Weekend at Pen Park

This past weekend we went to Pen Park. They have two different-sized playgrounds; one for toddlers, and one for the older kids. They are separated by swings (for both babies and older children).

Until last year, Elena only played on the toddler playground--the smaller size made independent navigation more of a reality. Today, she can do the toddler playground almost completely by herself! She can go up the steps (it has a handrail), go over humps and dips (she can hold onto the side of the structure), she can go down the slides. She can get up off the bottom of the slide, and walk around to get on again. I still worry about her falling out of "holes" in the sides--where kids can slide down a pole, for instance--so I don't leave her alone on the structure. The good news about that, though, is the falling danger is true for any of the kids. I also don't trust Elena to climb down a monkey-bar-slat-dome thing...she can go up, but I don't think she can go down safely. Again, typically developing kids may have the same problem.

The big news is, E is now trying to conquer the big kid playground. There's a lot there that she's not tall enough to attempt--pendulum steps (platforms that are high off the ground and tethered by a rope), large hanging structures--but she can go up a rope ladder, climb the steps around the structure, go through tubes and down slides and then start over again.

Here is E getting up from the slide on the big kid playground:



I love it when we visit playgrounds now--because every time we go, she seems to be able to do so much MORE.

Like WALK FROM ONE PLAYGROUND STRUCTURE TO THE OTHER.



When we were done (after an hour of playtime), I asked if she would meet me at the walkpath to the parking lot. I asked if she wanted to walk herself, or with her crutches (we always bring them). She said she wanted to try herself. This is slightly uphill, bumpy grass, with some small sticks and some small rocks near the playground.



Awesome sauce!

Easter--including an Indoor/Outdoor Egg Hunt!

Happy Easter!

E and Viv had a great time up at Grandma and Grandpa's house. As usual, E got to play "kitchen" and made food for everyone.



We dyed eggs--or as E says it, "dived eggs", late Saturday evening.





After church, we had an Easter Egg hunt! E has done this before--inside the house. She is very good at it now, and loves the hunt. We try to stress that it isn't a race, and that works well. This year she carried her basket for the first time. She didn't have any problems inside the house (relatively flat, lots of handholds). Vivian joined the hunt, too. She liked the eggs when she found one, but didn't know what to do with it besides shake it.

We also had an outdoor egg hunt!



E did pretty well on the pavement and surrounding areas. There were some eggs through the grass, and that proved too difficult. Granted, the grass was long...but I think even if it were freshly mowed, it would have been too difficult this year. The hardest parts were the edging by the mulch (little "dips" prove troublesome) and the fact that she was carrying a large object. Vivian, on the other hand, loved it--she ADORES being outside, and especially loves tumbling in the grass. Elena likes grass, but not the falling part. :)

Great job, girls!

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!

Soccer and Slides

Today Jason brought the girls to catch the end of my soccer game. After the game was over, E wanted to go "score a goal" on the field. She did her BEST walking on grass I have seen to date. I'd kick the ball forward about 4-5 feet, help her get steady, and then she would walk to it and give the ball a kick (or, more accurately, run into the ball with her legs). She doesn't fall right away while kicking, but she always eventually goes down. I'm trying to get her to walk, stop, kick, stop, walk. That's not working too well, though.

Here is E walking on grass. I wasn't filming anything at the beginning, so this is at the end of her grass time.



After that, we all went to the playground next to the field. It's not for toddlers (steps too large, slides very tall, etc.) but we did it anyway. She did some good climbing, and at the top was a twin slide. I showed her what I didn't want her to do, and then how I wanted her to do it.

Now, I'm not sure what I did differently--but obviously something was different about today. SHE GOT IT!! A first--E stays sitting up while descending a slide!