Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Round up, before school

Well, after the beach, we rounded up All Things Summer. (Also, before the beach the kids went to Camp Holiday Trails--both of them (!) for a week of sleep-away camp (!). They had a great time (I knew they would), and I had more work done on my knee (mentioned briefly in the beach post).

Post-Beach "Camp"

The girls both went to CoderDojo; a free (!) electronic/computer camp for public schools. They *loved* it. I was a little nervous at first, b/c there were a lot of kids who have never been around a disabled peer, and parents (in general) did not stay with their children. I was worried Elena wouldn't get help if she needed it. 

I was almost immediately approached by one of the women in charge, who started off greeting me with "I am so glad you are here!". She was overjoyed to see Elena there and told me not to worry about a thing. Turns out her son, 16 years old, also has CP. It was wonderful to have someone there who understood my concerns. The other kids were absolutely awesome, by the way.

The tasks were a little advanced for Vivian (conceptually difficult), but she enjoyed the arduino boards and the LED sewing projects. Elena liked everything-mixing music, Codu, 3-D printing (she tried to make a fan that she could use later with the arduino motor, which was admired by a lot of her peers), and she was able to complete a few sewing projects (needles can be very challenging for her-but she used needles AND pliers!). 


Troubleshooting the arduino motor project

E making LED "wearables"

Vivian working the arduino LED project




Northern Virginia Trip(s)

Vivian wanted to go to the American Girl store to spend her hard-earned money; she has never been, and had been saving up all her pennies after she saw a catalog in the mail. She ended up buying a doll violin (she wants to take violin lessons). After that, we stopped by Clemyjontri Park, an awesome accessible playground.


Climbing around

Viv escaped the maze!

I especially liked the underground sound tunnels this time--we tried to play "telephone" all around the park. Vivian wasn't interested, but E, Grandma, Grandpa and I had a giggly time! If you are close to McLean, Virginia and have any interest in checking out an accessible playground--GO TO CLEMYJONTRI PARK. It's awesome.


"Telephone"
Cuties


Summer Harvests of all sorts

We took advantage of a great summer morning and took off to a peach orchard with some friends; we were the first ones out there, before it got too hot (and it got hot!). Lots of peaches were consumed, and lots more ended up in our freezer.

Peach picking with friends!

Someone ate a bad peach

Rounded up the last few berries of the season

We spent a good amount of time at the pool. Vivian passed her swim test (her own New Year's Goal!), and Elena has been working on her swimming also. She can make it half of the distance required for passing the swim test; she has a decent technique, but little endurance. We had another pool "close call" just a few days ago, when she really looked great stroke-wise, but when she got tired, her feet were not under her body (more of a diagonal) and she kept swallowing water at a depth where if standing properly she could touch the bottom of the pool. So, water awareness could use some work also--but Elena is certainly making good swimming progress.

Lots more is going on, (school, doctors, etc.) but that's for another post!


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love what you are doing with E and V. You are making sure they get their minds and bodies engaged and active. And cultivating their love for intellect and movement. I enjoy your making sure E has challenges to inspire her and the means to access her world, and to ensure she is functional to her best, and she is equipped for her best life and functioning.