Mother, May I?

This title comes from a game that my family used to play.  It was kind of like "Red Light, Green Light" meets "Simon Says".  I thought it was an exceedingly clever title given that this post is about May and Mother's Day is in May.  I'm explaining it too much.  Whatever nuances of comedy might have existed, are now gone.  Oh well!

This month at school, Madeline had many activities:  a spring nature walk, a community walk, a field trip to the John Janzen nature centre and backwards day.  She also continued to enjoy her gymnastics and yoga classes and attended a birthday party for her friend, Rielle.

Just a typical pose from my two favourite girls.

Madeline was brave and held the salamander that visited her classroom.  It reminded me of the one Greg found on a camping trip that became a part of our family for many years.  Many, many crickets were sacrificed in order to make Sally the fattest amphibian in the world.

On her last "Busy Bear" day, Maddie had fun dressing up as a firefighter...and spraying me with water (a.k.a. Saving my life, as she said).

All the windy days in May offered a good opportunity for kite flying.  We're lucky to have such a nice big field across from our house!  Madeline, Ryan and some friends had a great time!

I got a special Mother's Day treat from Madeline at preschool.  I was invited to "Muffins with Mom" day.  The kids had baked muffins and prepared juice to serve to their moms and they even sang some beautiful songs for us.  It was a great time!

After I got spoiled on Mother's day with flowers and gifts at home, we headed out to Wetaskiwin to visit with Mel on Skype and then to enjoy some family time together.

Both Steph and Brandon and Greg and Steph announced recently that they're expecting babies at the end of this year.  It's so exciting!  

Here's mom and her kids...minus Melanie who is in Scotland. We'll have to take a family picture with EVERYONE at Christmas time!

Noah and Claire had a fun time beating each other up a little bit.

Claire's toothy grin :)

When these two end up snuggling on the couch, you know it will only be a matter of time before they conk out.  

A pretty picture of Claire.

A very rare photograph of a napping Madeline.  She must have been absolutely exhausted.

Claire made me a beautiful cherry tree picture at school.  The little blossoms were made with her finger dipped in paint.  I'm so grateful to be a mom to these wonderful kids!

Ryan and his mom on mother's day.

Madeline showing off her skills.

Like father, like daughter.

Jim just had to document Claire wearing a Saskatchewan Rough Riders hat.  

She doesn't look happy about it, does she?!

Madeline always loves the sandbox at Grandma and Grandpa Layton's house.

Enjoying the wonderful weather.

Here is Claire trying out our new piano!  

Claire's also been busy at school.  She celebrated Earth Day with her school and did many fun outdoor activities.  She wore a silly clown hat to school for Hat Day.  Claire had a dentist appointment with Dr. Caldwell and luckily things look good, although she didn't appreciate him trying to take a peek in her mouth.  We had a meeting with Claire's inclusive learning team about things to consider for next year.  It will definitely be an adventure since there are a lot of staffing changes, but we are hoping for a great start and another productive and happy year for Claire!

We attended the Malmo Preschool Bike A Thon and Carnival - the last big event that we will be involved in with that school!  Time sure does fly.

Claire enjoyed the beautiful day.

Luckily Ryan got some time off and we all attended together.

Madeline, preparing for the big race.

She was a bit nervous, having practiced without training wheels just to be ready for this event.

And she did an awesome job!  We were very proud of her.

Janet came to cheer her on!

She did it!

Just so everyone knows, I did not tell her to choose a maple leaf.  My bright, shining example of Canadian patriotism must be rubbing off on her incidentally.  

Claire helped me inside on my shift at the cash table while Madeline and Ryan explored the fire truck and police car.

We had lots of fun playing games...

...lots of fun in the bouncy houses and lots of fun spending the day together.

We've spent an increasing amount of time outdoors.  It was even warm enough to try out our new slip 'n slide!  We've made good use of the deck, having several friends and family over for dinner as well.

We're lucky to have some fun neighbourhood friends who come over to play!

This travel pillow of Claire's has come in VERY handy as she'll sometimes fall asleep at school or wherever/whenever she gets a hankering for a nap.  She's such a sweetie.

After some coaxing, Madeline started a new adventure.  Swimming lessons!  She's enjoyed every minute of it and will be ready to start Red Cross Level one as soon as she's closer to 6 years old.  

It's been a lot of fun watching her gain confidence in the water!

I was busy this month as well.  I organized things for the Teacher's Appreciation Lunch at the school.  Many families brought delicious pot luck items and Mom came to help me set up and watch the girls during the event.  The girls and I attended a fun surprise birthday party for Kathy.  We have spent a lot of fun time at neighbourhood parks.  I also helped conduct interviews for the Assistant Principalship at Claire's school for next year, which was an interesting experience.  Another big event I planned was a multi cultural bazaar fundraiser at Claire's school.  We had two bouncy castles outside while the vendors set up inside the gym, but Ryan, Natalie and I ended up supervising outside the entire night!  Hopefully next year, as I become more aware of how much volunteer power is needed for these events, things won't be so overwhelming.  Ryan's been extremely busy with teaching, working at the Apple store and...applying for a Master's Degree in educational technology.  He will start that in the fall.  He also said goodbye to an old friend...his Honda CBR.  We'll take that money to buy a new computer and hopefully in the near future he'll be able to get a bigger, better bike!

