Orientation and Mobility

Maggie has an Orientation and Mobility specialist! Laurie gave Maggie her first cane in November 2011.  It becomes more fun for Maggie every time she uses it. Laurie will come to the school sometimes to work with Maggie. This last week she was there, helping her learn her way around the play ground while Laura was spending time with Ella, which I appreciated very much.

They said that when I feel comfortable I can leave Maggie there and go out for two hours by myself while she’s at school.  After last week I don’t know if I will ever reach that level of comfort.  I’m not a particularly “protective” parent. I don’t care about sharing food or drinks or eating off the ground or dirty hands or the fact that Maggie falls ALL the time. I know she’ll just get right back up again.  I’m a pretty tough Mom, as a general rule, but when the other preschool class came out I wanted to grab my little girl, hold her close and protect her from those big mean seeing children.

I know I’ll get over that eventually, but right now, I just want her to stay little and safe and always happy. It’s funny, because I make her cry all the time, telling her she can’t have something or that it’s all gone or, heaven forbid, I LOST one of her toys. It’s not heart wrenching when I make her cry, I know it will help her become a better person, learning to be more patient with me. HA. That’s not something you think about often, your children needing to learn patience with you.  We always talk about how they try our patience, but really how annoying has it got to be that they’ve asked three times already and you still haven’t gotten off the couch to get them some goldfish? Oh, sorry.  Maybe that’s just me.

I love Maggie.  I know she’ll be okay.  I’m still going to hang around at school for awhile, because she’s never really been in a situation where there wasn’t an adult to come save her from the other children.

On Sunday, I talked with her Nursery leaders about making her spend more time around the other kids. Nursery is the class for children 18 months to 3 years old in our church.  They take the kids and have a structured, scheduled two hours of class; playtime, snack time, music time, and lesson time. It provides an opportunity for the kids to learn and have structure and be social while allowing the parents time to attend Sunday School. It’s a wonderful program, and I love Maggie’s leaders.  It’s easy to just pick her up when she’s crying and keep her away from the kids who take her toys or step of her little fingers, which are always on the floor, or who, GASP! touch her in passing.  She needs to become more accustomed to being touched roughly.  Kids are not very gentle, but I don’t know how to make her be okay with that. Sigh. It’ll all work out in the end.

Maggie and Laurie had a play date at the park on Monday.  They worked with her cane, walked in the sand, played on the swing and slide, and had an all around good time.  Laurie wants Maggie to just get used to her cane, to enjoy walking with it, and to realize that it can be really helpful for her.  Duran came with Laurie as well. He’s a pet ambassador!  Duran used to work as a guide dog, but has retired, and now Laurie gets to keep him and use him as an introduction to guide dogs. He was beautiful!  I don’t know if Maggie will end up with a guide dog, but I think it would be neat. 

Maggie really does love her cane. I love that she loves it.  It’s so adorable to see such a tiny little girl walking around with a cane.

Brandon’s helping her walk around the park.

She’s keeping the tip on the ground while we sing a song about her cane.We also got the opportunity to pet our neighbors boa constrictor! He brought the snake out in the front lawn to sun. I saw him, grabbed Maggie and ran across the street. I could not pass up the opportunity for my girl to pet a snake! She liked it too! She still talks about petting Eric’s snake two days later. “I pet Eric’s snake. It was smooth and scaly. It was round and long. I pet Eric’s snake!”

This girl loves the grass, and being outside. It’s a good thing.We’ll end with banana bread.  I have tried to get her to help me bake a few months back and she had no interest.  Yesterday, however, she helped me make banana bread!  We talked about all the things as we dumped them into the bowl.  She helped me turn on the mixer, and smash the bananas.  Once it was time to put them into the oven she was definitely bored, but it kept her attention all the way til then, so I was thrilled. Then when Brandon got home, not only did he get to eat warm banana bread, he got to hear all about how it’s made from Maggie.  This girl loves her daddy.  She cries when he leaves and squeals with joy when he comes home and LOVES to spend time with him. 

“Read the ABC book with Daddy! Jump on the trampoline with Daddy! Eat some carrots with Daddy!”

“With Mommy?”

“No, with DADDY!”

“Okay…”

Of course he’s just as gaga for her.  He is the best dad in the world.  He is so patient, and loving, and tolerant.  She can be crazy sometimes, but he’ll do anything for her.  And for me. He’s just a great guy all around. I don’t brag enough.  We are really lucky girls.