Faith's Monumental Visit to South Dakota

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When I received my niece, Sydnee's graduation announcement in the mail, I thought it might be the perfect opportunity to visit my brother and his family for the first time at their home in Spearfish. I also thought it would be the perfect opportunity to see Mount Rushmore, which I had never seen before!  My nephew in Nebraska was graduating that same weekend, and my sister Dawn and I tried to put together a plan where we could go to both of their graduation receptions. I knew though, that Faith would feel left out and would want to go, too. I also knew it was going to be difficult to find someone to look after Faith over Memorial Day weekend.  Our finalized plan involved Dawn traveling to South Dakota with me and Faith and then her flying to Nebraska by herself. Faith and I would then drive back to Bismarck by ourselves.  3 adventurous travelers  I must admit, as the trip got closer, I started to get a little anxious about how Faith was going to do with so much drivi...
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Summer School

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Daddy got to take Faith to her first day of summer school

Faith was full of questions this morning getting ready for summer school, or Camp Edventure. Many of them she already knew the answer to since we had been talking about it for a while. I think she wanted to be reassured of who her teachers were going to be, who was going to be her aide, when I was coming to get her etc. One of the questions she asked was, "How many days of summer school do I have left?"

She hadn't even begun, and she already wanted to know when it would end! Seriously though, towards the end of the regular school year, she fought in the mornings about going to school. I think she was just getting tired and wanted a much-needed break.

She expends so much energy at school that she is exhausted at the end of the day. A nurse told me recently that kids with CP put out three times more energy than the average child because it takes so much work for some of them just to keep their heads up and try to have some control of their muscles.

I know she has enjoyed her week off from school, but I think once she gets into the routine of going to school for four hours a day, she'll really enjoy that time.

This morning, since Faith starts school at 8 a.m., Rob and I both got to walk her to school. Originally, we had Faith scheduled to take the bus to school, but we figured since there was no snow to worry about anymore, we could just walk her down there and back home. Also, the bus wasn't able to get her until 8:05 and I didn't want her there later than the other kids. I think she's a little disappointed to not take the bus though.

When we got to school, Faith was especially happy when one of her friends came over to her and asked if she could push Faith inside. And when she saw her aide, she yelled out, "Hi Julie!" There was a little bit of confusion with some kids there from other schools not sure where to go. Due to the flood situation, many kids had to attend summer school at a different one than was originally intended for them.

During summer school she'll still be getting speech, occupational therapy, and physical therapy once a week at school along with specialized academics twice a week. She'll also be getting physical therapy and hydrotherapy at the clinic once a week as well.

I'm sure these 27 days of summer school that are left will go by extremely fast!

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