It's not easy growing bones

      Sweet Amaya had such a hard time going to sleep tonight. She had so much pain (in her feet, her knee, hip and pins) and had a hard time calming down. She didn't fall asleep until nine pm, which is the latest she's fallen asleep in a long time. She kept saying many things, like asking me to take out the bar, letting me know that she's glad that Lidie doesn't have a fixator, that "it's not easy growing bones," that she doesn't like the pain and wants to just sleep normally.
     Well let me tell you about our day. When we were in the waiting room waiting to go back to physical therapy a lady walked by, she was pushing someone in a wheelchair. Maybe her son or grandson I'm not sure. She had a nurse with her and another teenage girl. As she got in front of us she stopped dead in her tracks and very loudly said, "What is that?! Oh my god! Are those nails?! Does that poor child have nails in her legs?! I calmly answered, "yes, nine." She responded, very un-calmly, "Are you kidding me?! God help us all! Ah, that poor child! Oh heavens! Oh my dear God." Then was ushered away by the nurse and the other teenager with her. Thankfully she said all this is Spanish, but I'm sure Amaya (and everyone else in the lobby) could get the gist of her reaction. I think I would have been upset or mad or angry if she wasn't such an overly exaggerated person. She seemed like she was in a sitcom, very unreal. She was very Larry David like (you know that annoying man who always puts his foot in his mouth). I shook my head and just smiled at Amaya. What could I really say? Maybe the lady is right, maybe it is a bit crazy for my six year old daughter to have nine long pins in her legs. But, sometimes, crazy is what's best.
     Once we got back to see Melissa I mentioned to her that Amaya has been complaining of pain and numbness in her toes. She examined her a bit then suggested that we strap her Velcro strap during the day when we lock the bar. It's a combination of Velcro and foam that holds the toes pointed up (I'll try to post a picture of it tomorrow). Melissa said that when Amaya is feeling the pain and or numbness to massage the area, but adding the extra time in the strap should help stretch the area to give some relief. She said the nerves are reacting to the lengthening. Amaya was able to get her knee to 106 degrees today. She practiced walking in her walker and asked if she could go up the ramp in the hallway (I'm always happy and proud when she pushes herself). She walked all the way up then rode down in her wheelchair (while Kim, the intern, pushed her). Amaya told Melissa and Kim about the At-At walker that our friend Shannon showed us (there's a picture below). Amaya thought it was very cool and wanted to tell them about it. When we got to therapy today Amaya said her pain was at a seven but when we were laving she said it was closer to a four. So that was nice, not sure if it was because of the pain meds had time to kick in or the therapy helped her pain, or a combination of the two. I had left my phone in the car today, so I don't have any pictures from therapy for today.
    After therapy we went over to the County Museum. We had gotten a last minute invite to go there with friends and since we haven't been in awhile we decided to try. The girls were very excited to see the live animals and hoped to touch a snake. When we got there we were just a few minutes late for the animal house. It was closed, but Grammy Diane talked to the man and he said that we could come at two and he'd let us in to see the animals. While we waited we had a picnic then the kids started playing chasing games. Diane and Richard were impressed to see how well Amaya maneuvered her wheelchair in between all the kids. She's rarely bumped into anything or anyone. She's pretty impressive. Then her eyes caught a small hill, she pushed herself up it then let go and wheeled down with such delight. I was terrified! I was so afraid that she'd fall, lose her balance, or crash. I was scared then proud, and made sure she was wearing the seat belt. She must have pushed herself up that hill at least forty times. Then safely wheeled down, never once crashing. At one point she almost bumped into a table, but quickly turned then started to head for a dip, but she put the brakes on quickly and only one of her front wheels went into the ditch. Richard and I ran over, fearing that she'd fall over, but she didn't. She did great. She was calm and in control. She said she wanted to do what Artie and Quinn did on Glee.
  Later when we got to see the animals, Chad (the man who works there), was very nice, kind and patient. Not only did he let us come in and look, but he also let us touch, explore and see up close many creatures. We saw leaf bugs, a blue tongued skink, a family of corn snakes, two pythons, giant cave roaches, a tarantula, mice, and baby mice. What a treat! The kids loved it! We got to spend an hour and a half in there. When we were leaving Chad told Amaya that he hoped she'd come back and looked forward to her being able to come in and volunteer (when she's thirteen). Now she's super excited to turn thirteen.

This is the walker At-At Ms.Shanny found for Amaya on Pinterest. Isn't it cool?!

Amaya wanted to wear her new "crazy hair" that she bought at Target the other day.

Here's Lidie wearing hers. They're a bit on the side so you can't see them that well, although the mess shows up quite nicely. Hers are pink and purple. 

Amaya posing in front of the museum.

Lidie not posing. 

Amaya on one of many runs down a small incline. I love the joy, fun and shear look of thrill on her face!

Here's a video of Amaya wheeling herself down the hill. She did it about forty times!

Lidie touching the blue tongued skink.

All the kids touching a family of snakes. 

This is Monty. He's climbing all over another snake, and the kids loved it!

Amaya and Alex got to look at many different x-rays on the x-ray viewing machine (not sure what that thing is called). It's funny because they don't even take x-rays like that anymore. All of Amaya's x-rays are now digital and viewed on a screen. There were two x-ray of human bones that had screws and bars in the bones. Amaya thought they were pretty cool then showed her x-ray (we have a picture of it on my phone) to Chad, the very nice man who shared the animals with us. He thought hers was pretty cool too.

Me touching a tarantula for the first time ever!

Amaya was a bit nervous at first and only let the tarantula crawl on her finger.

Then she got a bit braver and let it crawl all over her hand, several times.

When she took off her sock tonight it had stuck to her heal. It bled a little and freaked her out. I took the picture to show her that it was just a little blood, and not "dripping all over the floor."