Giddy-up!

This past Wednesday Morgan had her first official TROT (Therapeutic Riding of Tucson) lesson. Her lesson was scheduled at 4:00 and they waited until this time in September to start so the weather could cool off. Well, it hadn't. It was at least 100 degrees! Morgan, however, could have cared less about how hot is was. She was just couldn't wait to see Monty!

The moment we pulled in she was so excited; she instantly recognized where we were and was so excited to show her Grandma TROT. We went into the office and met up with Jess, the OT who will be running Morgan's lessons. After a quick hairdo change (we had to lower her pony tails in order for her helmet to fit) we got ready to head outside. First though, Jess wanted to tell us the plan for our first session. She said they were going to first do a baseline test with Morgan to see what her current reach and ability to bench sit is at. She also said that they would video tape the entire lesson so she could go back through an analyze Morgan's starting point. They will then periodically tape lessons so she can evaluate if Morgan is making improvements. Jess then said that due to the heat we would probably only actually be out on Monty for about 25 minutes today and asked me to be sure to speak up if I thought Morgan was losing it before then and would need to stop and come in. "Sure" I said while smiling inside the whole time. Jess does not yet know Morgan and know that there is no way this child will only want to be on the horse for 25 minutes and no way she will quit before that; not matter how hot she is.

So we headed outside to do the initial baseline test while seated. Morgan did a great job as usual and was very cooperative. She is so used to all her therapy that she does most of it without any complaint.

During the baseline test they had Morgan reaching up in front and towards both sides as high as she could and would mark it on the wall in chalk.

Safety first! Morgan getting her helmet on to ride.

Jess, the OT is on the right. On the left was Nancy, the side walker.

You can see in her face how proud she is of herself. She had been telling all her friends at school all day long that she was going to go ride a horse today.

Altogether there were five adults working with Morgan today. The OT, sidewalker, leader for Monty, the videographer, and then the director of TROT.

After a few trips down the walkway forwards to stretch her out and get used to Monty they turned Morgan around and had her ride backwards. She thinks she is such big stuff when she does this. She will primarily be riding backwards. By placing her this way her body has to respond differently to Monty's gait and it forces Morgan to really activate her back muscles which is what we want to concentrate on.

After the ride Morgan spent some time thanking Monty by giving him lots of love and pats.

Morgan caught Monty sticking his tongue out at her so she did it right back at him.

Morgan ended up lasting over 35 minutes on Monty and probably another 5 or so petting him. I think she would have probably lasted longer; it was more the teachers who were tired of the heat. We spent the last 20 minutes of her session inside "playing." Jess had Morgan working on more reaching and fine motor skills like coloring. They made a picture that said "I love Monty" and combed the hair of a toy horse. When the weather cools off more and we can be outside for the whole session Morgan will have the chance to actually help groom Monty.

As we were ending our session with Jess she was telling us her thoughts on how things went (since we had to stay back behind the fence we didn't really hear all that was going on. This is a new change for me and will take some time to get used to since I am so used to be right there involved with therapy). Anyway, she said that Morgan was cracking them up while on Monty and kept asking them to "go faster." I told Jess that once she gets to know Morgan more she will understand that my child has a "need for speed." She has no fear and loves to do dangerous things. We put her in her wheelchair and she will fly full speed through our house shouting "wee!" Her favorite thing is for David to toss her high in the air and even toss and spin her. She loves to hang upside down and do anything "fast." So, maybe by the end of TROT she will have the chance to "go fast" and gallop on Monty. We will see. In the meantime, she LOVED it and that is most important.

Tired, but very proud of herself!

