Back in the Saddle

Back in the Saddle Again!!!
Grace started horseback riding again! She sat very tall and strong.
After only a few reminders, Grace remembered "tap-tap," for telling her horse to "walk-on."
She was real happy and signed, "happy," a few times and also screamed her happy scream a couple times.
I'm so glad she likes it. Horseback riding is so good for Grace. It helps her posture and flexibility, improves motor control, and carries over into Grace's daily life.

Cashmere Apple Days Pie Winners

On a sibling note: Ellen and Martin made apple pies for the

Apple Days Festival at the 

Cashmere Historic Museum and Pioneer Village.

Ellen won 1st place with 

her Great-Great Aunt Lolita's Red Hot Apple Pie 

and Martin won 2nd place with his Apple Crunch Pie.

The winning pies are then sold as a fundraiser for $13 each with a missing piece!

We didn't buy them back so we'll never know how good they are. 

Well, actually pie making is on our list of fun for October. 

Maybe we can make a Red Hot Crunch Apple Pie. Hmmmm!

Congrats!

Swim in the Bath

Tonight was the first time I showed Grace how to swim in the bathtub. Maybe I shouldn't have but oh boy did we have fun. I will definitely need to keep a hand on her at all times in the bathtub now. She was in 7th Heaven! She blew bubbles and dunked her head over and over and over again!!!

After the bath,  I showed Grace some video of her swimming last summer in the public pool. She laughed and laughed and looked real close to the computer screen and tried to push her hand into the video-water. A happy girl, tonight.

Therapeutic Horseback Riding

This is Grace's first day of therapeutic horseback riding. She didn't like the helmet but she did like the horse and the riding. She will ride weekly until the end of October. Then, she will start again next spring, I hope.

Grace started Kindergarten today! Kindergarten! I can't believe it!

The Happy Swimmer!

A second video of Grace end of summer swimming.

End of the summer 2011 Swim

One of Grace's last swims of the summer, 2011. She has become a good little swimmer! In the previous summer (2010), I had to hold Grace very tight in  a bear hug or push her into the water in an umbrella stroller. The longest she could handle the public pool in 2010 was less than a half hour. This year, Grace would stay in the pool, playing the whole time for almost 1&1/4 hours! She puts her own head under water, blows bubbles, and even flaps her arms a little. She also likes floating on her back, now. and her "jumping"- who would have guessed!!!!! What a gal!