Such a Fun Age

Molly has grown so much in just the few weeks since school started.  It is clear that she is feeling like a "big kid" and just beaming with joy.  This is such a fun time in our lives.  We have been walking to school and Molly drives her power chair, which has been great for her sense of independence.  There is another girl from her class that we often walk with and the two girls cannot stop chatting and smiling.  They are both "girly girls", so a lot of the discussion is about what they are wearing and how their hair looks etc.  It is so wonderful to see her "walking" side by side with a classmate to school.  I had hoped this would happen at some point, but am so excited it has happened so quickly.

Molly has been asking a bit more about why her bones break easily and why her bones are different.  We have had brief discussions about this off and on, but I think came to a better understanding together this week.  She said that her bones were "bad bones" and should be in "time out".  She asked, "that's alright isn't it?  Bones don't have feelings do they?"  We talked about how it wasn't anyone's fault when one of her bones break and that was just how they were made.  I am still trying to figure out exactly how to help her to understand her condition and feel good about herself.  We talked about how there are lots of times when her bones don't break, so in some ways they are "good bones".  There are some people with Brittle Bones that can run and jump and some kids with brittle bones that cannot stand.  She is lucky for all that she is able to do and that there are many whose bones don't allow them to do all the fun things she can do.  I don't know if this was helpful to her, but it gave me a new perspective and appreciation.

I will work on writing this more clearly and concisely later... off to train Flash :)

Kindergarten... "A Million Thumbs Up"!!!

It has been a long year, but I am going to make an effort to get back into posting more frequently.... time will tell :)

Rather than play catch-up I am going to update about the here and now.  Molly started Kindergarten a little over a week ago and is having a fabulous time!!  We couldn't be happier.  We were all quite nervous about it, but from the first day it has been wonderful.  We are so lucky.  We moved from Cary to Raleigh 2 years ago so that Molly could continue going to the school she was at for preschool (and to get a ranch for accessibility) and it is now so clear that that was a great decision.  One of Molly's preschool teacher's from two years ago was hired as a kindergarten teacher this year and we were lucky enough to get her!  They also placed another preschool teacher from 2 years ago in the classroom as the teacher's assistant.  This set us up for a great beginning.

Molly was so nervous on the first day and after meeting some friends and all of the preparation that the staff did it was a great first day.  Since then she is so excited to go everyday and also excited to tell us all about her day (something she refused to do when at preschool).  She is feeling so good about herself and having tons of fun!!

It is wonderful to have great things to report.

We are starting to work on fundraising for a pool for Molly in our backyard so that she can get exercise everyday.  We have been thinking about it and planning for it off and on for months and sat down this weekend to "make a sketch".  Jim and I are both engineers and began drawing an architectural style picture of what the backyard would look like and wanted Molly to help... after a few minutes of this, Jim realized we were way over Molly's head and suggested she just draw a picture of what it should look like (duh!.. only engineers would start an architectural drawing with their 5 year old :).  She drew a pool that was perpendicular to the house.  All of our sketches had the pool parallel to the house and didn't quite seem to work... So Molly has come up with a perfect plan for how to make it work :).  She is so excited!!!

This morning I wrote down all of my to do items for the week on a white board in the living room.  I went out to train Flash (Molly's Service Dog in Training) and came back in to hear Molly announce she was "writing real words"... "I hope that is OK"... I walk in to find she has been "reading" my to do list and rewriting each word on the opposite side of the board and then erasing each item.  Adorable :).

More posts to come soon I hope.  Off to fold 6 loads and counting of laundry (really).