FTEA Ride A Thon

This winter Sara embarked upon a new journey.  Truthfully I wasn't sure if I should even investigate local riding centers for her, becuase she is terrified half to death of animals.  When I decided to put a call in, one of the things they told me is that the riders must be wearing pants.  Now you might be thinking....of course she has to wear pants, but this is Sara and she has worn pants very few times in her life and barely ever gives up the tutu and tights.  But I decided that we would give it a try.  It was the therapuetic recreation specialist in me itching to make a come back, reminding me the wonderful things that can happen with rec therapy without the kids even knowing that therapy is occuring.

So I held my breath, we showed up, I prepared for the worse, and she fell in love.  If you are not familiar with therapuetic riding, it is great.  They use the horse in a purposeful but fun way to benefit children and adults with disabilities.  For Sara, it helps her with her core strength.  Having a brachial plexus injury, her overall alignment and strength has been affected.  The gait and the movement of the horse helps with rebuilding her strength as well as her balance.  When she holds the reigns she has to hold her hands in a half way supinated position, and supination is something that all kids with BPI's have difficulty with.  When she pulls the reigns to steer the horse she works on the motion of pulling the arm back in a bent elbow position, but when she hugs the horse and helps with the taking of the horse she works on elbow extension which is something she struggles with.  The Dr. felt that it would also be really good for her shoulder.  She continues to work on confidence and communication skills as she says in the cutest little voice "Walk On" to get her horse to move.  There is nothing she can't do at riding.  She is the most adorable little three year old on I swear the largest horse ever, and she has even added her own flair to the riding when she goes every week in leggings and a tutu....who said that leggings couldn't be considered pants??.....

On May 19th Sara is going to be participating in a ride a thon to benefit FTEA and it's riders.  This experiance has really been an empowering one for her.  For the last three years Sara has been in and out of therapy and Dr.'s appointments where she has had no control over being there or not and what was going to happen at them.  But for the hour she is at therapuetic riding she is not only in control of herself but also of a very large animal.  If this doesn't empower you, I don't know what does.I am so happy she is able to have this experiance at such a lovely place and as a family we look forward to participating in the Ride A Thon.  If you would like to make a pledge please let me know. 

~Betsy

http://www.ftea.org/

Winding Down

I don't know where the time has gone.  Here it is mid April, and I feel like the school year was just starting, that we were just celebrating Christmas, and now here we are at the end of the school year.  I am so proud of the girls and how much they have grown, changed, and matured in one year.  I look back at the pictures from a year ago, and I can hardly believe it is the same child.  Tonight we were going through the old bins of clothing, get ready to purge out, sell, garage sale, donate....and anything else to spring clean.  It is shocking to see how small they once were.

Paulita has become quite the school girl.  She entered school, embraced it, learned how to read, write, add, and subtact.  Much more then I ever imagined from kindergarten and the remembrances of what my kindergarten year was full of playing school, house, blocks, and art projects.  I have smiled at each new discovery made, friendship formed,  and world problem she has taken on.  Paulita remains today, yesterday, and always my free spirit.  Miguel and I just love her to pieces and smile everytime we are reminded at how much she is completely him.  She loves nature, art, camping, planting, science, learning about other countries, and American Girls.  She has become quite the ballerina and has started tap dancing this year.  She says ballet is her favorite activity.  In judo, we have watched her inner tiger emerge, we know that she is not about to let anyone walk all over her.  After Christmas she started taking piano lessons, and tommorrow is her debut in her first recital.  She loves memorizing music and composing her own songs.  We are very proud of our little lady.

Sara is and will always be an inspiration to us.  She has grown leaps and bounds and we are completely in awe with her.  This fall she said goodbye to the days of parent tot ballet and emerged as a passionate ballerina.  One ballet class a week was not enough for this serious little student, so she began taking two days a week, and learning to tap dance.  She fell in love with the stage, the lights, the flowers, and the audience by appearing as the youngest cast member of the Nutcracker preforming at a local university with proffessional dancers.  Not a day goes by when the little princess doesn't beg me to take her to dance and to see her ballet teachers.  She wants to know when she can preform on the big stage in Chicago and every table top, hand rail, and bar that is waist high becomes a ballet bar.  She is soon to make her debut in her first recital, and the countdown has begun.  When she is not dancing she is watching movies about ballerinas, video clips on youtube about proffessional ballerinas, reading biographies about dancers from the library with Mommy, and watching the movie of the Nutcracker memorizing every part she aspires to be and how and when they enter and exit the stage and the positions of all the dancers on the stage......and yes she is only 3. In February she started participating in therapuetic horseback riding.  She quickly fell in love with this also, and the best part it is so good for her.  She continues to make slow and steady progress with her arm, and we couldn't be happier.  She has brought a light to our life, an appreciation of what we take for granted, and is truly in every way my little buddy.

As summer approaches, we look forward to spending time as a family as Miguel is off for the summer.  The girls love being able to spend time with him, and I love having help with the kids!! We hope everyone has a wonderful end of the school year and many fun filled summer adventures.

~ Betsy