I'm Going for A Run

This is what I heard as Anastasia was going outside yesterday, and she was very serious. She ran up and down the driveway till she fell and got a bloody lip. About 4months ago she asked me if she'd ever be able to run. I answered her honestly, I didn't know. Her therapist didn't know either, there really is no telling how well her brain will end up connecting her muscles. CP is so complex, and thanks be to God, our bodies are miraculous, and our brain can create new pathways.
Anastasia didn't cry about her bloody lip, she came into the house smiling, "Mom, I fall down, my lip is bleeding, I was running, did you see me"
There were two muscles Anastasia could not control on her own, that she now can, she could not move her foot up and down (ankle movement) and she could not pull her leg up while laying on her belly, like if you were laying on your belly and pulled your foot up to your butt. (sorry only way I know how to explain it)She can now do both of those things, not as easily or as well as you or I, but she can! The next step was to get her to stop using her arms to try to walk and to get her to activate her hips on her own. When we walk we use our hips, she was not, she would curl her arms up, arch her back out, pushing her chest foward. I cannot tell you how many times, I have said "arms down, chest down, walk with your legs not your arms" I doubted myself as a mother all the time. I felt like all I did was nag at her, maybe I should just let her be, she is just a child. And I was tired of hearing myself nag.
Several weeks ago, her therapist and I made the decision to take her out of her braces. The braces had become a toy, she would lean on them, etc... and was falling because of it. And most of all I thought they were creating more bad habits, we didn't need anymore of those. Her gait didn't get any better after that, and it seemed like she was not trying, her chest stuck out farther and when I asked her to correct herself she rarely tried. I did notice that she wasn't dragging her toes hardly at all. She would straighten her leg out after it hit the ground and her foot would hit flat all at one time, making a THWACK sound.
So fast foward to Monday night, we were at the mall, ( I love the mall during Christmas) and whenever we were on hard floor, you would hear us coming, THWACK< THWACK. We kindly asked her to control her feet and set them down gently, THWACK< THWACK. I could tell Gary's nerves were grinding, and so were mine. (it's the truth,sorry) So I stood behind her my hands on her shoulders (I have done this whole thing before, to no avail) "Anastasia, pick up her leg, just a little, now straighten your leg and put it down ON YOUR HEEL first, small steps. I stayed with her for 2 steps then she walked away to Daddy who was ahead of us. As quiet as can be, heels first, arms down, upper body relaxed!! I can't explain how I felt at that moment, our mouths fell open and then we started rejoicing. She was so proud, and she should be.
She is learning to run, her hips working to put her feet down foward, miraculous. So, yes, baby girl you will be able to run.
Her therapist was as surprised and happy as we were.
Anastasia has never been happier. She loves to practice running, she runs all over the house. Imagine never being able to hurry, to rush, so move quickly then all of a sudden you can. She loves it, she feels like she is running fast as lightening. And it's akward and so darn cute.

Just a little Anastasia Cheer

Only the other Russia Moms will get the true humor in this story. But the other day as we were riding in the car, Anastasia, points at the tights on her legs and asks, "Why in Russia they make me wear these everyday?" "Well, they thought you were always cold." She looks at me like I'm crazy-------"Well, I'm NOT always cold."

Yesterday we were at the mall shopping for shoes for her. When I finally found a pair that worked and were the right size and told her we could buy them, she said, "You make my feelings good Mama, thank you!"
P.S. She needed new shoes because she doesn't wear her braces anymore!!!

