baseball | Lessons from my daughter

When Emily was little I worried about her future.

To put this in context, you need to remember that in October 1999…

Just days after the picture above was taken… Genetic counselors a at the Montreal Children Hospital told us that due to Emily having Cri Du Chat syndrome, her future meant…

No walking!

No talking!

No understanding us!

No showing emotions!

No eating solid food!

At no point did they say this was a worst case scenario.

There was no doubt in their mind that this was going to be Emily’s life and we could see them feeling sorry for us.

We decided to give Emily the best life possible and that we would adjust to her needs and limitations.

This past weekend, was busy…

We had a roofing company over, putting a new roof on our house…

Meanwhile, Emily was starting her Cheer fall sessions. It was time to talk goals and prepare a lesson plan She loved cheer this past summer so she’s ready for more. Remember this picture?

An hour after cheer was done, Emily was at her baseball’s team end of summer game and party.

Emily and all her team mates got team jackets! How cool is that?

We had 39 players this year, divided into 2 groups.
We concluded Saturday with attending a hockey game.

Sunday morning, Emily was volunteering at her riding club. When coaches are tested to move up in their certifications, they need riders and Emily wants to help.

Emily helped coaches from other clubs on Sunday and they loved her 🙂

We had a busy weekend!

None of these would be possible if it wasn’t for amazing people getting together and wanting to provide opportunities for kids with special needs.

Thank you Cheer Olympia

http://www.olympiacheerleading.com/mobile/en/

Thank you Field of Dreams

http://monctonfishercats.com/fishercats2015/index.php/field-of-dreams

And thank you Cavalier riding club

http://cavalierridingclub.weebly.com

You are amazing and although I was grateful for this busy weekend to be over, I am even more grateful for the opportunities you are giving Emily and many others.

Thank you to your board of directors or owners and thank you to the volunteers who give their time, energy and positivity.

All of you, are part of our family now!

In the coming weeks, I will share more about Emily’s riding club as she starts her fall session this week and I will let you know more about Emily’s baseball team and our fully accessible baseball field project…

No matter what disability one might have, Able Sail believe we can all enjoy sailing.

Lately, many new people have started to follow Lessons from my daughter, I am humbled that so many have decided to read about our journey and at the same time, increase the very small percentage of people who have heard of Cri du chat syndrome.

If you are new to our blog and want to learn more about Emily’s diagnosis, please try those links:

5p- Society

Introduction to Cri du Chat syndrome!

Raising Awareness

Every spring, we look at things to do for Emily during the summer.

It’s not as simple for us as it is for parents of other 17 years old teenager. We can’t let her use one of the car to go to her job or spend time with her friends. We are not planning her going away to college or university…

Since Emily has been 12, she’s been too old for day care and summer programs while being too young mentally for camps and programs for kids 12 years and older.

We found ourselves in a really strange place…

Jonathan worked part-time to stay home for Emily for awhile than moved into an overnight schedule so Emily could be home during the day, while he would try to sleep!

Try being the key word!

Emily has grown older and learned valuable life skills over the summer months but we feel guilty that she’s not socializing and participating in activities… allowing her so much free time has a down side… so much time watching tv, listening to music and playing with her dolls… little stimulation, little learning opportunities.

What are parents supposed to do when their child is too old for day programs but too young for the programs she’s old enough for…?

Quite a conundrum!

This year, we made some changes, Jonathan is now working from home during the afternoon and evening which allowed him to wake-up with us in the morning and spend time with Emily when I went to work.

Emily continued her tutoring over the summer months (we are not forcing her, she loves it), she joined a new cheer team, continued baseball, joined the summer program at GMACL and started to sail!

Yes, we’ve put Emily into sailing!

I had heard about Able Sail in previous years and talked to Emily about it but she wasn’t interested!

This year, she said yes! And she loved it!

Could you imagine a better place to spend some time over the summer months?

Jonathan loves fishing and boats… so this was a perfect activity for them to do as opposed of Emily and I.

Look at my girl! She’s learning about sailing and loving it!

If you are interested to learn more about Able Sail, have a look at their website here : Able Sail

I hope you can find something similar in your part of the world!

With fall around the corner and school starting next week, we say goodbye to sailing, baseball and the summer program at GMACL and we are excited that cheer is continuing and that horseback riding will be starting again for the fall season!

I can’t type fast enough to tell you about all the wonderful things we’ve done this summer.