First day of Preschool!

I can't believe Morgan is now a preschooler. How the time has flown by. We had a busy morning getting all the last minute things ready and were able to actually make it out the door on time. Whew!

Our preschooler first thing in the morning. She woke up early (5:45) and was ready to eat and start her day!

All dressed and ready to go. Morgan sat still long enough that I was able to French braid her hair.

Morgan was so excited about her backpack and lunch box. She attempted to stand with it on, but I think the backpack weighed almost as much as her.

Outside of school

We arrived at school just in time to meet Brady and his family outside for a few quick photos of the kids together. Morgan was very happy to see her buddy Brady and check out his new lunchbox and backpack.

Morgan checking out Brady's soccer ball lunchbox.

Brady and Morgan ready to go play!

Morgan drove herself in from the parking lot using her big wheelchair, but as soon as we entered the classroom she asked to get down. She wanted to get right into her walker and take off. She noticed the other kids coming in and hanging their backpacks on the hooks under their cubbies, so I pointed her that way and attached her bags and off she went.

Morgan walked right over to the hooks and tried as hard as she could to hang her backpack. I ended up helping as it was hard to lift the backpack. I then turned her towards the lunch bin to place her lunchbox in. Again she walked straight over to it.
I again helped her place the lunchbox in the bin. Then she spotted the table where some kids were coloring their name tags. Morgan headed that way. Ms. Terry held up two name tags and asked Morgan which one was hers. She immediately picked out the right one. With some help she sat down at the table and colored her name tag. By the time David and I got back from the van with our bags full of school supplies Morgan had moved on from coloring and was making her way to the carpet for circle time. She had made a special request for the bean bag song which her teachers gladly obliged.
When we showed up at 10:45 to pick Morgan up they were outside for recess. We spotted Morgan quickly; she of course was riding her bike. We donated her old tricycle to the preschool (the one that Charley attached straps to the pedals) so she would have a bike she could ride.


When Morgan spotted us she was very excited to see us. She told us she had a great day but was ready to go home. You should have seen how sleepy she looked. They really wore her out. In fact for the first time in a VERY long time she actually asked to take a nap. During lunch we got to hear all about her day. Here is how the conversation kinda went:

Me: Morgan, what did you do at preschool today?
Morgan: Circle Time, bean bag song
Me: What else did you do?
Morgan: Play, Owen, cars
Me: Anything else?
Morgan: Snack, Sophie
David: What about outside, what did you do out there?
Morgan: Ride bikes, Sophie

So as you can tell Morgan had a great first day. From what we gathered through her short two word answers (she was so tired she didn't want to elaborate much) they started the day with circle time. At circle time they did the bean bag song and (because I read the board) also sang The Wheels on the Bus, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and The Itsy Bitsy Spider. From what Ms. JoLynn said Morgan was a crack-up during the bean bag song; she was dancing like crazy. She also said that Morgan sang all the other songs and was even teaching Ms. Terry some new moves for the Wheels on the Bus. After circle time I think they did some free play which is when Morgan met Owen and they played cars together.

Then at snack she must have made friends with Sophie. Yes, Grandpa that is right, there IS a Sophie in her class. I have joked with Charley all summer that if there is a Sophie in her class and she calls her "Sophie Dopey" that he would be the one to call Ms. Terry and apologize. You see Grandma and Grandpa's dog is named Sophie and he always calls her Sophie Dopey. Well Morgan has picked up on this too and always calls her it now. Thankfully Ms. JoLynn said that Morgan just called her Sophie.

So, the first day went great. She did a LOT of walking and standing and moving and was EXHAUSTED. Hopefully things will continue to go smoothly and our little girl will continue to LOVE school!

Meet the Teacher!

Thursday evening Morgan had Meet the Teacher night at her preschool. She was very excited to go up and visit her classroom (as she had already met her teacher a few times) and show it off to her daddy.

All ready to go!

When we pulled into the parking lot Morgan yelled, "Preschool! Hooray!" She was so excited!

We first headed to the "Duck Room" where Morgan will be in the mornings on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays from 7:45-10:45. Her teacher in the Duck Room will be Ms. Terry. I forgot to get a picture of Morgan with Ms. Terry so I will try to get that on Monday. There are currently 11 children in the room and four adults (Ms. Terry, Ms. JoLynn, Ms. Katie, and Ms. Barbara). Although Morgan was not assigned a one-on-one aide, Ms. JoLynn will be there to primarily help Morgan. I went in on Monday and worked with her to show her how to do Morgan's braces. We are so excited to have Ms. JoLynn working with Morgan. I actually worked with JoLynn at Sycamore for the past three years. She is wonderful and is going to be an amazing aide for Morgan.

