Summer School and swimming are 2 of my favorite things....

Hi everybody!

I have been a busy girl this summer. Swimming, summer school, Corn Festival and picnics and shopping a bit to name just a few of the many things I have been up to. Oh yeah, bouncing and jumping on my trampoline too! That is definitely been a hoot. I have even started standing up on it to bounce, but only when by myself as Tori is far better at this and if she and I are on at the same time I cannot keep up with her. LOL

I have made some really neat craft projects at school for daddy and my family. Been to a petting zoo and lots of playground time. Oh how I love the sand and water table. Woo-hoo! My aide Kathy Lee is with me as always and sees to it that I have lots of fun without getting hurt. I so love Kathy Lee. And I know she loves me too.

Did grandma tell you that my PT has paid off? Not quite the way they had all hoped as it added a bit of worry to the day, but I definitely hit a new milestone. I can open the storm door and walk out of my house all by myself and reopen the door and walk back in. I only have 1 step to climb and I hold on to the door jam to accomplish this little trick. Personally, I thought it was a great trick but I could see daddy, grandma, Halle and Mikayla (they are my caregivers while daddy is working) do NOT appear to like the newest trick. Hmmm. Daddy even changed the storm door lock on me! What is that all about? Learn a trick and get a lock change? Grown ups are hard to figure out sometimes.

Tori, grandma and I took up a wee bit of exercising over the summer. We stretch our arms up to the sky and then bend over and grab our toes. It is too funny seeing grandma doing this but don't let her know I said that. (Hee-hee) They keep telling me how good I am at this and how wonderful that I do not lose my balance at all when I come back up to stand and stretch again. It only took them showing me 2 times before I was doing this stretching exercise with them. Daddy thinks its cute, but let me tell you exercising is hard work! Whew!

I have learned so many things as of late that I can do myself. Putting my dirty clothes down the laundry shoot, tossing paper in the trashcan, picking up toys and on yes, the red time-out chair. That tends to be a regular thing for me. Why is it Angels are not allowed to play with TV buttons? If you don't want us to play with them, why put so many there for me to see???

Tori and I have been playing "my little pony's" a great deal this summer. And grandma even angel-proofed a few for me. So...my pony's have no mane or tails. I guess I wasn't suppose to chew on the hair while playing with them. Heaven knows I like to chew on almost anything so I now have a papi to chew on instead. It is clear to me now that somethings are to be chewed and other things are not to be chewed. Boy it is not easy figuring out what adults are thinking! They are a tough group to follow. LOL

Nik and Savannah got me the neatest little pool for my birthday and sent grandma a picture of me playing in it. I get home from summer school and go swimming every single day. I even have little tan lines for the very first time ever. Who knew I could tan like my big sister? She has always tanned easily during the summer and me I never played much outside before now. And now we find out I can tan too. I use a sunblock though....50 SPF but that is because I am fair skinned as opposed to Tori. She has a darker complexion then I do and tends to tan fast like daddy.

Well lots to do and people to see....I hope this finds everyone healthy and having a great summer. Oh yeah, before I forget. I have a few angel friends that need special prayers right now. Megan, Kara and Lilianna (my angel buddy Triniti's) baby sister has Leighs Disease. They have all been in the hospital fighting illness's or seizure control. Please take a moment to pray for them tonight. I so want them all to get to feeling better so they can enjoy the summer like the rest of us.

Oh yeah, I cannot forget to mention Jordyn my classmate and caregivers daughter. She has been doing really well. She is moving her arms about now and we have such hopes of her continuing to progress. I look forward to the day she and I get to play outside with each other. They say there is always hope and miracles to happen. So I am shooting for the stars when it comes to Jordyn. :-)

If I am a bit behind in posting, just know I am swimming, sunning and having the time of my life....

My 5th Birthday! What a day...and another milestone has finally emerged. I am starting to sign!!!!

Sunday, July 13th was my 5th birthday. My how time flies when your an angel having fun day in and day out.

We had a wee party with my favorite people. Daddy, Tori, Niki, Savannah, Halle, Jordyn, Mikayla, Aunt Nicki and Abigail, Papa and Grandma and of course me! :-) Such lovely gifts and love were shared by all.

