9-30-11

At school Quinn is learning about stranger danger. They had a police officer talk to them and Quinn got her picture taken in the police car.
Here is a painting Quinn did with Diane at therapy. It's interesting how she tends to really take her time and think about things. I'm not sure if she is thinking where should I put the next color, or come on arms, work already. Either way, she does not give up, and after a bit of wait time, she gets it figured out.
An interesting story for the week. We now have gotten the apartment complex to install a hand held shower handle for me to give Quinn baths easier, and with that and her shower chair, baths are great now. Well, when I don't forget what I'm doing. I forgot to turn the water from the main shower head to the hand held shower and it poured right onto Quinn's face. After I shut off the water, Quinn started crying, and was she mad at me. You would think I would feel bad to see her cry, but instead I love it. She does not cry very often, and this was a very appropriate time to cry, as I blasted her face with water, I'm so glad it was not super hot, so after comforting her, and getting her clean, I was so happy to scoop her up, and talk to her about how nice it is to see her get upset when she totally should. Just goes to show she does have it going on! I know she does, but it's always nice to see it backed up.

Wow, I've got bunches of pictures to share, most thanks to Chrissy, so here is to three posts in one week!

Well another picture that gave me goose bumps. Look at that sun ray going onto Quinn. Crazy, it was not there that I could see, and then when I went to look at the pictures, that perfect ray of sun shining directly onto Quinn. Wow!



Chrissy took Alexis and Quinn on their first public bus ride, as Alexis has really wanted to go, and they loved it! I appreciate Chrissy getting Quinn out to explore the world!




Quinn playing on the computer, notice it's little mermaid, she still loves it.

A few moments caught loving on Quinn, by dad, mom, and grandma.



Casey is hanging out with Chrissy and Quinn in the afternoon, and Casey loves Quinn as much as Quinn loves Casey. As is obvious by the one picture, I think I now know who is teaching Quinn to stick her tongue out. She is teaching her so much more then that, and I truly appreciate her!

Quinn walking at dance class

Here is Quinn at dance class. All the kids now have partners, Quinns helper was Abriel. Most of the girls are in college to become Physical Therapists. I love seeing them willing to help out and learn while they are doing it! Along with a big thanks to Suzanne her therapist. Quinn started walking and this is only a small taste of the walking she did! I love it!

Quinn told Chrissy and me that she did not want her walker at dance class, and tonight with no walker, there were no tears, just lots of loving walking, dancing, and moving!

What a week! Ever have one of those weeks where you have to much! That was my last week! With parent teacher conferences, new lessons, a couple extra meetings, a couple extra classes, getting ready to teach a new class, and a few other things thrown in there, I feel like I hardly got to spend any time with Quinn.

Quinn got new braces "magic shoes" on Monday, and I actually like the shoes they gave us to go over the top. Normally they are to tight, or two heavy. These are pretty loud, but Quinn is loving them and her braces. After a busy day at school and getting her braces, Chrissy took Quinn to dance class, where I finally go to meet up with them. We had her walker along, and she was so cute in her dance outfit! We got in to start dancing, and after a few minutes, she started crying again! What in the world? Why is she getting so upset? She has walker time at home and does fine. She already knows a few of the girls, this is something that I really wanted to get her involved with, as she needs the movement and loves music, so I really thought this would be great for her. Well thankfully Suzanne, her regular therapist helps with the class, and said that she would get her out of her walker and hold her to see how she would do. I would have done that, but don't want to be the overbearing mom that just joins all the kids out on the floor. So I was so thankful to Suzanne. Well, that is all Quinn wanted was to be free of the walker to move as she wanted, with Suzanne's help. I saw Quinn moving her feet, smiling ear to ear, clapping, and loving being right there with the girls without her walker. Suzanne was giving her support on her trunk, and Quinn tushy was resting on Suzanne's legs, but Quinn was moving and grooving to the music and moving her feet all on her own. She had to take breaks and sit down in Suzanne's lap and clap and move her arms when she got tired, but I think we figured out the issue and got to see Quinn shine. It was wonderful! The one time I don't have my camera along, and she was doing so good. Even Suzanne said she saw Quinn moving more then she had ever seen.

Past that, Grandma and Grandpa Nelson watched Quinn a few evening and spoiled her rotten! She went potty at school for the first time. As they told her that she was not going to get anymore stickers for just sitting on the potty, she actually had to go there. So I heard that Quinn was upset and had to concentrate, but she went! Yeah for Quinn.

It has been a busy week! So rather then writing about the story, I think picture tell a good story, so get ready because there are a lot of them.

We started with dance class. I don’t have permission from all the parents, so you mainly just see Quinn, her teachers, and Justice. This class went much better then last class, but we still have a way to go. Quinn likes to act like she can’t do anything until folks know what she can do.





Work has been happening on the house. I now understand that pans, are like the frames that the concrete gets poured into and once it’s dry, the pans get taken off. This first picture gives me goose bumps. Quinn and Chrissy went out and took some pictures and this picture did not have the heart on the trailer in the background. It just showed up on the picture thanks to the sun. I’m taking that as God’s little message that building this house has his blessing.




