Last day of school

    Today was the last day of school for Josh and Amaya. Unfortunately for Josh her only gets a week and a half off, while Amaya gets six weeks off. Amaya had a great night last night and woke up feeling good (we're very thankful for that. Its funny how quickly things can change, Sunday and Monday she was miserable abut today she's fine).  On the drive to school this morning Lidie asked, "what's gonna happen to Amaya when her fixator comes off? And her underwear have holes in them?" She meant the cuts on the side where we added Velcro so that they would fit over her fixator. I let her know that we would buy Amaya new chonis when that happened, and she was happy to hear that. It's funny how her three year old brain tries to make sense of this all. As we were going to drop Amaya off at school she asked if she could push herself all the way to class. I said yes, and watched as she pushed herself up the incline to get to her classroom. She's determined this girl of mine!
    Once we dropped her off Lidie and I set up some snacks in the break room for the staff at Amaya's school. We wanted to show them just how appreciative we are of the love, help, support and kindness they've given to us all as a family. Many of them prepared meals for us, looked out for Amaya, encouraged her and us, gave a listening ear, bought books and gift for both girls, gave Amaya any extra TLC that she needed and gave us their friendship and support. We are so fortunate to be a part of such a supportive school environment. As I thanked some of the teachers in person one teacher, Mrs.Turner, said that she enjoys having Amaya on campus because when she's having a rough day she thinks of her and gets encouraged. That just lets you know what kind of people work there; kind people who truly understand what Amaya is going thru, and can appreciate her spirit. Several people offered encouragement and their admiration for Amaya and all that she's gone thru this year. I'm so grateful for all the kind words I received today.
     School was let out early so Josh got to go to therapy with us today. That was nice because I was able to go into the referral office and try to sort out some confusion on her referrals. Dealing with referrals, scheduling offices, referral coordinators is a big part of my "job" in making sure that Amaya gets the treatment she needs. When I joined them in the gym Amaya was stepping over a balance beam. Then she rode the bi-scooter in the hall then down the long hall and up the hill. Once we came back into the gym Amaya said, "yay stretches!" I was happy to see her excited for the work she had to do. I could tell that she was getting back into a more comfortable state of therapy; where she's challenged but not in extreme pain. This is how it was the first two months of therapy. She did the stretches by sitting then by stepping off the step. She would toss balls at Savannah Rose's painting to keep her distracted and entertained. When we started bends Amaya's knee was at 47, but she did a small scoot forward as she sat and got into the 50's. That was very encouraging. Amaya did 15 small pulls then would move her left foot back, then do another 15 and on and on. The process went really quickly today. She zoomed thru the 60's then 70's and then thru the 80's. She was able to get to her goal of 93 in less then five minutes! This is the third day that she has increased her range of motion! It's so nice to see things easing up for her. She's looking forward to being back in the 100's soon. The good thing about that is that her therapy will be dropping down to three days a week soon (we don't know exactly when yet). That will give us a nice break.

Bye, bye kindergarten. Hello first grade! Amaya received an academic excellence award today. 

Here's Amaya riding the bi-scooter down the long hall and up the hill. 

Here's Amaya stepping over the balance beam. You can see how hard it is for her to bend her left knee and step over the beam, especially compared to how easily and quickly she does it on her right leg.

Melissa and Amaya raced on the scooters across the room. Amaya won, barely. She had to bend her knee and pull herself forward.

Here's Amaya coming down the hill on the bi-scooter. You get a close look at her left knee as it helps push. I love her smile in this clip.

Here's a short clip of Amaya zooming on the bi-scooter. She went so fast today!

Here's Amaya doing her stretches, with a smile. 

I caught Lidie massaging Amaya's foot tonight as they watched a movie before bed. How cute is that? Oh, and if your wondering why we have a sheet on our couch, its because the girls made a "accident" and got red paint on our couch cushions. Luckily, we have washable kids paint and it all came out.