Annika turned 8 and the world of technology

Annika turned 8 on Saturday!!! So hard to believe that my little girl is that old already!!! On her birthday, we had to attend section individual wrestling tournament for her brother, Dan. She was so happy when she woke up that morning when she found out we were going to see wrestling. Not so happy later on when she found out that we were not going to have cake that day. She was a trooper and when her brother took 4th place in his weight class, she walked around saying, "Dan did a good job, we are proud of him right Mom?" Yes, Annika you are right we are proud of him.
On Sunday we did have cake and ice cream with just the immediate family so Annika officially moved her birthday this year. Her birthday was Sunday as far as she is concerned. And for now that is fine. We will have the "big" family/friend party this Sunday. She doesn't know about that yet so it will be a surprise.
Annika is in dance this year and they did ballet for the first half of the year and now they have moved on to tap. The last few weeks Annika has come home from dance class just totally not herself. She loves dance and we know that but she was just crabby and irritable. Last night we were able to find out what her issue is. She says that dance class is "too loud" now with the tap shoes. Believe me I have heard the noise through the door and I know exactly what she is talking about. That being said it just amazes me in the world we are living in. I have a child who is technically deaf but she is complaining because dance class is "too loud". How is that possible!?!?! Only through the world of technology.

Annika gets her wheelchair

Yesterday, Annika received her wheelchair. This has been about a 3 month process and she took to it like a fish in water. Mainly this will be used for her whenever there are long distances involved. But that being said, she loves it and I fully expect to be chasing her down the road this summer in it. She picked out the color red because it matches Lisa's red convertible so you can figure out where her mind is going!! Last night she had to eat supper in her wheelchair. I told her she could for the first night but she is not going to be using it every night. She agreed. Time will only tell. Now I have the fun job of trying to make my house more wheelchair friendly. It should be very interesting around our house the next few weeks.
This morning she got up and found a button we had made of her brother, Dan, from wrestling. She had to wear this on her coat today. He has wrestling team finals tonight and she is proudly showing him off today. Where would she be without those brothers of hers?
Gotta run but hope to get a picture of Annika and her wheelchair to post on the blog soon.

Annika went skiing!!

Annika went to Powder Ridge today to do some adaptive skiing!! She had a blast. At first I think we didn't have her implants totally working under the helmet so she was a little quiet in talking with the instructors but she would scream as she went down the hill. After we took a break to warm up a little bit the helmet got on a little better and boy did she have things to say!!! They went down the bunny hill a couple of times and I could hear her screaming the whole way down!!! She didn't want to leave and wants to go back as soon as she can to do more!!! The picture on the right is her getting all buckled into the adaptive ski. Her DAPE teacher was there so she was excited to "race" him down the hill!!