another quick hug and says "you stink." Ella looks at him, waves her finger at him and says "CHRIS get outta my face." I of course start laughing hysterically (I know totally inappropriate but seriously the kid is funny,) and she looks at me and says "MOM no laugh. Relax."

This past Monday..


We were at the eye doctor getting her glasses fixed....and the nurse walked out of the room. I was bending down talking to Ella and saw that she had brown stuff on her shirt. I asked her if she painted at school. She said "yes I paint brown." I asked her what she painted, "a castle" she replies. I said a castle? She says "yes. Ella the princess. Hunter the king. And you da frog mommy. " Seriously, I have to be the frog??? She repeated this over and over all night long, but once we got home she added Daddy in as a prince, but me....I'm still just da frog.


On Tuesday we were at Fred Meyer and I was waiting for the bakery lady to finish cutting our bread and we were standing right in front of the cookies and cakes. Ella starts yelling to the bakery worker "hey girl! Girl! Hey Girl! Girl I want a cookie!!" I said, no Ella you can't have a cookie we are going to go home and have dinner. Ella says "okay girl (pretending that the bakery worker is actually talking to her.) Girl said yes cookie." Nice try. She actually does that a lot, asks me something and if I say no she will say "daddy says yes."

If you tell her to do anything Ella will call you a "bossy hossy!" Last night I was telling her that she needed to be a big girl and a good listener and she said "no mom I'm small." I said well small girls need to be good listeners too, she said "no mom I sincess (princess)," I said EVEN princess' have to be good girls and she says "no mom I a boy."

We've haven't been going to private therapies for a few months now, and are about to start back now that Ella is out of school. I'm hoping that we can figure out a way to make Ella speak louder (though I am sure that I will regret that) because she has a very very soft voice. The poor kid will try to talk to me in the van and even though she sits right behind me and I turn the radio off I still can not hear her. Luckily most of the time Hunter is there to interpret for me, but when he is not I feel so bad cause I can't hear her. She can scream, though it's not very loud, but she has to be extremely pissed off (mostly at me) and even when she does her voice quality is not very good so she is hard to understand.

Ella is playing t-ball on a "typical" team. It is um....interesting. She loves to hit the ball and loves running the bases but is not so patient when playing in the field. I will say though that during practice they do stand in the field a lot and there is a lot of down time while the coach hits to each girl. So, hopefully when the games start this week the pace will pick up a little. It is so cute to watch her run the bases, those legs are SO short. Yesterday the coach had Ella be the line leader and run the bases and told the other girls that they were not allowed to pass her. The giant smile on Ella's face and the giggles coming out had to be about the cutest thing ever. All of the girls are really good with Ella. The first practice had me worried though. They all kept asking if she was really on the team and how old she was because she is so small. At one point one of the little girls asked Ella's friend from preschool if Ella was REALLY on the team and her little friend Xochitl said "Yes! And she is my friend!!!" Um, yeah I LOVE that girl : ) Anyhow the girls all like to sit next to Ella while they are waiting in line and they all giggle together and tickle each other....it's is just so great. Here are some pics from the first practice!


Waiting in line to bat

In line to run

Ready stance

Xochitl and Ella ready to bat!

Running the bases!

Let's help this family!!!!

I recieved an email today from a lady who has been following my blog for a year and a half. This family has a little cutie named Hope who has Down syndrome and now want to add to their family by adopting another little girl with Down syndrome through Reece's Rainbow. They are having a hard time fundraising and asked for help getting their names out there. So, lets help them raise money and bring home their little girl. Please visit their adoption blog, Adding an Angel, and consider donating or sharing their blog with others. Thank you so much!

I'll leave you with this sneak peek of Ella's first t-ball practice.....guess which one is Ella : )

My little soccer girl

Last night was the start of TOPSoccer, a league for children with special needs. Ella was SOOOO excited. On the way there Ella says to me "I big kid now. I play soccer!" It is finally her turn to play soccer after watching her brother play for 3 years now while she is stuck in a stroller.

When we walked into the soccer center she took off running and kicking her ball from one end to the other, over and over again. She would kick it into the wall and leave her ball and come running over to us and say "Mommy, Nana, Andmom (Grandmom) I made it!" giving us all high fives and then running back to her ball and doing it over again. After about 20 minutes the head coach then says "it's time to start." Uh-oh. I knew Ella had to be getting worn out and she was. Every once in awhile she would put her hands up to her buddy (a high school girl named Josie who was paired up with Ella, poor Josie : ) and Josie would pick her up and Ella would stick her thumb in her mouth.