I believe every house has the potential to be a home. Whether you live in a castle, a mansion, new or old built house, an apartment, a mobile home, or anything in between. Home is not about square footage, granite countertops, crown molding, flawless decor, or custom window treatments. It's not so much about the physical structure, rather it has everything to do with the hearts and attitude of those living within the space. There is a false promise that if you buy into "things" it will be better, it will be happier. The options are: You can have all those "things" and be happy or you can have all those "things" and be miserable. Quite frankly it is not about the "things" that make the life, that being said, I love my old house, but Quinn could not be successful. I love Quinn’s new house not because it’s new, but because it being built with love, and Quinn will be successful in it! (I took part of this post from a friend, and wanted to be sure to give her credit, thanks)

Folks at school are working hard to help Quinn with her potty training. So they are working at getting a potty at school ready for her, as well as a few more fun pictures from school. We love our teachers and therapists and nurse! Thanks Nadeen for sharing the pictures.




Finally Quinn has graduated to having a few more parts on her walker. So she does not look like a little girl any more! She is getting to be our big girl. I can’t begin to say how thankful I am for Chrissy. She got Quinn’s walker into shape, and Quinn looks so much better in it now. Granted in these pictures she is tired!

She is still totally into sticker charts, and when she is feeling good, she will work her tail off to get different stickers. She would have to sit to stand 4 times to get one sticker, and every word that she said loud and clear she would get a sticker. At the end Stacie told Quinn if she talks while she is standing, she could get more stickers, so as Quinn was standing, she said “I want down” and got 4 stickers to end the session! Wow!

Here we are sitting in the Stadium, and I still at times am overcome with Quinn's beauty, inside and out! I love her so much!
Here she is, ready to go celebrate with Cornhusker Fans, as we go listen to the marching band!

Well, Quinn is smarter then I think sometimes! She is now a sticker chart girl big time.

Over the last few days, we have figured out that she will work much harder if a sticker is involved.

The funny part is that I just talked to my staff at school about how external rewards are not always the best for kids. I did mention that sometimes for younger kids and special circumstances it would be ok, and in Quinn’s case she is little and it’s working, so it is just fine with me.

Well, Quinn has her sticker chart for when she goes potty, and she is still doing great with that! She is a rock star on the potty and I’m so thankful! We are still doing diapers, because sometimes if we are not paying attention or she has a big sneeze, the diapers come in handy. But the stickers have gotten us to where we are, so I’m grateful for that as well!

So at therapy on Tuesday, Quinn did not want to do anything until Suzanne talked about letting her get something out of the prize box. Then she worked her tail off. Next up was Thursday, and Diane was prepared, and had three goals for Quinn, and after each goal, she got to pick out a sticker and put it on her chart. After getting her chart full, she got to put a big sticker on her big chart, and after she gets that full of 6 stickers, she gets a prize box prize.
Her goals for that hour were to roll up/down wedge 3 times, Push 5 objects off her tray with each hand, and pick up and put down 3 bugs by matching them to another bug that is the same. She did it, and was so excited to pick a sticker and add it to each of her goals when she got them done!

This Saturday was fun! Did you know that you can watch the marching band as they practice on the day of a game. It's wonderful and it's free! Quinn has always loved music, John has always loved Nebraska football, and I love the word free, so when Chrissy and I were talking about it, I thought that would be great! The weather was beautiful, we found a handicap parking place right away, and the excitement around a football game is always fun. So thanks to Chrissy knowing the ropes, we had a great afternoon!



Finally the halftime show was all American pride based, as a tribute to 911 and what happened 10 years ago today. I remember where I was, as do most of us. The band was amazing and I got goosebumps several times as they practiced. I was hoping Quinn would be all smiles and love it. Well, we did not get to many smiles, her allergies are getting to her, but she was loving the music, and moving and totally into it. In fact there were a few times when the band had stopped to talk about changing this or that, and Quinn would say more, or start singing some of what she just heard! So even though I did not get lots of smiles, listening to her singing for a few moments here and there, made the trip wonderful, as well as spending a wonderful afternoon with Quinn, John, and Chrissy! The simple pleasures of life are so wonderful!

Wow, we are back to crazy busy days! Yesterday we left the house at 7:00 in the morning and got back at 9:00 and were in bed asleep at 9:30! This morning Quinn was not happy about getting up and cried most of the way to Chrissy's. Not an I don't feel good cry, as she does have allergies bad right now, but a I'm tired and want to go home cry! I'm glad she does not go to school on Wednesdays and can relax and play with Chrissy all day! Talking about her allergies, the girls at school gave Quinn the nickname of Teapot. A very sweet way of expressing how with her allergies she is a little bubbling drool bug right now. She tries to be in control of it, but the allergies are getting the best of her. I was glad they came up with teapot, because it's true, she is drooling all over the place right now. I heard on the radio the first freeze will be Sep 25, and I know Quinn is ready for some relief from those allergies!

At therapy today, Quinn did not want to wake up from her nap, until the girls said Quinn would get a sticker if she worked and completed her goal. Well that got her in gear. She went from sitting to standing for 20 seconds at a time, with a little help. She did this 10 times in a row, and then got to pick out her prize. We are all trying to figure out how we can continue to motivate her, and not have it always be a prize.

Well, we finally got out to get pictures of Quinn at the house, and the flowers around our house were in full bloom so we got to get a few pics with those too! How nice! We did get stuck getting up and down the hill with Quinn's chair a few times, as there is dirt all over the place, but Quinn was a trooper getting bumped up and down the hill, and we did make it after I really used my muscles to get that chair over the bumps!



You can't see much from the top view, but the bottom view of the house is starting to show promise!