An Update on Miss Mo

 Morgan has been one busy girl since we started back to school. She is loving every moment of first grade and is doing fabulous. We couldn't be more proud of her. Morgan has also really surprised us with how well she is adjusting to all day school. We thought she would be coming home exhausted, but most days she comes home still ready to work. She wants to get started with her homework, complete her vision therapy, and is always excited to do her reading homework. Morgan is really doing a great job and is becoming a reader! She is participating in our school AR program and has already taken two tests on her own and gotten 100% on both! The first book she took a test on she had read all by herself to her sister before bed one night. In addition to doing great with her schoolwork Morgan is also doing great outside the classroom. She is really enjoying eating lunch in the cafeteria with her best buddy (a little boy from her class) and going to the playground to race her friends.

Here are some highlights of what Morgan has been up to lately:

1. While in Las Vegas we met the coach of the U of A women's wheelchair basketball team. He also has arthrogryposis. Anyway, he told us about a league he runs in Tucson called JAWS (Junior Athletic Wheelchair Sports). He invited Morgan to come out and check it out. David and Morgan having been going every Saturday since.

Hanging out at JAWS (Junior Athletic Wheelchair Sports).

Morgan playing goalie with one of her friends.

2. One of Morgan's favorite parts of school is getting to go to specials each day. This quarter she has SUMS, Music, Art, and PE. Next quarter she will also get to have Spanish. Morgan can't wait for that. She loves Spanish.  One of my favorite parts of the day is getting to look out the window of my new classroom and see this:

Morgan on her way to specials. LOVE!

Morgan's 1st spelling test of 1st grade! She even got the bonus word. So PROUD!

3. Something has sparked a lot of creativity in Morgan lately. A couple of weeks ago she was home sick from school one day. I had an empty diaper box sitting by the back door waiting to take it to the recycle bin when Morgan walked into the living room. She looked right at the box and said:

Morgan:  "Mommy, let's make a robot." 
Me: "Okay, what do we need?"
Morgan: "I need some paper and some arms and a head."
Me: "Okay, how do you want to make those?"
Morgan: "How about some paper plates."
Me: "Okay, how many?"
Morgan: "How about three."

Me: totally blown away. I could hardly believe this was coming from Morgan. We proceeded to work together to cover the box in paper and then add the plates as the head and arms. Morgan then worked in the evening with David to decorate her robot.

A few days later David had taken the girls out for donuts while I slept in (I know...he is the best husband and dad). They brought me home a couple of donuts so Morgan was drinking her milk she had gotten while I was eating my breakfast. She stopped drinking her milk and said:

Morgan: "I want to make this into a dragon." (talking about her milk bottle)
Me: "okay" (thinking, totally random, but okay), "How should we do that?"
Morgan: "We need a head and wings"

I am not sure how things went from there exactly, but somehow it turned into us doing paper mache and painting. 

Tearing paper for the paper mache.

Getting all gooey in the paper mache paste. Morgan loved this part.

Morgan's finished dragon and robot.

She rocked her 2nd test as well, getting the bonus word again!!!

4. Morgan went in for a check-up with her favorite dentist, Dr. D. She adores him and thanks to him and his treasure box we are able to get her to brush and floss every night. Whenever she is complaining and fighting us on flossing we simply remind her that when she sees Dr. D he will be checking for clean teeth to earn treasure box. It works every time. Morgan was really excited for this visit because it would be the first time Dr. D would see her since she had lost her two bottom teeth. She also couldn't wait to show Kenzie what the dentist was all about. Morgan had offered that she would go first so Makenzie could watch how to do it.

Picking out her new Belle toothbrush.

Showing Dr. D how wiggly her top two front teeth are.

Another 100% on test 3. Sorry, I know I am being that annoying mom posting every spelling test, but I am just so very proud of her.

 5. Morgan is continuing with her vision therapy. It has been a lot of work as she has homework 6 nights a week to do for it, but it really seems to be paying off. Since starting therapy Morgan's eyes seem to have a bit more control and her reading is starting to take off. She still has a very long way to go, but we are very hopeful that she will get there. In the meantime Morgan is enjoying her therapy which is most important.

Testing out her glasses for 'patching' during therapy.

One of her assignments is to work on these puzzles. Morgan is loving this homework.

6. Morgan is growing up so fast. She has now lost tooth number 3 and 4. She lost the top right on Thursday, August 15th pulling it herself again.  She then lost number 4, the top left this morning while at the park eating breakfast. We had stopped by the local bagel shop to grab some breakfast and went for an early playtime at the park before the heat hit. As we were eating breakfast I noticed that her tooth was getting super wiggly. Then a minute later I noticed a bit of blood on her bagel. I yelled "stop eating!" just as Morgan swallowed a bite of bagel and her TOOTH! Yes, her tooth came loose in the bagel and she swallowed it. At first I was totally freaked out, but after talking with my sister and googling it, it turns out it is pretty common for kids to do this. Apparently one of my nieces even did it when she was Morgan's age. Who knew.

Showing off her new hole.

Her new toothless smile. So cute!

 Since she wouldn't have a tooth to leave in her pillow tonight we decided she could write the toothfairy a letter explaining what happened. I asked Morgan if she wanted to write it or type it. Morgan said she wanted to write it. She has been asking a lot lately, especially at school, to write instead of type. I think she sees all her classmates writing and wants to do what they are doing. It has been a while since she and I have done some so I was blown away by her. I started the letter with writing out "Dear Toothfairy" in dotted lines and having Morgan trace it. She then did the rest on her own (with the exception of the w in while) with me just helping with how to spell. I couldn't believe it! I can't even tell you have very proud we were of Morgan. From a little baby who couldn't even open her hand at birth (even with someone prying it open with all their might) to this. A-MA-ZING!!!!!

I know it is hard to see since she doesn't push hard with the pencil, but it says "Dear Toothfairy. I lost my tooth while I was eating.

Here is the picture Morgan drew on the back. She asked me to help with the tooth and stomach and then she colored. Too funny.

7. Since returning from our trip to Vegas Morgan has been wanting to be more independent, which we love. One of the things she loves to do now is to walk herself (in her walker) to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She has figured out how to open the door, open her drawer, grab her toothbrush, open the toothpaste, put it on the brush, close the toothpaste, and brush on her own!!! We still assist with the brushing to make sure she gets all the areas, but she really is independent with it. The other thing we have been working on is trying to figure out how Morgan can get herself out of bed. We still have lots of work on figuring this out, but one thing Morgan has learned is if she is on her wedge pillow, how to sit up and slide down into her walker. She was so proud of this new accomplishment!