She did really well for the most part, only escaped twice, but always with Josie on her heels. Ella's real problem is that she likes to do what she wants when she wants, and by likes I mean she DOES what she wants when SHE wants! We are trying really hard to find ways to override Ella's impulsiveness but she is very hard to reason with when she is in that mode. But she really did do well, and most of all she had a BLAST! Even after dinner and at bedtime she was still telling us she is "excited" to play soccer and that she is a "big kid now!"

I'm actually quite impressed with Ella's running and her ability to run and kick the ball in a dribbling fashion. She looked good out there!!! I'm proud of my kid!!!

The quality of these pics aren't great due to lighting and constant movement.

Running and kicking

A typical Ella face....I'm sure she was either telling me to "zip mouth" or "get back." Ahh gotta love that she uses her words right???

more running

Ella and her buddy Josie. I bet Josie was REALLY tired last night!

Running to us to get her high fives, she was doing some sort of bowling/soccer game with these cones.

Bossing Josie around.

Head, shoulders, knees and toes with Riley! They looked so tiny out there!

Ella and Riley

This Saturday ought to be hard when I stick her back in the stroller for Bubba's soccer game : )

Can't wait until next Wednesday!

Kind words...

Sometimes I am just surprised by things people say. Typically I am surprised by the ignorant things people say....but today it's the kind things.

I have been planning on signing Ella up for t-ball with the girls softball league here. It's not a league that's just for kids with special needs (we have one but the kids have to be 5) it's just a league. My thinking behind this was that quite frankly all 4 year olds suck at t-ball. Okay maybe suck is a strong word, I just mean that none of them seem to have the attention span to stand in the field, none of them can really throw the ball where they aim, a lot of them run the wrong way to the bases etc. So, I figure, Ella can join in with relatively no problems! I went out and bought Ella a little glittery pink and purple glove and a pink bat in anticipation.

I go to fill out the registration online the other day and it says for girls 5-6. Ella doesn't turn 5 until August 30th, after the June/July season. I was seriously bummed.

When I was a young girl softball was my life, I even made Allstars in T-ball : ) But really, I lived for softball. I got to play on the Varsity team in high school as a Freshman but blew out my knee before the sophomore season. It took 5 surgeries to fix my knee, the last one being the week after I graduated high school, so needless to say that ended my softball career. I did attempt to play softball 2 summers ago only to figure out that I was no where near as good as I once had been and my body was also no where near what it had been and I broke my leg playing : ) Anyhow, when I had the ultrasound with Ella that ruled out Down syndrome (yes that's right RULED OUT Down syndrome, ha!) they informed me that my baby was a girl. Among the many many dreams I had for my daughter one was that she would become a softball star!

When I found out that Ella had Down syndrome after she was born softball just seemed to be another door that closed. Fastforward 4 1/2 years and I realize that she will not be the star of the team (not in the best player sense, but she will be a star all of her own I am sure,) but I think that she will really enjoy playing, and I know that I will REALLY enjoy watching her play!

So, back to registration. 5 and 6 years old. Dang! I decided to send the league a quick email just saying that my daughter will not be 5 until the end of the summer, any chance you will let her play? They write back "We would love to have her play." Awesome!!! But then I get worried, they gave me special permission for my 4 year old to play and I failed to mention that she is really really small, a little weaker, doesn't talk as well, and will need some assistance staying on task. So I write back "So, I suppose I should have put this in there too...my daughter has Down syndrome. I will be at every practice and game to assist. Still okay?" I'm not sure what I was expecting to get in response...either an email saying "as long as you are there with her", or maybe even "given the circumstances maybe she should wait until next year." But instead I get this email today.

" Fantastic. I am sure she will have much to teach all who come to know her. We look forward to a fun season with her."

Seriously??? Totally made me cry. I can't wait for my baby to play t-ball and I am extra excited to play on a league who has this great attitude!!!!

This Wednesday Ella will begin TOPSoccer. She will playing with a couple of her buddies, including her boyfriend Riley : ) I was just looking for a recent pic of these two but I found these cute ones from 2 summers ago. These two are SO cute together and truly are good friends!!