First Day of Kindergarten

Today was the day, the day my baby went to kindergarten.  I was both excited for her, but yet sad that she is already big enough to go to school.  I felt gracious in the special time that her and I have shared together during these early childhood years.  The opportunity to stay home with her, has been a very special gift.  I never in a million years imagined being a stay at home mom, but Paula was truly love at first sight, and now I could not imagine anything but.

I held her in my arms when she was moments old, I took her to her first story time, and her first playdate.  I witnessed everyone of her temper tantrums, her first pee pee on the potty, and the day she gave up sippy cups.  I took her to her first day of 3 year old preschool as well as stood in awe at her 4 year old preschool graduation.   I remember struggling over the ABC's, sweating over her skipping the number 7 when counting from 1 to 10, pushed her to learn her sounds, and taught her to turn those sounds into reading words.  I saw her dance her first recital, learn to doggy paddle, and do her first throw in judo.  I watched her free spirit, knowing that our world would never box her in, cryed when she pushed the boundries, watched in awe when her independance taught her something new, and could do nothing but say "only MY Paulita!". 

And what could I do but embrace this very special moment.  I told her Paulita...today is your day, and you are going to MOVE MOUNTAINS!  Today is just the beginning.  I felt a little bit nervous, but I told Paulita that there were three very special angels watching over her for me, Mommy's Grandma and Grandpa, and Papi's Abuela.  And what do I hope....I hope that she will have a very special teacher who can see her beauty, her spunk, and her uniqueness.  Who will embrace her challenges, foster her love for learning, and push her to learn more.  I hope her teacher will celebrate her bilingualism and biculturalism.  And I hope she will have fun.

So my Paulita...today is your day, you ARE going to move mountains.  We are very proud of the baby you were, the toddler you were, and the child you are going to become.  The world truly has no limits for you.  I hope you never loose your free spirit.  Here we go......

BPI Clinic Day

On Wednesday we made the trek downtown to Children's Memorial's BPI Clinic.  Going into the appointment, I hoped the Dr. would be happy with what they saw and I hoped that based on her progress we wouldn't have to go back for another year (it had been 8 months since our last visit).  We got the girls all excited about going to Molly's Cupcakes, the novelty cupcake bakery across the street, and the adults excitement was in a restaurant called Sultans Market which is next door to CMH. 

We absolutely love Sara's specialist.  She has such a nice way with the children and families.  We have always appreciated and trusted her expertise and kindness.  The clinic nurse is wonderful as well, but unfortunately we didn't see her this time.  My hopes proved to be in the right place because the Dr. was happy and said she wouldn't be a candidate for any surgeries and that we should come annually from now on.  She also told us that Sara no longer had any restrictions except for something like football where there is an opportunity for strong impact in the shoulder. 

At the moment I took everything for what it was and was very pleased, and I still am.  But when I started thinking about no restrictions, my mind went flying.  NO RESTRICTIONS!  I didn't know if I should laugh, cry, be shocked, seem surprised....no restrictions.  Although she hasn't had complete recovery, this is my girl, and it is her moment to fly.  She will always be in therapy to keep her muscles loose and to continue to stretch her range, but this is who she is and will always be.

Sara has always been very in tune to her BPI and we have always felt that there is no reason to keep her injury a secret from her.  We wanted her to understand why we were going to so many therapies and why we were doing home exercises.  She is also aware of her vascular birthmark on her BPI arm, and she takes people aback when her little two year old voice exclaims that it is her hemangioma when she is asked.  So I began to think about the importance of reminding her in our daily conversations that she can do and be anything she wants to be.  And when I asked her what that would be....she said a tap dancer.   Of course she understood my statement at a very 2 year old level.  But I hope that when she gets to be an adult, that she never has felt the feeling of road blocks or my nervousness with her arm as something that held her back.  So today, and I am sure for her whole life.....we will be telling her that she has the whole world at her fingertips.....and today is her day to fly............