I will post the link to my montage/video so you too can share my day, but the best is yet to be told. I am now signing "more" and "bath." Can you believe it? Poor Grandma was beginning to think the Signing Time CD's were not catching my attention so I figured I had better let her know that I don't just dance and boogy to the music but actually do pay some attention to what Rachel, Leah and Alex are doing too! :-) I thought grandma was going to cry last night when I signed "bath" to her. Geesh! I had to sign it three times before she realized I was telling her I wanted to take my tubby!!! I think she was in shock or something like that. The look on her face was priceless.

Oh, and wait till Miss Rita at school finds out my latest little trick. It is NOT making a hit with Daddy and those who take care of me but I thought I was doing something pretty darn grown-up. After all the practice in PT I can now open the front door and walk out on my own down the stoop. Yep! And I can also open the door and walk right back into the house on my own. Can you figure out why Daddy, Grandma and Halle my caregiver don't seem near as thrilled about this milestone as I am? I guess they think I am getting too big for my pants now. Hee-hee!

My birthday presents are really cool. Lots of clothes, a Radial Flyer Horse and a swimming pool just to name a few. And just to let you all know, those pink hightop sneakers grandma got me. She was right! I cannot take them off like I use to. They actually stay on my feet till daddy or someone else helps me take them off. So...no more coming off the school bus barefooted or out of the car with daddy shoes and socks still lying in the car seat. Guess I will have to find another form of amusement when I am in a vehicle. LOL

I have one more week of Summer Classes and my the fun we have had. Field trips and art class have been awesome. I have made some of the neatest projects for daddy. We are working on my socialization with peers and I tend to sit off on my own and play as a rule. It appears I need to play more with others rather than on my own. Grown-ups! Can't live with them....can't live without them. They are always wanting to teach me something new! Geesh!

Well, off for now. Its another lovely day in Ohio and you know angels. We don't want to miss out on anything!!! Especially the sunshine and a chance to play in my new pool. By the way...Grandma wants you to pay attention to the end of my birthday video. Apparently I was a wee bit saddened by my daddy holding Savannah while I was sitting in my swing after the party. No one knew it till grandma downloaded the camera but now they do. My face told it all.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I wanted to send special love and thanks to all my angel families who took a moment out of their busy day to email Birthday Wishes to me. Grandma is putting every single one in my scrapbook so that one day I can look back on this birthday and read each and every one of them! Thank you all..... xoxo


Miss Emma's 5th Birthday..

Catching up...lots to share!

First off Grandma went in search of shoes (high tops) that were girly, but yet ones I would "not" take off constantly. She finally found them and they are way too cute! I will debut them on Monday as this is my first day of Summer School classes. Yes, I am going to Summer School! We are going to focus on my socialization skills so that I will play more with my peers as opposed to on my own. If daddy & grandma read my schedule correctly, I am going to be having a lot of fun this month. :-)

I am saying a few things as of late; da-da, na-na & goo grl. I am also exercising by stretching my hands above my head then bending over to touch my toes! And best of all I don't lose my balance while touching my toes. Grandma taught me this and it is way too much fun. I do it with Tori, grandma and Mikayla and we all laugh and giggle while doing this. Who ever knew exercising could be so much fun? I sure didn't.

This month I took on a few new chores around the house. I can now toss trash in our trash can when asked to, put my dirty clothes down the laundry shoot and I get to help with dishes too. Of course doing dishes is the MOST fun of all. Water and bubbles.....I love them both! I have to admit while learning the trash and laundry shoot chores I have put a few extra items in both places. But then what did anyone expect? All part of the learning game I say. Daddy finds an occasional toy in the basement laundry basket while sorting laundry to wash and just brings it back to Tori and I laughing and shaking his head at me. Why is it he just knows that I dropped it down the shoot? Better yet how does he and Tori know I threw away my cup or a particular toy? Are they both psychic? Hmmmm....

Learning to potty is not the easiest thing right now. I am much more interested in going outside to play. So interested that I can now open the front storm door and walk out all by myself. This is the one trick my daddy and grandparents ARE NOT overly happy about. But my PT therapist would be thrilled to see me open that door and step down that little step all by myself without assistance. Miss Rita would be grinning if she had seen me in action. It appears this is one milestone my family did not appreciate my mastering. New locks proved that to be true! Ugh!

