friendship | Lessons from my daughter

I told you before about Emily’s desire to be a cheerleader… if you recall, our first attempt wasn’t successful and our second attempt looked somewhat promising but didn’t quite made my girl feel like a cheerleader.

You can read a little about those attempts in one of my older post: To be a cheerleader

Over the last year, the same club where we tried that second time, moved into their own gym and added classes. This summer they decided to give themselves another chance at creating a team of kids with various abilities.

Emily wasn’t sure she wanted to try… Actually I believe she said she couldn’t be a cheerleader.

That broke my heart as although I know she might not be a top cheerleader ( I certainly wasn’t cheerleader material at her age) I feel she deserves a fair shot at it. I feel quite strongly that she should be allowed to try and have fun.

Entered the new and improved Cheer Olympia

Emily’s cheer team is 2 other girls with special needs and 3 coaches. All 6 girls are around the same age and they all look like they are having a blast.

Emily feels so comfortable and included that she made a painting for the gym.

Her team are the Pillars and this is Colleen with Emily’s painting! It is displayed at the gym, which makes Emily really happy.

Now that my girl is a happy cheerleader and that the gym has confirmed that they are not only continuing but also expanding their program in the fall, Emily asked if “we” could make cheer bows for her team!

We…

I always fall for the we, when in theory, I should know by now that it means, I will do it, whatever “it” is.

We in our house means me!

We looked-up a you tube video and went to get supplies!

The most important step in making cheer bow, is the first one! Pour yourself a glass of wine and gather the supplies!

Our (my) project was a no-sow project as I don’t sow. And as a disclaimer, I am not crafty!

Please enjoy the pictures showing the steps, including the moment, we officially became just me 🙂

Beginners mistake #1. Verify that you buy enough ribbon. One of our roll was shorter…..

Off to the store we went. Again!

Somehow when we returned, Emily was more interested in her book than in helping. That is the official moment when this became my project!

Beginner mistake #2. Don’t use newspaper, use parchemin paper… paint and glue on thin ribbon ends up sticking to newspaper… I guess I should have known that!

Emily was really happy with the end results and can’t wait to give the bows away on Thursday!

What do you think? Did “we” do ok?

UPDATE April 18 2015: Peyton is getting her bike!!!

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Do you remember how it all started?

I mean my blog… 🙂

Emily was excited about going to New York to the Cri du chat syndrome conference and decided to tell the world about her syndrome. She made a presentation at school and I started writing this blog.

My way of sharing how Emily has been inspiring us daily.

When we finally made it to the conference, we met incredible families.

One on them is Peyton’s family.

That little girls stole all of our hearts from the moment we met her. Peyton’s smile and ability to walk and dance was so amazing to us. I couldn’t stop looking at her. Haley was attentive and caring for her younger sister and Jeff and Kelly appeared to be looking at Emily as much as we looked at Peyton. Such an inspiring little girl.

They are truly a beautiful family and today, I want you to meet them and share this post as much as possible so in the near future, Peyton can ride her own bike.

1. Tell me about your family!

My husband Jeff and I have been married for almost 13 years, and we have two beautiful daughters. Haley is eleven and Peyton is five.

Of course we don’t lead the typical life. I feel like our lives are constantly in fast forward, but that’s our “NORMAL”, so that’s ok.

Jeff is a truck driver and I’m a nurse, so between work and family life we have very little spare time!

Haley is in sixth grade and is a wonderful big sister. Peyton adores her!!! I love to see the bond that they share, and I pray that the bond grows as they get older!

2. How is Peyton doing?

Peyton is doing absolutely AMAZING!

We have been through many struggles since the time she was diagnosed back in 2011.

Like many CDC parents, we were told that Peyton would never walk or talk. We wanted to be sure to get her every single service and therapy she needed.

For two years, I fought nonstop with our local school district for an out of district placement because the program they had was not appropriate for Peyton. We hired an advocate and an attorney, and I basically learned every single law myself.

We won, and Peyton was placed in the greatest educational placement. We were left to battle the district year after year.

The district was only offering to pay for a one year placement. We chose to make a really hard decision and sell our home and move into the district where Peyton’s school was located. This way, she was guaranteed all she needed. Needless to say, Peyton has grown leaps and bounds. She started school, only being able to verbalize 10 words. Now, she is up to over 200!

She is in an integrated classroom with typically developing role models. It is just what she needed to learn and grow. She plays and interacts with the other children, can count 1-10, can sing her ABC’s, knows all her colors, and the days of the week.

Oh, and most recently, she can recite the letters to spell her name! The other day, she began SINGING a song that was on the radio! I cried! We are so blessed!

3. I’ve seen your Go Fund me page to get Peyton an adapted bike. I’ve look at those way back for Emily, they are quite expensive. How are your fundraising efforts coming along?

Yes, the bike is just about $4000 with all the modifications that Peyton needs.

The Go Fund Me Page for Peyton’s adaptive bike was created two weeks ago. We have raised $2,400 and have also received a few private donations as well.

Two great friends of mine are also hosting their own fundraisers for Peyton so we can reach our goal to order her the bike. We are so grateful for all those who have supported our special little girl.

Note from Pascale: this is the page, every penny counts, if you can help Peyton get her bike, please do so. If you can’t afford to help, please share this blog or share her go fund me page on your Facebook! Pedals for Peyton

4. I see pictures of Peyton and videos of her and I think she’s just an amazing girl. Can you tell us about her therapies?

Thank you so much! Peyton has been receiving outside therapies for 2 1/2 years and has PT, OT, Speech for an hour once a week.

In school, she receives PT twice a week, Speech three times a week, and OT three times a week. School also works on feeding therapy as well. She also goes to aquatic therapy with her entire class, and that is by far her FAVORITE!!!!!

We also play music all the time for Peyton, and that calms her immensely. She still loves to dance and SING! She really loves putting on a performance for others!

5. Is there anything else you would like to tell me?

I wanted to thank you for taking the time to get to know Peyton and our family. I am so thankful that social media has connected us with so many families.

The conference back in 2013 was amazing. We felt like our lives were NORMAL for once. No judgment, just lots of encouragment, tears, and laughter.

I remember seeing your family and thinking ” Wow! I hope Peyton is just as successful as Emily. That child is so inspiring.”

Now I’m tearing up…. I should have read this part before starting to put it all together. Thank you Kelly for your kind words.

I believe that all of us as parents need to push our children to the limit, no matter how grim those medical professionals portray our children’s diagnosis to be. Aggressive therapies are key along with multimodal communication.

Peyton continues to use sign language, picture symbols, her Ipad and spoken word to communicate. And I believe that her verbal skills have improved significantly.

When all of us received the news that our children had CDC, we felt the same feelings of hurt and sadness.

My worse fear was fear of the unknown. As the years have passed, I try not to dwell on those things. My priority is to push Peyton to the limit, to be sure she receives all she needs to be successful, and most importantly to be HER VOICE until the end of time.