Morgan had a great time riding. On the way home I asked her "Morgan, do you want to go back next week and ride Monty again?" To which she responded "No" I was shocked, but a second later she said "Right, Now!" So Morgan :)

Our Own Picasso

Since starting preschool Morgan has done a ton of artwork. Most of it is cookie cutter type art that her teachers give her and the other kids and they all put it together the same way. It is adorable artwork and we cherish it, but literally she brings home at least three pieces a day! So three pieces a day times three days a week times eight weeks of school, that's like 72 pieces of artwork already. Okay, we might not have that much, but we are close. We of course can't save them all, so I have started to take pictures of each piece (at least the good ones) and I am going to put together an artwork book using one of the online scrapbook sites at the end of the year.

In the meantime there are those select few pieces that I just can't bring myself to trash. One of them Morgan actually made at home a few of weeks ago. One Saturday morning bright and early (It was my day to get up with her; yes we rotate days since Morgan is such an early riser) Morgan informed me that she wanted to paint. I said that was a great idea and set up her easel, stander, paints etc.. So off Morgan went painting her picture. Every time Morgan does artwork we always question her about what she is making so this particular morning was no different. Here is how it went:

Me: Morgan, what are you making?
Morgan: a giraffe.
Me: oh, how neat. What else are you painting?
Morgan: A turtle.
Me: Oh really? Where is the turtle?
Morgan: right here (she pointed to a purple spot she had made).

The conversation continued in this manner for a few more seconds with Morgan continuing to tell me about her painting. I was so excited! This was the first time she had ever verbalized what she was making and she was going into such detail. Now I began to think this was just another fluke and that she was just saying all of this to appease me, but a few hours later when David woke up we showed him the same painting and guess what, she told him exactly the same thing!

I knew this was a painting I would want to save since it marked such a memorable moment for Morgan's development so I grabbed a sharpie, dated the painting, and labeled each thing she told me about in the painting. Here is her masterpiece:

About a week ago we had Donna and Charley over for dinner. I was telling Donna about all Morgan's artwork and decided to pull some of it out ( I hadn't done a recent photo shoot of all the work so it was piled up). As we were going through the pile of artwork we came across this painting again. It had been at least two weeks since Morgan had seen it, but as soon as she saw it she shouted to Grandma that is was her giraffe. Then, when we pointed to the other things she identified them all:
Me: What is this purple spot?
Morgan: a turtle
Me: Oh, and what is this tall thing right here?
Morgan: my giraffe
Me: And what is the giraffe doing?
Morgan: Tree, eating.

I was shocked that she remembered all of this. It is so amazing watching her grow each day and seeing all the new things she is learning. She has reached that stage where she remembers EVERYTHING! It is a good and bad thing some times. In fact, her memory is very good, but her sense of time is not the best right now. We have learned not to tell Morgan about exciting events (birthday parties, people coming over, etc...) until right before it is about to occur. Hence why I still haven't told Morgan about a very exciting upcoming event: We have our next trip to Philly in two weeks and my dad and stepmom are going to surprise Morgan and pick us up at the airport in Philly! We are then going to spend all day Sunday at Sesame Place starting the day with breakfast with Elmo! I can't wait to see her face when she spots them in Philly!

Morgan's first Home Visit

So here in Vail, AZ we do many things differently and that is one of the things I love most about our schools. When Morgan was first born I had told David that she couldn't have been born in a better school district. Our district is a fully inclusive district and is pretty well known for the excellent education we provide to students with special needs. In fact, countless families purposely sell their homes and move to our district each year just for our inclusive program. Anyway, that is just one of the things that makes our schools special.

Another thing that makes our schools unique is "Home Visits." Teachers have the opportunity to earn a little extra cash by doing home visits. I have done them myself in the past, but since Morgan was born I have decided my weekends are too precious. Thankfully though Morgan's preschool teacher, Ms. Terry, does home visits, so this past Saturday morning we had a huge surprise for Morgan when she woke up. I told her that Ms. Terry and her speech therapist, Ms. Allison were coming over to play. I wish you could have seen how excited the kid was. It was so adorable, she was shouting all morning about Ms. Terry and Ms. Allison coming to play. She had planned out exactly what she wanted to do with them and show them all around her house.

