Tiger Dash!

Last week Lyla had a great week. She had fun at school and showed her teachers that she can be quite an active little girl.They had two snowball fights in the motor room and Lyla couldn't stop talking about it. She seems to have learned lower case letters at Faye's and this weekend only struggled with 4 of the 26. I was quite impressed -- and happy to know that Faye is filling in the gaps that school is not covering (they only teach the upper case in the 3&4 year old class). Thanks!!

In addition to a good week at school, Lyla was also VERY excited about her new AFOs. She got them on Wednesday and has told me every day since how awesome they are. She chose to get a rainbow pattern this time instead of the pink camo, but still included the tiger on the back. The reason? She is very into My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and her favorite pony is Rainbow Dash. The rainbow colors in her new orthotics are "rainbow dash colors" and so she dubbed them her "tiger dash boots". I'm thrilled that she's so happy with them. It makes getting her into them every day a little easier and also gives her something to be proud of.

Wednesday also brought us another very exciting piece of information -- Lyla's wish confirmation! A while back we applied to our local wish agency Wishes and More to see if Lyla would qualify for a wish. After the long process of applying through the hospital, waiting to meet her wish wizards, and a home visit to meet Lyla, we got a letter last week saying her wish to she dolphins, sharks, and whales via a trip to Florida has been approved! The details haven't been finalized yet, but sometime in the future we'll be taking a week long vacation to FL that includes Disney, Universal, and Sea World in addition to staying at Give Kids the World Village, a resort just for wish kids that has awesome stuff like 24/7 ice cream, Christmas every week, mini golf, horseback riding, pools and parades. I think she's going to love it!  We're so grateful that she has been given this opportunity. Watching the videos of GKTW makes me tear up every time. It really is ALL about the kids, and she totally deserves every minute of it!

New AFOs means new shoes, so we spent a good part of Saturday at the BVC looking for new shoes to go with her Tiger Dash boots. After trying on several pairs, we ended up back at Tradehome to buy the first pair Lyla liked. Seems crazy that she's wearing size 11 when her feet are really closer to a 9, but if they fit, they fit! She's very excited about her shoes as well. Nothing cooler than neon shoes these days!

Yesterday we headed to Lifetime Fitness to celebrate Lyla's friend Brady's birthday party. They are buddies at school and she had a great time playing in the gym, having lunch and then swimming! Brady's mom called after sending the invites to make sure I knew she had asked to make sure there were no races or competitive events during the party. She wanted to make sure Lyla could participate and have a good time. It was a great thought and I think Lyla showed everyone that she won't let her disability keep her down. She was playing basketball, tag, and parachute with the best of them and had a great time on the scooters -- mostly because I was the one lying on the scooter and she was riding me like a horse. As usual, I was the most active parent (the others mostly stood on the sidelines and watched their kids, but because Lyla needs help, I'm right in there with her). I was a little sore last night, but it was worth it to see Lyla have so much fun running around being a kid.

This week we've got an ENT visit with Dr. Malone to get Lyla's trach scar checked out. Dr. Bendel wanted us to see Dr. Malone to get her thoughts on why Lyla might have had trouble breathing during her last MRI. It's possible she has scar tissue or a granuloma on her trachea that is somehow interfering with her breating, so they told us we had to get it checked before the clinic on March 6. I'm pretty sure Dr. Malone will have to do a bronchoscopy to figure that out (how much can she really know from looking on the outside?), but I guess we'll see.

Tax season is in its early stages now and Lyla is loving every minute she gets to spend with Masud. He brings her little gifts and they often eat beef or chicken and rice together. It's fun to see them do their own thing together and have their little routines. She tells me all the time, "Mom, you're the best Mom in the world. And we have the best Daddy in the world, don't we? We don't want any other daddies except Daddy." No wonder she's still got him wrapped around her little finger. :)