Saturday, September 14, 2013

 What a fun day today!  We started the day off at Panara, and the kids loved it!  Then as we were leaving, Quinn wanted to make the kids laugh, and she has a spot on her dynovox that says toot, but it makes a noise that sounds like passing gas, so she thinks it's so funny to click that and tell us she has to go to the bathroom, and all the kids laugh.  I love how all three of them are finding their sense of humor and loving each others sense of humor.  Our little guy said that was his favorite part of the day today, having Quinn make him laugh.  Granted when we were in the mall, and looking around after her joke, we were minding our own business and Quinn had to toot (pass gas) through her machine and tell them "that was her but", and then I told her that was not nice, and that is not the way we talk in the store, so thankfully she stopped.  I bet that mom and son, who was maybe 5,  who were standing by us, had an interesting talk about us after we left!  Goodness!  Thankfully Quinn got her humor in check and behaved the rest of the day.

Sometimes it is overwhelming taking Quinn and her big ol chair out in public.  Is there going to be room to get her around, are there going to be stairs, are we going to get lots of looks, I feel like we put on a show, and sometimes it would be nice to blend in.  

Other times, I feel God blessed us with our situation and that is what we need to do, get out and educate, help people see that it's ok to be different.  Today was one of those days where we had lots of folks coming over to check things out.  Kids and adults both, and we are fine with talking about things, as Quinn, our family, and her chair are very unique and her dynovox is pretty cool.  The smiles we get and the folks holding doors open is heart warming.  We had a few folks stop and talk to us about Quinn and her chair for awhile.  This happens quite a bit, where they want to say their grandchild has this or that, or a friends child, or something along those lines, and I will always try to advocate and talk, as it's hard to find good support systems at times, and we are fortunate to have some great people in Quinn's dance class, and through her therapies that help us, so when we can talk to someone or share ideas, or listen, I always want to take the time to do that.  All three kids wanted to share all kinds of things with folks today.

This morning was one of those mornings I was grateful to live in Nebraska, although we got lots of looks, smiles, comments on how cute she is, and nice discussions, they were all done with love and we left with warm fuzzies!  It was a lovely morning!

Here are the kids sitting by the fireplace, they can't wait to go back to Panera when it's cold and sit there again with a nice warm fire going.

 Then the girls and boys split up for awhile.
Here are Quinn and Grandma Martha playing dress up, as Aunt Sarah was trying on wedding dresses.  Quinn kept saying put a new one on my head!

As Quinn uses her dynovox for the majority of her talking, we have to program in what her options are, and we have thousands of things on there and thousands more things we need to put on there, but Quinn is doing pretty good finding different ways to make things work for her.

I thought about how I should have programed a few things in to her machine for her to have some options on what to say at the wedding dress shop.  She was resourceful.  We have a dress up page that she went to, and when Aunt Sarah said she did not like a dress, Quinn would pipe up with take it off, when Quinn did like a choice she would say, that's it, or I like it, or can I try it on.  Wow, she really added to the conversation in such a meaningful way, I love it when that happens!

The gals in the store even said they were impressed, as we were looking at flower girl dressed and Quinn kept saying, I want to try that on.  She impressed the girls in the store big time!

In the evening, when we go through bedtime rituals, our little D's favorite part of the day was when Aunt Sarah said I don't like this dress, and Quinn responded, take it off!
Our little D loved being part of the day as well!  She was all smiles!
 They have a fun tradition that when you find your dress, you get to ring the bell, but I can't show the dress, as it's a surprise for a few folks to see.  So check back in June!
Aunt Sarah had to take a moment to get some pictures with the girls!  They loved being part of the day.
Then the rest of the day was spent getting stuff for the wedding and flower girl dresses material, wish me luck, I'm going to attempt to make a couple fancy tool dresses.  Good thing I've got lots of time to figure out what I'm doing.  Then a few moments for some special love between Aunt Sarah and Quinn!  Good luck Aunt Sarah, we are so glad we got to spend the day with you.

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