Soccer: E's first day

E had her first day of what we call "soccer camp" last Saturday. I WAS NOT THERE. I was out of town.

The program is for 4-5 year olds, and put on by our local YMCA. Every time I enroll E in a class, I prepare the teachers/instructors well in advance for having someone like Elena. After all, most teachers have not experienced having a disabled child in their classroom. Hopefully, she and the other students will treat each other well and benefit from the exposure. This has been true for most of our experiences.

But, honestly...there are always moments of sadness. You see how different your child is from others. As E has gotten older and more able, we've had a better time dealing with this. The sad times are few, and normally the feelings are over quickly. E is doing so much more these days, it's hard not to be proud of her--even if she is the last one, or the one that needs a lot of help. I think other parents are proud of her too, even though they just met her!

Since I couldn't be at this session, Jason went. Our Helping Hand Cara was there too. I wasn't sure how much help E would need--turns out, she didn't need ANY--she didn't fall ONCE!! E tried all her "soccer moves" with her crutches. I am hoping by the end of "soccer camp" we might be able to do some of the drills without them--maybe. Coach M didn't spend a lot of time catering to Elena. I think that was good. After all, he had 19 other ~4 year olds to try to keep busy and attentive. I know he was watching her, though, and wondering how she would follow along.

Here is E warming up. The other kids were running around, jumping, doing runs as a group. Not only would that be exceedingly hard, E wasn't interested--instead she wanted to just kick the ball. Everyone seemed fine with that.



One of the other kids in the class is Julian; we met him in yoga class! He remembered E. How cute!



Here is Elena trying to keep up with the group. They are supposed to run across the field, get to their ball, and put their foot on it. Then dribble and stop repeatedly. Obviously E is slow, but she sort of kept up. She goes fast by taking large steps with her left leg, and smaller with her right. She does lean on her crutches A LOT on the field. Still, she never fell, and was out there for 45 minutes!! I think she will actually like this drill once she realizes she doesn't have to try to kick the ball as hard as she can EVERY time she kicks it.



Here's another drill, where the kids herd their ball into a net (facing the opposite direction). So, let me get this straight: there's running, dribbling, ball control, turning, and then going back to the group. A pretty tall order. Kids her age can do this, no sweat. Sure, she's slow. And she got frustrated when the ball didn't go the way she wanted. This clip highlights her differences. But...hey, it's not going away. It's REAL LIFE.



I'm not going to lie; I was out of town, worried to death this soccer experience would be a disaster. That E would be falling everywhere, upset, wanting to be like everyone else, crying her face off. She didn't. Jason said it was awesome. She LOVED IT.

That's all I could have hoped for. We can't wait for the next session!

At the pool

We met E's Bright Stars teachers one last time before the start at school. It was a pool play date. I begrudgingly agreed to try a different style of life vest (this one belongs to our main PT). Turns out, this one was a GREAT success! It gave E more confidence in the water. She still has trouble righting herself in the water, but I let go of her for 6-10 seconds and she could stay more-or-less straight up in the water.



One thing I have been working on with E when we "swim" (and at yoga, actually) is E's ability to really stretch out her arms. She can do it when reaching for a toy or coloring, but when her hands are above her head (or when she is in water) she really "shortens up". She also has a hard time relaxing her shoulders, but I don't know how to make her aware of that. Anyway, with the life jacket on and the cue "reach for my belly button", she not only reached her arms out all the way, but she could kick while doing so, which is a pretty big deal.

New Vids: PT--Balance Board, and Indoor Soccer at home

At PT last week, E worked on walking while trying to really bear weight on her right leg (she prefers the left). Her weight-bearing on the left is more evident as she uses her loftstrands more often.

Here is E using the balance board at PT. This is a smaller board than the one used with Emily, so it is harder for her.



E's AFOs got some tweaks at the orthotist this week (or was it last week? I forget). DETAIL THIS LATER. Basically the orthotist is allowing her right brace to "point" down a little. She has a small heel lift inside the shoe. So while her foot points just a little, it's still "flat" in the brace. Almost like a regular person wearing high heels--your foot points, but it's still flat in the shoe, and your leg is straight while you walk.

Here is E working on her Super Soccer Kick. Look Mom, no hands!