Spring Fling
April 22, 2007 5:25 PM

What a busy couple of weeks we have had since I wrote last. Juliana had a class field trip which didn’t go too well for her. We went to the performing arts center for a play. Some of the actors had on huge costumes that she was not too fond of. She was on my lap crying and hiding her face. We ended up leaving after the first five minutes. This is why I always drive separately instead of riding the bus.

Last week I completed the sign language class that I had been taking with her teacher, nurse and another Pre-K teacher. The class was a lot of fun and I would encourage anyone who has an interest to check them out. The one that we did was an Adult Education class at a high school.

For our last class we decided to meet at a restaurant and have a silent dinner. It was quite interesting! From the time we walked in we were not supposed to talk at all. Some of us had a little more of a vocabulary than others, so it was easier for us, but still frustrating at times. We had to order by pointing to the menu. If there was anything special about our order we had to sign to the teacher and she would speak for us.

When Juliana is dragging me all over the house to show me what she wants instead of just signing I think back to how frustrated I was for a very short period of time that night. I went to the book store and bought a new sign dictionary so that when she has to point to something to show me I can look up the sign and teach her for next time.

On Thursday we filmed a short piece with our local news anchor for an update story. Juliana was such a ham. She was “teacher helper” at school this week, so while they were filming she was helping to run the class. If the camera was not pointing at her she would make sure to get the camera man’s attention before she finished what she was doing.

The piece will be airing sometime in May and hopefully they will post it on FirstCoastNews.com also.

The older Juliana gets the more fun she is. Friday was the Spring Fling at their school. She would not have been able to jump in the bounce houses and go on the big slides while all of the big kids were there because they just get too rough. So she and Kendra were allowed to go before it started to have their turn to play. She had so much fun and then when people started arriving she was already tired.

Yesterday she really surprised me though. We went to at birthday party and it was rock climbing at the YMCA. Juliana decided that she wanted to do it. So we put the harness on her and I thought she would change her mind when it came to her turn. Boy was I wrong! She got clipped in and she started climbing the wall. She went pretty high up and then she wouldn’t let anyone help her down. She pushed everyone away and just let go. She was hanging in the air by the harness. She thought it was great!

This week will be busier than usual. Swimming is finishing up, T-ball is starting, and soccer is still going on. I always promised myself that I would not over-schedule my kids so that they could not enjoy their activities. I am not pushing Kendra to do anything, just encouraging her to find what she enjoys, which is turning out to be everything! It will only get crazier when Juliana’s activities get added into the schedule next year.

—Tami

Snuggles and Sleepovers
April 07, 2007 7:00 AM

Once again I am sitting here trying to think of Juliana stories to tell. She has not done anything lately that really sticks out in my mind. She was such a trooper on our trip to Miami. Kendra went with us this time and they got to have their very first sleep over together in the same bed. It's the little things that are so special to both of them. They snuggled together until they fell asleep and in the morning they were so excited to have each other right there to pester.

The morning of surgery Juliana marched right into the hospital. She climbed up onto the bed in the O.R. prep area, and even let us put a gown on her. She has never been that easy going before. I guess having Kendra by her side really helped put her at ease. Kendra spent the afternoon lying in the bed with Juliana and myself after surgery. We watched Dora and just snuggled each other.

We are already looking toward the end of the school year. Seven more weeks and Pre-K and Kindergarten are over. I just told Kendra and she got a little teary-eyed. The girls both love school and they have absolutely fantastic teachers. We have truly been blessed. We are continuing to add to the list of Juliana's sign vocabulary. She has almost 500 words on her list so far and it is growing weekly. She has grown by leaps and bounds this school year. I credit her teacher for this. She really goes above and beyond to make sure that Juliana is right on track.

I guess my peace and quiet is over. Kendra came downstairs a little bit ago already dressed for her soccer game which is still three hours away. And Juliana is now awake and reading her stack of favorite books.

—Tami