July is my month to celebrate. First July 4th, then comes my 5th birthday on July 13th, then this is the month of my first year anniversary of being diagnosed as an Angel. It was 1 year ago this month that I was diagnosed with clinical AS. I was not confirmed UBE3a until December of 2007. So I celebrate both months! July is also the month of grandma, Uncle Brian and Aunt Nicki birthday's too! What a month for our family. :-)

Well for now I will let you go. I will fill you in on Summer School and all the fun things I learn soon. I hope you like my shoes. Grandma will let you know if I actually keep them on or not. Me, I will let you know if I find it frustrating that I can no longer take my shoes and socks off in the car or on the school bus. LOL

Father's Day with my daddy...

For Father's Day daddy went golfing then took us to a picnic with lots of friends and a swimming pool. Tori was a bit scared but not me! I was as happy as any angel could be floating about in the water. Whoa....how I love the water!

Here is a short montage of our water fun! Enjoy!


Father's Day with my Daddy

My world is full of miracles..one day at a time.

Meeting my first Angel Friends

You know,just when we think life is good enough it seems to just get even better. My grandma (who I now call na-na-na)met some wonderful families of angels like me a couple months ago. Yep! I am not alone in Ohio. There are more angels than we knew about.

Anyway, we were invited to a picnic where I met other angels like "me" for the first time face to face. How cool is that? Well my na-na-na will tell you it was the greatest night of her life. When we met we all knew we were similar and connected instantly. Hugging and oh yes, a few sloppy kisses passed amongst us. It was way too cool to describe. I met Mitch, Caleb & Jordan and we all played in the sandbox together until the rain came. Then off to eat and play inside due to the rain.

What an awesome time was had by all. The grown ups got to talk and my daddy finally saw he is not alone in raising me. He actually has other parents now to turn to and talk to when ever he is challenged by the many changes yet to come for me.

Grandma was pretty busy with being around my new angel friends so she did not do much in the way of capturing lots of pictures. Anyone that knows her knows that IS NOT the norm for her. But meeting other angels took her breath away and she simply was more in tune to enjoying them then snapping shots for later. And its okay. Leslie, Mitch's mom is going to share some she took with us soon. :-)

Make sure you pay attention to me riding the horse imatator! Jordan's mom Jan is the lovely woman assisting me. Do I look like a pro or what? I am not sure which one of us was laughing harder, Jan or me????

I am doing lots of new things. Vocalizing more, expressing my wants more vividly and enjoying the summer break from school. I will be going to summer classes in July. We are focusing on my ability to interact more with other children rather than play alone such as I do. My family is already working on this with me so all should great in summer classes.

I love playing outside and ask often to go out there. But as we all know I have to pick and choose the times that the heat is not too high because of my intolerance to it. I never seem to drink enough fluids on my own to stay hydrated so this creates problems for me. But again. we are working on this too. Na-na-na is teaching me to like water! Never been one of my favorite things to drink but it sure does hydrate my body much faster than juices and milk. And when I appear really over-heated she lets me play with frozen vegetable bags out of daddy's freezer. LOL Hey, she told daddy whatever cools my body temperature down and works she is using and playing with bags of frozen veggies does help a lot.

I will be spending the day with my daddy for Father's Day and we are celebrating it with his some of his friends. A picnic, swimming and lot of love and laughter to be had for all. And guess what? I loved the swimming pool. Go figure!!!!

Grandma wanted everyone to know how well I am doing at taking directions from everyone. I seem to listen far more and actually do things asked of me. Still getting put in time out for pushing, hitting and messing with daddy's TV. But hey, no kid is perfect now and that is okay with me. I am an adventurer and they all know this well. :-) So I now have a red chair just for time-outs. LOL And did you know the whining and shedding a couple of tears does not get you out any sooner? I tried them all and I still had to do my time! Ugh!

I guess what it all boils down to is I am going to have to learn what I can and cannot do or pay the consequences and be placed to sit if I do not. So....trust me I am not a sitter but a go getter.....So I am working hard on behaving and knowing what I am permitted to touch as well as what I am NOT.

Until the next time love to all.

