Midsummer Miscellany

Summer is over half gone.

For us, at least, because the kids get out of school in May and start back in mid-August, which actually makes us past the halfway point, though we’re less than a third of the way into what’s consider summer by the weatherman. Normally I’d save my “odds and ends” for a Snippets post, but I like to keep those lighthearted and I’m not sure the things I want to talk about today fit that description. So here goes…

1. Photo albums are wonderful tools.

I’ve always preached the value of photo albums – they provide tangible proof to children that they are valued and they help preserve not just memories, but a family history. In our house, they’re also an invaluable tool for speech therapy.

Ever since I discovered Digital Project Life (NOT an affiliate link, just for info!), I’ve been working like a fiend getting caught up on my backlog of photos. I’ve finished all of 2013, January through May of this year, and started on 2012 a few days ago. Nathan can not get enough of the photo albums, and he gets so excited looking at the photos that he chatters so fast we can’t keep up.

2. My ebook was released one year ago this week.

I still can’t believe I wrote a book – even “just” an ebook – and that I did the whole thing from start to finish in just a few weeks last summer. It’s no NY Times Bestseller, of course, but I wrote it with the sole purpose of helping others, and on Monday, I heard from a college professor who teaches special education majors – she assigned my book to her “perspectives” class last week.

I look forward to hearing what her class has to say about it – they weren’t my target audience, so I think their perspective will be interesting.

3. Sarah Kate’s neurological bandwidth is limited.

When she went to Gillette in March, they diagnosed her with spastic triplegia, not diplegia as we’d always been told. It wasn’t a great shock – more like one of those things that we should have known but had never thought about before – to learn that her cerebral palsy affects not just her legs, but her right arm, as well. She is right-handed, and writes and does other fine motor tasks without issue, but when her lower body is working, it’s obvious.

When she ran bases in softball, her right arm would pop up with her hand in an awkward posture. You can also see in the video below – she’s struggling mightily to swing that right arm naturally. We’ve also seen it with some new exercises we’ve incorporated this week with her on her hands and knees – as soon as she starts the exercise, that right arm becomes weak and bends, which is unfortunate since she needs it for support.

4. Sarah Kate is walking.

For realz, people. She got the canes two weeks ago – to use for sit to stand, not for walking. She started walking with them a little bit on Thursday of that week. She moved to one cane late last week. And as of last night we have this:

It’s not pretty, to be sure. You can see the apprehension in her face, but note that I didn’t make her walk by herself. It was her choice, and I just grabbed my phone to shoot a quick video. The great irony of this new development is that just a few hours earlier, at therapy, she was crying and frustrated, and it was decided that henceforth I’ll wait with Nathan in another room.

Only a little over a month remains of our summer, but I’m starting to believe we may get to spend a little time at Inner Beauty Beach, after all. Even more important, though, I’m starting to believe that it’s all going to be worth it.