When we entered the room Morgan headed straight in and wanted to immediately sit down and do playdough at the table. I helped transition Morgan from her wheelchair to a chair at the table and then stepped back to let her play. David and I then spoke with Ms. Terry and got all the paperwork for class while Morgan played.

We then went back to just watching Morgan. I have been telling David for weeks now that Morgan is a peanut compared to the other kids that will be in her class. Well, that night a little girl came in and joined Morgan at the table for some playdough. David looked at her and then turned to me and said, "see, she's not that small. That girl is the same size." Right after those words came out of his mouth we heard her mom say, "No, don't give her playdough. She will eat it! She is only almost 2." David then turned to me and said, "well, maybe you are right."

Shortly after that Ms. JoLynn came in and I was able to introduce David to her. She then immediately jumped in to playing with Morgan. David and I thought it was a great time for Morgan and JoLynn to get to know each other, so while they played we went down to Morgan's afternoon classroom.

Morgan and Ms. JoLynn. While we were in Morgan's other class she and Ms. JoLynn had fun coloring a duckie picture and then reading some books. Morgan also met the class 'dog'. She loved him.

So while Morgan was hanging out in the Duck room David and I headed down to Ms. Amber's room. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays (since I will be working those days) we are going to try having Morgan go all day. She will go to Ms. Terry's class in the morning and then at 10:45 Morgan and Ms. JoLynn will head down together to Ms. Amber's room. Just like in her morning class there will be a total of four adults in the room. I am not sure how many kids they have. Morgan will do lunch, recess, nap, and then more playtime in there. We are very excited that Morgan was placed in Ms. Amber's class. I know Amber through Sycamore as well. She student taught there two years ago and has a son in third grade there. We are very lucky to have Morgan in such good hands.

Morgan and Ms. Amber playing playdough.

After taking Morgan down to see Ms. Amber's class we headed outside to check out the playground. We were also waiting to see Morgan's friends Brady and Seth. My girlfriend, BJ, recently took a teaching position at the preschool and will be right next door to Morgan teaching the pre-K class (I am hoping that Morgan can be with her next year). Anyway, her son Seth is also three and will be attending the preschool. He and Morgan will be in Ms. Amber's class in the afternoon together. Morgan's other friend, Brady, will also be going to preschool. He will not be in Morgan's class yet (he is not 3 yet, but after he turns 3 he may go into her class). However, both their teachers know that Morgan and Brady are good friends and have agreed to help them hook up to play on the playground. I don't think they will have trouble finding each other though. The second Morgan spotted Brady walking out of his classroom that night she began shouting at the top of her lungs, "Brady! Brady!" Morgan and Brady had fun playing together on the playground, especially playing one of Morgan's favorite games: catch.

Morgan checking out the slides.

Playing catch with Brady.

After our visit with preschool was over we headed home for some pizza with Brady and his family. It was nice getting to spend time with Brady and his parents, Bob and Lisa, and his baby brother Jake. We had not hung out with them in a while. During dinner we were talking about how crazy it is that we first met them at the pool at aqua kids when Morgan was 14 months and Brady 5 months. And now look at them; they are starting preschool together. Bob also pointed out that tomorrow will be their first day of school ever and they won't be done with "going back to school" each year until they graduate college. So crazy to think about!

This weekend we have been busy doing last minute things to prepare for preschool. On Thursday night we picked up some of the teacher's wish list requests so Morgan and I headed out to Target on Friday to buy all kinds of goodies for her classrooms. We were also busy (well, mostly me) completing Morgan's first homework assignment. She was asked to design an All About Me poster for a class book they are making. Too funny that that was her assignment, it is exactly what I used to do the first week of school with my fifth graders. Anyway, I stayed up late on Thursday uploading all my pictures to Walgreens. We then picked them up on Friday along with stickers to decorate her poster. When we got home and started working on the poster I quickly realized there was no way I was going to get all of the pics to fit on the page. I ended up using both sides of the poster; I figured since it is going to be a book we should be able to decorate both sides. Morgan, David, and I sat down together this morning to finish putting it together. Morgan helped put the photo corners on to stick the pictures down.