Miss Emma meets Elmo face to face...OH MY! :-)

Hi everybody! Been a busy week for me and my big sister Tori. We are coming to the end of our school year so lots of fun with our field day activities. We both have been sharing our school events with each other nightly over dinner. Too cool....

It has been 3 weeks now since I started going potty at school and I have been successful every single day! How is that for a beginner? Don't misunderstand as I am still having an occasional lazy moment at home. Hey what can I say? When I get busy playing I really do not want to take time out to sit on the potty so sometimes I just don't cooperate by sitting long enough. Then you guessed, I have an accident. Daddy and grandma seem to think this too will pass as I really like being dry more than walking around in a wet or dirty diaper.

Tori and I have been playing a great deal outside. We both love the outdoors and my trampoline and swing set. And we love when daddy takes us for rides in my big red wagon. I sure wish the winters were shorter in Ohio. It is so neat to have sunny days and between you and I am not a big winter baby. Don't get me wrong, I do so love eating snow but it is simply too cold for me to play outside for any length of time. I love Spring and Fall best. They are my seasons. Summer is nice but I don't do so well in the heat as many already know. So I spend a great deal of time in the air conditioning of the house!

Oh yeah the topic of the week with my family.... As everyone knows I am a huge Elmo fan. Well guess what? I like him better on TV!!! Grandma took Tori and I to meet him recently and I was totally shocked to see how big he was! Six feet tall? What is up with that???? My buddy Elmo as I know him is NOT that big! I am still trying to come to terms with the size of Elmo. So while I am working on this little dilemma grandma is including a video to show my not so great first time meeting with the character of my dreams. I sure hope you all enjoy it as Tori and grandma are still talking about the entire encounter. It was not at all what they anticipated and definitely not what I remember my Elmo looking like. :-)

Grandma is coming over tomorrow so who knows what will happen this weekend? You just gotta love the things she gets Tori and me into. It is never a dull moment for us. Well off to take my tubby and get ready for bed. Sweet dreams to all my family and friends.

I hope you enjoy the silly video more than I enjoyed meeting Elmo face to face. What a shocker!




Emma meets Elmo Montage 6/1/08

So much to share....

So much to share with you.......I am not sure where to begin.

I am going potty at school these days! Yep! You are reading it correctly. I have been going potty everyday for 2 whole weeks at school. I still have an occasional accident at home, but for the most part I am doing really good. How is that for a surprise?

I am also drinking from straw cups regularly now and always eat with a fork and spoon and scoop plate. My how I have grown up this year. I have mastered all of my IEP goals this year at school and Miss Cathy is already working with me on my colors which I was going to start next Fall. She thinks I am pretty smart. I think she and grandma have been talking...LOL Both of them seem to think I can do just about anything if they work with me. Funny, but I think they are right on this one. I have learned so much this past 9 months. More than anyone ever imagined I would. I guess it is because they believe in me. You gotta love that don't you think? I know I do!

I have had good health overall, if you skip past the seizures starting in January and the many sniffles I caught on and off this winter. No flu bugs came my way so that is really cool when you think about all those that did catch that yucky flu. My appetite has been awesome and I continue to eat lots of veggies, fruit and yogurt. My favorite drinks are strawberry milk and pear juice. And once in awhile I like apple juice too. I am wearing pulls ups instead of diapers and I have grown about 2 inches and gained a few pounds since last Fall. Did I mention for the most part I sleep all through the night? Yes, I know that is not the norm for an angel but then again my family claims I am all but the norm when it comes to being me! :-) They are a bit on the prejudice side of things but hey, they love me to death. They all say I am contagious! LOL Not sure what that means, but I think it is a good thing.

I have been out playing on my trampoline when the weather has been nice. How I do love to be outside. Swinging and trying to run about. I like this time of year. Its not too hot and its not too cold. Kind of perfect weather for an angel, don't you think?

Did I mention daddy took Tori and I to the hair salon again? Yep! We both got our hair done last weekend. I even got my bangs "feathered" a bit. That was grandma's idea. Not sure what it means but she thought it would be better for me. All I know is everyone thinks my new haircut is cute! So...what the heck? I like cute...LOL

Well guess I have shared all that I can think of for this week. Till next time have a great Memorial Day and enjoy spending time with your loved ones!

Angel hugs and sloppy kisses to all,