Dad turned 40

I forgot to say one of the funniest stories that happened this past week (or at least I think it is funny because it was Dad not Mom). Allen turned 40 on Friday. I don't know if the boys or who has been coaching Annika that turning 40 is old but when she was at her OT appointment on Friday she made her Dad a birthday card. It had a gingerbread man on the front so that was cute but when you opened it said, "Man are you old". She came up with this all on her own-at least at the appointment. What a kid!! So then when Allen came home from work and read the card, Annika proceeded to find little "gift" to bring to him and as she would give him the item she would say "Happy Birthday, old man". She would run away giggling as Dad pretended to look offended. It was way too cute to get upset over!!

Christmas Season

Wow, I can't believe how fast the last few weeks have flown by. Christmas is right around the corner. Annika is having so much fun counting down the days until Santa comes. She will miss school for sure during the break but she is getting a little worn down so the break will be good.

First of all, a little over a week ago we went to Annika's first Holiday program at school. She did such a great job!!! As soon as I find my patch cord for the camcorder I will get the video on the website. The school did great on creating a solution for her also. Because it would have been hard for her to stand up there during all the songs and still do all the actions, they had two benches up next to the risers-one on each side. Annika sat on one of the benches in between two of her friends from school and then 3 kids from the other kindergarten class sat on the other bench. She just sat up there and sang her heart out. On the last song they sang, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", all the kids learn how to sign to the verse. Of course there is always those that do better and those that do worse. That being said I found it ironic that the "deaf" child that was up there was one of the worse ones. She really only learned a couple of the signs. She was trying but it just goes to show us that she loves to talk and we are so glad we made the choice we did. I am not saying that some day she may learn sign language but for now she is very happy with using her words and bossing everyone around.

Unfortunately we have spent part of this Christmas season sick. The "flu" bug was going around the kids' school and they must have brought it home. Annika and I were the ones that it hit the hardest. It took Annika 2 full days to recover so she missed a couple days of school. We knew she was sick because she did not complain about not going to school.

She did receive her new shoes that have a lift built into them and we are seeing great improvements in her walking again. Also the Botox is starting to really kick in up in the hamstrings so she has more movement in there. On Friday we did record a tape of her in therapy as we are trying to get her doctor to approve a different therapy to work with her. I haven't gotten to see it yet but I look forward to this.

Today we will be having our Christmas program at church. She knows all the songs an has been practicing them almost every day so it will be fun to watch her there. Of course that all depends on how the weather cooperates with us. Yesterday we got hit with a storm that caused the boys' wrestling tournament to be cancelled. Allen was out later in the day and said that the snow had stopped and the roads were not bad, including the side roads but you never know what may happen overnight now.

If I don't post again before Christmas. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!