April Always Aims At Awesome (It's late, don't judge my lack of creativity)

In case you're just checking in, I went crazy today, updating the blog for the past month(s)+.  Scroll down if you dare, for there are 5 more new posts below!

In more recent news....

Ryan's always busy and working hard.  Whether it be putting on his parent teacher interview nights, working two jobs, going out with the missionaries, helping Madeline practice her biking, attending conferences, teaching professional development courses, accepting a position on a technology council board or power raking the lawn just before it rains - this guy is the best.

Now that the weather is nicer, our backyard has become the gathering place for many neighbourhood kids.  It's fun, but I'm already running out of freezies and it's only May!

A student teacher in Madeline's class put on a Spring Celebration and had lots of fun activities for the kids to do.  

That same day, she built her own roller coaster and instructed me to take photos while she posed.

Claire is always busy at school.  She tries hard to stay awake all day, but sometimes doesn't quite make it!  She's been working on concentrating, exploring sensory equipment and making choices.  She's got a lot of good friends at school and enjoys attending.  Her favourite time of the week is probably yoga because she giggles through the entire class.

I've been keeping busy with the girls, transcription projects, my various volunteer positions and the ol' household chores scenario.  Also, many trips to the park.  :)

Ryan introduced the girls to Napoleon Dynamite the other day.  They weren't as impressed as he wanted them to be.  Perhaps in a few more years they will learn to appreciate the subtleties of this particular film.

We often have a little visitor in our bed.  She'll usually wait until the wee hours of the morning when we're absolutely fast asleep and we don't discover her until it's too late to really do anything about it.  It reminds me of this:  Funny Baby Sleeping Positions 

This month, we had an interesting experience at the Glenrose, in a Rett Syndrome Clinic.  Apparently Rett Syndrome, a diagnosis that was rejected at the beginning of our journey, is now considered as an explanation for Claire's challenges.  A genetic test originally revealed that the typical gene associated with Rett Syndrome was not affected in Claire's situation, so we moved on to other avenues and found what gene was affected.  

Apparently, they've opened the definition of Rett Syndrome to include a wider range of affected genes, and this placed us back under the radar of this clinic.  So, because we were invited, Claire and I and her aide from school met with several doctors, a physiotherapist (who showed us a really neat bike that we're trying to get for Claire), an occupational therapist, a speech language pathologist and a social worker.

Unfortunately the experience was clouded by the visit from one of the doctors, whose blunt mannerisms were not really conducive to the information that he was delivering.  I asked him for more information about Rett Syndrome and why we were back under the umbrella of this diagnosis and during his long and technical speech he would throw out bits of information like, "Girls with Rett Syndrome don't have a long life expectancy anyway," or "This is a serious illness and girls die from it."  Sitting there, hearing these kinds of things for the first time, trying to maintain composure, especially after sitting in a clinic for upwards of 4 hours and forgetting to eat lunch before I came...it was not a good combination.  Emotions got the better of me and it was difficult to express myself the way I wanted to.

It made me realize that despite the acceptance that I feel for our situation, there are always new discoveries that can be unpleasant.  It doesn't change who Claire is or how we live our day to day life, but it makes the future a little scarier.  I tend to try and focus on one day at a time, to make it as good as I can and realize that we're constantly in an intensive learning situation.  So, as people say, hug your kids a little tighter, enjoy them as much as you can.

On a lighter note, we have a special announcement!  Madeline has become a certified Jedi after attending a Star Wars birthday party.  Be careful around her or she might slap you in the butt with her pink light sabre.

Our children keep growing! Claire is seven!

Our flurry of birthdays comes this time each year.  Claire's birthday coincided with our trip to Banff, so luckily my mom did so much to help us organize an event to celebrate Claire!

They decorated her wheelchair tray with this cool jelly letters.  

She loved it!

She demolished them straight away.

Getting glitter everywhere in the process.

But today was about enjoyment, not caring about glitter distribution!

Even Madeline got in on the action.

Claire's casual lean.

Sometimes I can't believe that I've been a mom for 7 years!  This sweet, gangly, complicated little child...we love her so much.

Everyone was there.  It was the party of the century.  ;)

Claire got some really fun presents.

Aunt Natalie made this fabulous blanket for her out the softest wool you've ever felt.

She got a giant teddy bear from Grandma and Grandpa Patterson.

Noah liked the bear too.  :)

They also gave her some new duvets that have kept her very warm and snug!

One other gift that Grandma and Auntie Natalie gave her was a brand new haircut.  I couldn't believe how grown up she looked!

Grandma Patterson came up with the best idea ever - a playdough cake!

She absolutely loved it, even though it was a bit sticky.

Madeline came to the rescue and extinguished the candle because Claire was occupied with other things.

As mentioned earlier, Claire is a bright spot in our family.  This is not to say that life isn't fraught with disappointment, heartache, confrontation, grief, pain and other horrible things, but we love Claire with all we've got and we'll celebrate every thing about her.

She got to be the special birthday girl at school.  She was over the moon when the class sang to her.

Thanks to Grandma Patterson's foresight and creativity, Claire also shared these with her classmates and they were a hit.

It was a very good day.