We took the kids to a local event called "Walk Through Bethleham" She has so many questions about Jesus, and I try to answer her questions, but her lack of vocabulary and sometimes just her lack of wordly experience and what reality is and isn't, I can tell a lot of it is not making sense to her. I explained to her that we would be going to see what it was like when Jesus was here on earth, a long long time ago.
So we pull into the church where the event takes place and her mouth drops open and she looks sooooooo serious and she looks at me and says, "This is where Jesus lives?"
Then as we are walking through, they have different shops set up like a marketplace setting, animals, etc... And she wants to know how the animals have lived there so long, and who takes care of all the shops, etc... I repeatedly tell her that this is just pretend, like a show, like a movie. She is thinking this stuff has been here since Jesus was here. Finally I think she understands, and we get to the end where they have a live Nativity, and she looks at me and says, "Oh, so, the babys they put in there grow up to be Jesuss" Yes, that is Jesus in plural. (how do you spell that)
Poor thing, I guess I'm not a very good teacher, but we are still plugging along.

Our Family Photo Shoot

My dear friend helped us take family pictures this past weekend, man it is hard to get 3 kids to cooperate! Now I need to get my Christmas cards done, ha!

Happy Birthday!!!

NOT
I'm not real sure how she thought she was going to pull this off since I'm in her classroom every morning. But yesterday morning Anastasia's teacher says something to the effect, "is today's Anastasia's Birthday?" I know the look on my face was very puzzled, why in the world would she think today was her birthday?? According to Mrs. G, Little Ms. Thing had started bragging about her birthday around Dec. 1st, telling them that her birthday is Dec. 8th. Obviously very convincingly so. Since Anastasia was added to the class her birthday was on the chart on the wall, and the teacher had not really thought to double check, I mean every 7 year old knows when their birthday is coming up. Immediatley Anastasia's head goes down. "Anastasia, when is your birthday?" I asked her. "After Christmas", she replied. "When after Christmas?" I asked. See I know she knows exactly when her birthday is, she talks about it constantly. "February", "When in February Anastasia?" "February 2nd Mommy"

The classroom sings if it's your birthday and you get a treat bag from the teacher. I know my daughter and she wanted that attention AND that treat bag. I was so disappointed in her for lying, and for lying for such a selfish reason. Some people think this was cute, I did not. Lying is not something we have had a big problem with so I was surprised by this. Then when we got home and I told her she had to tell me why she did it, not because I didn't know, but because I knew it was important for her to say it. She absolutely refused, she said she was not going to say it becuase she didn't want to get in trouble. She knew the more she refused to say it the bigger the trouble would be, she stuck by the fact that she forgot when her birthday was. Finally she did tell me why she did it.
She didn't have a good morning this morning either. Hopefully when I pick her up from school today she will have had a better day.

Disney Pics Cont...

The one of Gary and the kids that's kinda dark is us waiting to get on The Tower Of Terror, I couldn't even believe Cooper was tall enough to ride it! Cooper and Anastasia were both terrorified by it...then they wanted to do it again, this was the entire families favorite ride.
The boys got to do the Jedi Training Camp, at first Cody wimped out (his shyness got the best of him), then he decided to do it, and since Cooper had already gotten through the line, we had to wait another round, so Cooper graciously let someone go ahead of him and waited another 45 minutes, undoubtedly they will remember this cool experience for a long time. The got lightsaber training by whoever that one guy is, all while wearing a star wars cloke, then they each go to battle Darth Vader one by one, on stage, how cool is that!

Disney Pics

Finally some pics from our vacation. We did a character dinner with Cinderella, Prince Charming, the evil stepsisters, and evil stepmother. The dinner was a hit with all the kids, the evil step sisters and mother were a hoot, so the boys enjoyed the dinner as much as Anastasia. Plus she shares the name of one of the evil stepsisters. Then the Cinderella that was at Magic Kingdom the day before that she met and talked to was the same one at the dinner, and she remembered Anastasia, so Anastasia thought that was the best. Definitly added to the experience!! She loves Cindrella the best.

Sorry

I know the title of my last post says, Disney, Thanksgiving, etc... And all I wrote about was Disney. I had good intentions, but when I went to go attach the pictures for Disney, I couldn't find all the pictures I had downloaded, I'm not feeling great, so I gave up. I'm still not feeling great, so it may be a couple days. Sorry!!