The Spies Family: Update on Morgan

We have had an extremely busy summer. Since school got out we have hardly had time to relax. Morgan has been doubling up on her physical therapy this summer to work on her "driving" skills. She is learning how to drive a power wheel chair so she can get her own. Morgan is doing amazing with this new skill. She has learned to drive straight, go around corners, and through doorways (almost on her own). Her biggest challenge is learning how to STOP! Sandals-power chairs- not a good combination! Ouch! Morgan is getting so good at driving her chair that on June 10th her therapist decided to allow Morgan to drive the chair all the way outside to our car. Of course, she did not make it to the car because as we exited CCRS (our therapy clinic) Morgan spotted the ponies that were giving rides. She instantly wanted the pony! As soon as she got on the pony she was happy as can be and when I asked her what she needed to tell the pony in order to make him go she happily said "GO!".

After leaving therapy that day we headed with Donna (Morgan's Grandma) to the mall. We were getting ready to go to the airport to leave for TN, but first we needed to stop and try to find some eye glass holders. Why you ask? Because surprise, Morgan got glasses. We went to a pediatric opthamologist on Tuesday, June 9th to get her eyes checked. As it turned out, Morgan needed glasses. Her right eye was more out of whack than her left eye and the doctor was concerned that if we didn't do anything to correct it now it would continue to get worse. Morgan was able to get two pairs of glasses so that we have a back up pair. She got a purple pair and a red pair. They look adorable on her and although it is so cute to watch her push them back up when they are slipping down her nose we needed to find a way to help them stay up.

After leaving the mall with her new eye glass holders we headed for the airport! We were so excited to see our family in TN. This would be our first trip on an airplane with just Morgan and me. Morgan and I had a long travel day. We first had to go to Vegas, have an hour lay over, and then fly to TN. Jen and the girls would leave PHX, stop in Denver, and land in Nashville 20 minutes before us. That was the plan anyway. As it would turn out that day there were big storms in the Rockies. Big to the point that Jen and the girls were stuck in PHX waiting for the Denver airport to open. In the meantime Morgan and I had made it to Vegas and were now stuck there waiting as well. Fortunately we wouldn't have to wait long. We were delayed about 40 minutes and then were on our way again. Morgan did amazing as usual on the plane. She loved take off both because of the lollipop I gave her to pop her ears and because this child is fearless. She loved feeling the plane speed up and was saying "go-go" the whole time. Once in the air she relaxed and enjoyed watching her favorite, ELMO, on her portable DVD player. It was adorable watching her sitting in her own seat (yes, she is now 2 and requires a ticket!) with her pink headphones on watching Elmo. We ended up landing only 5 minutes behind schedule and were so excited to see my mom and sister, Chrissy. We then had to wait another hour and a half for Jen and the girls to land, but it was worth the wait. It was so wonderful to have all the cousins together again. After that we had our long drive back to Chrissy's house. We finally got to bed around 4:30 am her time, so 1:30 our time. Over the next week Morgan had a blast hanging out with her cousins. She was able to bring her pre-wheelchair Grandpa built for her (I broke it down and squeezed it into a suitcase), so she was able to be mobile. We spent lots of time fishing, Morgan caught 4 fish, swimming in the lake, and just hanging out. Although she loved all her cousins, Morgan developed a special bond with Elijah. Out of all her cousins she choose the one with the hardest name to say first! It was so cute to hear her calling "Elijah" across the house. During our trip she also picked up a few other new words from her cousins, including the word "no-no". Morgan and Abigail, her youngest cousin, developed sort of a love hate relationship with each other. One minute they would be getting along fine, the next they were fighting over toys. At one point Abigail was playing with a ribbon toy and Morgan wheeled herself right over to Abigail and starting fighting for it. Now most moms would probably jump in and put a stop to it explaining to their child that Abigail had it first...instead I ran for my camera to document the first time my child has ever gotten in a fight over a toy that she started and WON!!!!! I was so proud of her!! Needless to say we had an amazing time in TN. We can't wait to see everyone again.

Abigail and Morgan arguing over the ribbon.

Morgan is triumphant!!!!

All the cousins with their fishing hats on.

Morgan fishing off Memere's deck. She got really good at realing it in.

Out on Papa Gene's boat. Morgan loved the boat. In fact one evening when
Papa Gene was coming back in from fishing Morgan spotted him. She wheeled
herself over to the end of the deck so fast and kept pointing saying "boat, boat."
She wanted more rides with her Papa Gene!