Pre-CIT Assessment

Yesterday Summer had her pre assessment for her casting period at One Kids Place. Since it was at the end of her school day, she had a short attention span. However, her OT Ann and PT Andree did a great job of keeping her engaged. Don also attended, and sometimes he is able to get her to focus a little better than me. I took photos and also ran a little interference here and there.

Summer did a great job. Both Ann and Andree were impressed with her progress with the tasks compared to her performance last year. What a difference a year makes. As Summer matures different cognitive factors come into play. It is easier to encourage her use of her right hand. But she has also learned so many coping mechanisms that when choice is a factor, she will sometimes choose not to use her right hand.

The Pre-assessment was made up of both gross and fine motor skills. Summer was getting amazing extension in her right elbow and lots of great grasping by her right hand.

Here is a one-liner that Summer threw at me last weekend:

"Mommy, stop making that noise, you are getting on my nerts!"

Best Laid Plans - 9 days to CIT 2011

Well, you know what they says about best laid plans... Today I received a call from Summer's EA at school. She is one of the most amazing supports Summer has in place. Summer 'shares her' with another little boy and we are so confident knowing she is helping Summer with some of her school and personal care activities.

Well, back to the best layed plan... Summer's EA is going on leave on April 6th for 6 weeks - Yep, 2 days after Summer receives her cast.

LUCKILY, her replacement is familiar with Summer and if we consider her current EA to be "perfect" her replacement will be "just about perfect". We had a lengthy discussion on the transition and how to best to 'break the news' to Summer.

We wish Summer's EA a speedy recovery.

PS - I posted spring break photos on Facebook!

Little Behind

Summer and I returned from a really fun vacation in Edmonton on Friday. Highlights were visiting with Don and Corrine, seeing our old neighbours from Sherwood Park, a night out with friends from UofA and of course, West Edmonton Mall.

On Saturday, Don and I celebrated our 17th anniversary on Saturday with a dinner out at a restaurant in North Bay. Our neighbour, Barb, babysat Summer. After a week of non-stop mommy time, Summer was a little emotional, but sucked it up and put on a brave face.

I have yet to download the camera, but will hopefully get to that this week.

Today I received a call from an event planner for the Sunnybrook Hospital Foundation as they have asked us to be a testimonial patient/family for a fundraising dinner for the Women & Babies program. We accepted the opportunity and will speak at the dinner at the Royal Music Conservatory on April 29th.

Count Downs

We have a couple of exciting things coming up!

Summer will undergo CIT - Constraint Induced Therapy starting on April 4th. We have scheduled a 'case conference' with Summer's OT, PT, EA and us to take place this Thursday. We will brainstorm ideas and strategies to help contribute to her success.

We've told Summer about her cast, so now if you ask her about it, she will tell you which hand will be casted and why. She will also tell you that she hopes it will be purple or orange :-) failing that, pink will do.

This Saturday, Summer and I will be heading to Edmonton for a much needed vacation. We'll be visiting our dear friends Don and Corrine. Summer is looking forward to the rides at Galaxy Land! Don will likely be pretty busy, as his curling team made it to the Nationals, Sr. Men's, which start on March 20th in Nova Scotia. So he might have a few practices while we are visiting! We are so proud of him. Even if his wife, Corrine, snickers when she says 'Seniors'. (they are the youngest Seniors I know!)

We also received word that Summer will be able to borrow the Trike from her school for the summmer! We are really excited as she enjoys it a lot. (see my last post for a picture of the bike!)



We got about a foot of snow over the weekend. It was beautiful when the sun came out on Sunday - but I must say, we are ready for spring!