Tomorrow morning we will be off to her first day of preschool. I think it will be harder on us to leave than it is for Morgan. We will try to post pictures tomorrow as soon as we can.

Visiting some old friends

Three years, two months, and one week ago we met two of the most amazing nurses ever, Dede and Karen. Karen was Morgan's main nurse while we were in the NICU. She was our angel. It was thanks to Karen that we never had to leave the hospital without our baby girl. They had discharged me on a Saturday, but Morgan was not ready to go home. At the time the tiny little NICU did not have space for parents, just the babies. But they did have an isolation room. One tiny little room that did allow for parents to stay. Karen was able to arrange to get Morgan placed in there so we could stay with her. I can't tell you how grateful we were for that. The other nurse, Dede, was actually never assigned to take care of Morgan, but she was constantly there helping out in every way possible. It also just happened to be that Dede's oldest daughter, Angela, was going to be in my class for the upcoming year. So through having her oldest daughter and now her younger two in my SUMS class and now ELP Dede and I have remained in close contact over the past three years.

Dede has often asked if we would come visit the new NICU and we have always said yes, just tell us when. Well trying to find a weekend day (so David can go) that both Dede and Karen are working has been a challenge. Finally, this past Sunday I received an email from Dede saying they were both working as well as Dr. Mehrabani and another nurse that were there when Morgan was born.

So out went the plans of just relaxing at home on our final day of break and we instead headed up to St. Joe's to check out the new NICU. Let's just say this place is HUGE. It is like going from the roach motel to a five star resort. It is amazing. It is exactly what a NICU should be for babies and parents if they should ever have to end up there. There are rooms for each baby and chairs for the parents so they can stay. There is so much privacy. It was just amazing. The best part of the visit though was not seeing the NICU; it was seeing Karen and Dr. Mehrabani. We hadn't seen Karen in about two years so it was nice to get to show off all Morgan has learned. They were both very impressed with Morgan's chair and her ability to drive it. I wish that we had remembered to take pictures, but maybe next time. I promise not to let it be two years before we make it up to say hi again.

A Special Daddy Daughter Date

This past weekend was my last weekend before going back to work. We had planned to just take it easy as a family and stay at home as much as possible. Well, that did not work out, but that's okay because instead of relaxing at home we had two great days of seeing friends. On Saturday I had a ton of errands to run to prepare for the week and my girlfriend BJ had invited me to lunch, so I took off to do my stuff and David decided to surprise Morgan with a Daddy Daughter Date.

Since it was the first Saturday of the month it meant it was Storytime at the U of A bookstore. This month was featuring Clifford, the Big Red Dog. We don't actually read many of his books, but Morgan still knows who he is, she has even caught of few minutes of his show on PBS once or twice.

Morgan on her way to Storytime. Notice the Fancy Nancy book next to her. We can't travel anywhere without books in the car now. One day I cleaned the van out and took the books out. I will never do that again. I heard about it for the entire car ride.

Cruising in style up to storytime.

David said this storytime was even more crowded than last time, but Morgan still wanted to wait in line to meet Clifford. After storytime they headed to a quick lunch together at Subway.

When I got home from lunch and running errands I got to hear all about it. Morgan had a great time and enjoyed having some special time just with her Daddy!

Our Final Week of Break

It is hard to believe that our summer is already over. Well, I should say mine. Morgan still has one more week before starting preschool. For our last week of break we had a very low key week. We stayed at home most of the week and played. It was very nice to have such a relaxing last week of break. The one main event of the week was on Thursday. Morgan had an evaluation for TROT. TROT stands for Therapeutic Riding of Tucson. We have been trying for a while to get Morgan hippotherapy (horse). We know that she can benefit from riding the horse by working on balance, core strengthening, and flexibility. She can also can gain confidence and we all know she loves horses. So now that she is three (the required minimum age) we set up an evaluation to see if Morgan would be a good candidate for the program. The evaluation was done by an OT and a riding specialist. They were both very impressed with Morgan and very amused by her. She was so excited about riding a horse. She was able to get on and ride a horse named Monty. She fit very well on him and even had the chance to ride him backwards. During lessons they said that they will do many different riding positions to target different muscles. Anyway, the eval went very well and Morgan is now set to begin TROT in late September when the weather begins to cool off. In the meantime she has been talking about riding her friend Monty everyday.

