Lila's cold is gone!

Yay!  Lila's cold is gone, and we have our motivated, happy child back :-)  Here is a video of Lila doing some of her exercises one night last week...

She actually likes the time in the evening when we do her exercises.  She asks to do more, and is so strong!  We usually do 30-45 minutes, with lots of leg lifts, hamstring strengtheners, sit-ups, and "snake" pose (cobra in yoga).  Most of the time she directs the exercises, and tells me what is next :-)

Last night we had some good friends over for dinner, of whom she likes to call Bethany and "Josh-any".  Josh has spina bifida and is in a wheel chair.  So, after dinner Lila went up to Bethany and said, "will you play a game with me, Bethany?"  She of course was up for anything, so asked Lila which game she would like to play.  Lila picks the most difficult one for herself and Josh to play...Hide and seek!   hahaha!  It was quite funny seeing Bethany help Lila hide, and Josh try to roll around and find them!  We had lots of good laughs :-)

Last week we also had Lila's developmental kindergarten IEP review (individual education plan...every special needs kid has one).  It went amazingly well!  We have had good reviews in the past, however she had not necessarily met the bulk of her goals, nor seemed to be moving forward all that fast.  Well, this time around, the teachers and therapists all said that Lila is engaged 100% of the time, and never spaces out at school!  (This was a problem for her before the stem cell treatment, as they would have to redirect her a lot)  Not anymore!!!!  She is answering questions equally as fast, if not faster, then the kids in the class, and singing every song in line with the verses in the song (not a verse behind like before).  Lila has met 90% of the goals from her previous IEP review, and is making great strides.  She also goes into the regular kindergarten class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week, for 30 minutes to an hour each time.  The kids absolutely love her, and fight over who gets to sit next to her and help her with the daily project :-)  Her favorite thing to do in her classroom is pretend like she is the teacher.  When they have free play, she grabs a book and goes to the front of the room, asking the kids to point out specifics in the book, and raise their hands...hahah!

My last Lila story for the day....Matt went into her bedroom yesterday morning, upon her waking, only to find her acting out the classroom setting, once again.  Lila was standing on her bed, leaning against the wall, while pretending to point to the blackboard on her wall.  She was directing the class to start their day like so:

On one final note, today is Nora's 2nd birthday!!!  Wow, I can't believe that it has been 2 years.  For the past two years, on her birthday I reminisce about the day Nora was born.  It was a very snowy day...the first storm of the season.  It snowed at least 6-8 inches here in Reno, which is a lot for this time of year, and was a consistent snow-fall all day long with a peaceful calm about the day.  I gave birth to Nora at home in a "pool", which made for an amazingly comfortable and quiet environment, and one to happily look back on and smile. Her 1st birthday also brought in a huge snow storm, as did today :-)  The calm and quiet of the snow always reminds me of her :-)

Love my girls :-)