Our visit was nice and early at 9:30 so we quickly scrubbed the house and ourselves and right at 9:29 we finished Morgan's hair and put her in her wheelchair. A moment later the doorbell rang and Morgan flew in her chair to the door to answer it yelling "Hooray, Ms. Terry!, Open door please." Morgan immediately stuck her arms out to give Ms. Terry a huge hug and then invited them in and told them "follow me." She didn't even give them the chance to come all the way in to our home and settle down, she instantly guided them into her bedroom to show it off. The first thing she showed them was her butterflies above her bed and then of course all her books on her bookshelves. Morgan then spotted her Tea Party set on top of her bookshelves and decided that was the first thing she wanted to do with Ms. Terry and Ms. Allison, so off we went to the play room.

As soon as we set Morgan down to begin the "tea party" she asked for water. At first I thought she was thirsty and wanted a drink, but then I quickly realized that she actually wanted water for her pretend tea (thanks Grandma for teaching her this trick, j/k). So, David filled her tea pot with some water and Morgan served tea to her teachers.



She made quite the mess with the water, but thankfully it is just water. Everyone enjoyed their "tea" and then Morgan decided it was time to move on. Morgan had officially planned for the visit to teach them how to play her Fancy Nancy Dress-up game.


They had a lot of fun with this game. Morgan did a nice job showing how the game works and taking turns with her teachers. She of course won. I don't know how she always seems to do that.

Next, Morgan had a new toy she wanted to show off, especially to Ms. Allison because it works on her respiratory strength. Morgan's other speech therapist (our in-home one) had just come by on Friday morning and told us about this great toy she had seen at another kids house. It is a little LeapFrog birthday cake. You push a button to light up the number of candles you want, it sings "Happy Birthday" to you and then you have to blow out the candles. If you don't blow hard enough they just flicker. It is so perfect for Morgan! Now we can practice blowing out candles without the flames! So Morgan showed that off for a few minutes.
We ended our visit showing off Morgan's baby books of when she was born, 1, and 2. Morgan had a great time and although they had stayed for over an hour she was still very sad when they had to leave.

Ms. Allison, Morgan, and Ms. Terry

Morgan then walked all the way out front to say good-bye to her teachers. I have to say that after they left we stayed outside for a few minutes to talk with our neighbor who was out doing yard work. Well, Morgan proceeded to walk all the way down our front side walk, across the driveway, and even into our neighbor's rocks. She had spotted one of his bushes with pretty pink flowers on it (she loves to pick flowers). I was amazed at how well she walked over there and even in the rocks! Then, after talking for a bit she asked to go back inside, so I turned her around and off she went. She not only walked all the way back to the house, but then completely through the house to her high chair for lunch! She amazes me sometimes with the amount of walking she is doing. In fact, we just saw her PT on Friday for the first time in a month and she was so excited to see all the growth Morgan has made. She said she thinks Morgan is walking 10 times better than she was a month ago. Let's just pray that she can continue to make these huge strides!

And finally, I have to brag about one more walking accomplishment. About a week ago we all decided after eating dinner that we should go outside and enjoy our new patio we put in for Morgan to be able to get around the back yard. Well, she walked from the kitchen to the back door, knocked on the door for me to open it, and then I helped her down the ramp (barely, she can almost do it herself now). I thought she would be done there, but she wasn't even close. She wanted me to point her towards our back wall so I did and then David and I went to sit down in our chairs out by the back wall. Well, as we sat there we both sat with our mouths open in amazement, in fact I almost burst into tears. Morgan walked all the way from the door out to the back patio wall and it is UP HILL!!!! I can't tell you how excited we both were. I knew right then and there that every single penny we just spent on this patio was more than worth it. I would have paid 10 times as much to see her do that. I just wish we had it on video. I am sure she will do it again though so we will try to capture it so you all can enjoy it too. Now I just can't wait for the weather to cool off so she can go outside to play more often.