Joy in Juliana's Routine
July 26, 2006 8:00 AM

The picture I'm posting today was taken at the airport in Rockfort just before we flew home, although you can't tell it was taken at the airport. We didn't get a single picture of us with the tiny 4-passenger plane we flew in. It's of Juliana, Kendra, and their "Poppa", in one of the few moments when he wasn't carrying the "Empress" around in his arms. Juliana expects to be carried if there is a man available. She just goes over, puts her arms up, and they can't say no to her! She's getting so big (35 lbs.) that this privilege can't last much longer. Already her women admirers have decided she needs to walk. Just over 3 years ago Tami was going through this with Kendra. Every morning Kendra would try to get Tami to carry her, and usually she'd do it, in spite of her back pain. Finally I started saying, "The nurse says no, she can't carry you". Probably that's why Kendra didn't like me much back then!

Our trip to Illinois was great, with the exception of Juliana's mysterious illness the night of the benefit. She was feverish that evening and slept through the whole noisy affair. People kept trying to be quiet around her and not wake her up, but she didn't have her hearing aid on and couldn't hear the noise anyway. She started feeling better the next day, and by the time we got home she was back to being herself—just like we had never left. Routine is very important to her, and we were right back to our routine.

There are certain toys she wants us to play with before she gets into bed, even if just for a moment. She has a toy which is a wooden board with 6 doors that open. Inside each door is a figure of an animal, which is magnetized to the background. She wants to open all the doors and put each animal behind a different door, then she's done with that. Next she wants us to look at the "Cookie Monster" book. There are certain characters in that book that we sign to each other when we see them on a page, such as, we sign bird for each time we see "Big Bird" and hat each time someone in the story has a hat on.

One of the cutest things she does is wave "bye" to something when she's done with it. When we finish playing with a toy she waves "bye" to it, and when we finish a book she waves "bye" to it. When she's in bed watching her DVD player and the disk is over, she'll look at me and sign "change". Then she wants to take the disk out herself, put in into the case, and wave "bye" to it. The last few nights she's been watching "Toy Story II". Last night when it was over she signed "I love you" to the disk. When she finally lay down and pulled her blanket up (something else she wants to do for herself) she looked over at me and signed "I love you". What a dear little girl.

—Jeanne ("Party")

Report From Illinois
July 08, 2006 7:37 AM

This is just a quick note, esp. to the people who were at the benefit last night. I'm sorry Juliana wasn't feeling well. I wish everyone had been able to see her as she usually is, running around, playing and friendly. If she was feeling better she would have been up on the stage!

I'm sorry people saw her sleeping (with her eyes open—most people probably didn't even realize she was sleeping), and now think that's the way she is all the time. I wasn't 100% either, as I had got up in the middle of my "night" to be there.

Juliana is already feeling better—I wish we could do it over again tonight!

The benefit itself was great. It was planned by friends Tami had when she lived here growing up. It seemed like all of Winnebago attended, plus there were people who came from far away to meet Juliana. Several people from WI. were here, and one family flew in from NY.

A lot of work and effort went into the event. They thought of everything. There were lots of raffles, a silent auction, and a "live" auction with a real auctioneer. I had never been to an auction before. There were lots of things I would have liked to bid on, but would have had a problem fitting anything extra onto the tiny 4-passenger plane we'll be flying home on! There were lots of baked goods for sale, and a great meal with both Chinese and Italian to choose from. I chose both, like most everyone did.

Juliana and I left about 9. Tami, Kendra, Nana, and Poppa stayed a bit longer. There was going to be some entertainment, but I wanted to get Juliana into bed. She had some Tylenol during the night, and a couple respiratory treatments, and has had a good night.

We're scheduled to fly home on Tues. Tami will be busy these last few days here, trying to see as many relatives and old friends as she can. Hopefully Juliana will quickly bounce back from whatever "bug" is trying to get her down. We'll keep you posted.

—Jeanne ("Party")