Inside Recess

So today I got to substitute for Juliana's class.  I love getting to see Juliana in her environment at school and how the other kids interact with her.  It was really cool to see them during Daily 5 station rotations how all the girls fought over who's turn it was to read with Juliana.   Awesome to see her rocking out her word work with her aide.  But the thing I found probably most interesting was during inside recess.  So the kids go to recess directly following lunch.  Most days Juliana misses recess because I'd prefer she get enough time to eat.  Kids typically get 30 minutes for lunch, which by the time they sit down and then add in clean up time they really only get 20 minutes which is definitely not enough time for Juliana.  So I brought the kids back to class for inside recess while Juliana and her aide finished lunch.  Some kids played legos, some played computer games and some played school.  The kids that were playing school started announcing who would be the teacher, who would be the principal and then the shocker.  They were fighting over who would be Juliana and who would be Ms. Bustos (her aide).  Initially I was going to jump to "Defensive Momma Mode" and immediately go over and tell them to stop and how disrespectful that would be.  But luckily I forced myself to wait and see how this was going to play out.  And guess what, it was pretty cool.  The child that "played" Juliana did so in a very respectful way.  They did not portray her in any negative manner.  They spoke to "Juliana" in the same way they did to all the other "students" expect "Ms. Bustos physically helped "Juliana" with each activity.  They managed to represent her completely accurately.  Completely competent, completely aware and just in need of physical assistance.  It was actually quite beautiful.  I was so proud of these kids, their compassion and their understanding of my beautiful daughter.  So glad I let the kids play.

1st Day of School 2013-2014

And here are the traditional 1st day of school pictures for the 2013-2014 School year.  

Olivia was just a little excited to be going to Kindergarten at M.C. Lively.  Especially because she gets to wear a uniform!!!

Although Juj didn't seem excited, she really was glad to be back at school!  These are my girls getting ready for bed and a little giddy

Kinder Field Trip

Juliana is going on her very first school field trip to the Dallas Zoo!

   Here she is on the bus with Daddy

 Here she is with Ms. Bustos and one of her besties Destiny

  And these my friends are some of my favorite photos EVER.  Wanna know why?  Because her good friend Destiny knows Juliana so well that she has learned her PODD communication system.  Destiny is communicating with Juliana via her computer.  Love it and I love these little girls.

 At the monorail

 Thank you Jesus for good friends.

Good Times Again

For those that don't know, this year has been filled with some ups and downs.  We started off the year and all was well UNTIL - she got sick.  Yup it happens.  But usually you get sick and get over it and back normal right?  Well not so for Juliana.  She started off with a stomach bug, then a virus with tons of fever and few weeks later pneumonia.  All of this between December and January.  And for a long time she just wasn't the same.  The fever was gone as well as the pneumonia, but things were still not right.  She was back to sleeping for hours at school and when she was awake she was completely disinterested and unfocused.  Kind of like a zombie.  But, thank God, we are back on the up swing!  Her personality is back, she is staying awake all day and whats even better is that while she is awake she is focused and engaged.  We started giving her fish oil everyday and I don't know if it's the fish oil or just a strange coincidence, but since started we have seen major changes.  We will stay on fish oil forever if this is the result.

Here she is working on poetry notebook with Ms. Bustos.

 Here she is working with her Speech teacher Ms. Johnson

 I think she loves this story

 Here she is working with their 4th grade buddies on the iPad

So glad we are finishing up the year strong!

From Our Guest Blogger Roger

Guest Blogger Roger -Had the pleasure today to check in on my little peanut. Here she is working hard in school with her AMAZING Aide, Ms. Bustos. I cannot even begin to tell you what a wonderful team her teacher Ms. Miller and Ms. Bustos are. They work so hard every day helping Juliana learn. Kristy and I are so thankful to have such an incredible team giving our Juliana a chance; a chance to learn, a chance to make friends, and an opportunity to move beyond Rett Syndrome! These ladies work hard every day, not just for Juju but for all our kids. Thank you Ms. Miller and Ms. Bustos for making a difference!

And a note to her fabulous team.  If you only knew how many people adore Juliana and LOVE hearing this kind of news.  Here are just a few comments from the facebook post that Roger did:

Stefanie Gutierrez, Manny O Gutierrez, Cassandra Clifford and 19 others like this.

Emilie Morneau Rabke These pictures made me smile!!!! How awesome and she looks like she is enjoying every minute of it!!!!

Julie Garcia Was having a downer day. Thanks for the upper! Love that Juju!

Kelly Butler Love this picture SO much!!

Laura Monteleone Thank you ms. Miller and Ms. Bustos!!! Great job Juju!!!

Tina Walton Love to see her attention to detail....she's engaged!!! Lovin' it!

Lindsay Smith Loucks Love it!!! So thankful for great teachers! Look at juju go!

Becky Warren Ashley You can tell how much she enjoys it! That is awesome

 

And this was just an hour after Roger posted it.  Trust me when I tell you there will be many more.  Thank you Lively Team!  From a very grateful family.  It truly means the world to us!