Splish Splash!

On the 4th of July David and I decided to take Morgan to our local water park, Breakers. We headed over first thing in the morning so we could try to beat some of the heat. We also decided to try out Morgan's walker at the park. I am so glad we did. She loved it! She was able to walk in the water without having the full weight of her body. We had a blast and really enjoyed spending time together as a family. We are already trying to find another weekend when we can make it over there.

Morgan and David in the wave pool. She had so much fun playing in the waves. Her favorite thing was to have us help her jump into the waves.

In the kiddie area they had one slide that was perfect for Morgan because we fit too. She kept trading off which one of us she wanted to take her down.

Our adorable bathing beauty

This is the second time I got soaked. Morgan had walked over to check out the big bucket. The first time I got soaked unexpectedly and Morgan thought it was so hilarious that David somehow convinced me to stay under the bucket and get soaked again.

Ladies and Gentlemen!

Continuing in their quest to spoil Morgan rotten, her grandparents surprised her with tickets to the circus! When I first told her she said, "Hooray, Circus!" and then gave me a blank stare because she had no idea what a circus was. We spent the week before preparing Morgan by showing her all the commercials about the circus on TV, pictures on the internet, and even found a Fancy Nancy book called, "The Show Must Go On." By the time the day arrived to go to the show she was so excited!

An hour before show time they open up the arena and allow guests to go in and see all the animals. You can also go down onto the arena floor and meet some of the circus people and watch them do acts up close.

Morgan and I checking out the elephants. They had an adorable baby elephant named Barack.

David and Morgan checking out the tigers.

The thing Morgan was most excited about was meeting the clowns. Of course she got shy when she finally had her chance to say hi to one.

Our seats were amazing. We were four rows from the floor and the two directly in front of us were empty so we could see great.

On the walk to the car after the show I could feel Morgan starting to drift off. I set her in her seat and before I could fasten the belt she was out.

We had a great time at the circus and Morgan has some great pictures to remember it by. I just couldn't bring myself to buy her a souvenir. We went in with all intentions of letting her get one. I had thought we would maybe get her one of those lights that spin that I remember from when I was a kid. Well, that was until I saw the $22 price tag. Yes, $22 for a light that spins and would probably be broken before we made it to the parking lot. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. The $7 popcorn was enough. Thankfully she is still young and didn't even ask for a souvenir. Seeing the show was enough for her. Thanks again Grandma and Grandpa!

Summer Break: week 5

So as break is beginning to come to an end so is all our summer fun. We still had a good week and enjoyed time together, but we are getting back to more of our usual routine. Here is what we did during our fifth week together:

Monday: Morgan had her last PT visit with Kristen for the next month. With the craziness of starting back to work and preschool we are having to rearrange Morgan's therapy schedule. She will now be having PT on Fridays, but her PT doesn't work on Fridays. That is until mid-August when her kids return to school. Then she agreed to come in on Fridays for a few hours so she can still service Morgan. SO nice! We were really worried about what we were going to do so I am so glad she agreed to do that for Morgan.

Tuesday: On Tuesday Morgan had a great early morning surprise. At 6:30 her Grandparents rang the door bell. They were picking up Morgan to take her out to breakfast and spend some time with her so I could get my schoolwork (for my online class) complete. Morgan had a great time visiting with her Grandparents. I then picked her up around lunchtime to head to a friend's birthday party. Morgan's friend Amara was turning 1! The party was a lot of fun and by the time we got home Morgan was exhausted.

Wednesday: On Wednesday we headed out in the afternoon with Lucas and Georgia to meet some friends for Storytime at the library. It was a baby storytime, but Morgan didn't care one bit. She still loved it! They read some VERY short books as the babies were everywhere and then sang lots of songs. That was Morgan's favorite part; getting to stand up and shake her booty and dance. After storytime we headed to some "Mommy-time" at Starbucks down the road. It was nice getting to have some adult conversation.

Thursday: Morgan ended up having a sleep over at her grandparents on Wednesday night as I got hit with a cold and David was gone at basketball. They had planned on having her most of the day on Thursday anyway so I could finish up the last of my schoolwork and then have a girls day. We went to see Eclipse! It was so good! I highly recommend it.

Friday: Morgan and I had a lazy day. I don't think we got out of our PJs the whole day. It was nice to finally have a day to just relax and try to prepare for our busy weekend.