STOP following me...

I have come to realize that I am a romantic when it comes to parenting. I have these ideas about an outing, or a trip or something fun and get excited and then it never really plays out like I had planned. I am getting better about coping with that but I do find I struggle between being frustrated and entertained by the change of plans.

Grace has been wanting to walk to and from school this week. The morning was going well and I thought I could motivate her to eat all of her breakfast by telling her when she finished she could ride her bike to school. This was well received, the pancakes were gone, she got her backpack, put on her helmet and got on her bike as if she had been doing it for years. She was excited and I grabbed the camera to document this fun trip we had planned or should I saw I had envisioned! As we got to the end of our street she stopped her bike, got off, took of her helmet, started walking and told me not to follow her, in a very sweet but stern voice. I was puzzled - I thought we were riding bikes today. She told me that she was going to walk from here and I should go home and stop following her. She got a few steps in front of me and just kept walking. She would glance back every few minutes to tell me to stop following her and go home. It was if she went from 1 st grade to 9th grade in the time it took to go down our street. I told her I was just trying to keep her safe but she said she could do it by herself and again calmly but sternly said "STOP following me". Not that she is the boss but I do want to boost her confidence and so I decided to keep my distance and foster her independence. I must say I was impressed with her. She found her way just fine and didn't get distracted along the way. I totally looked like a stalker as I followed her all the way into the school. She never knew it- since I kept my distance and hid a few times! I do love that she is confident enough to be independent but as her mommy I sort of miss being needed! I was however needed to walk the abandoned bike back home! I suppose it was good I took the camera - we did have a memorable mother daughter trip it just did go as I had envisioned.

Enjoy the pics...happy on the bike, asking me to go home and stop following her, walking by herself and then finding her abandonded bike on the corner on the way back home! Not the pictures I had envisioned but they are entertaining!

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First Day of First Grade

She is an excited first grader. She had a great first day. She has a new communication device called a Tango that she refers to as her "laptop" and the feature she likes the most is it includes a camera. I think she may be a photographer in the making. She loves to take and look at picture. School is exciting for Grace. She thrives on the structure and she enjoys being part of a group/class. She told me today that her teacher, Ms. Tran is the best teacher she's ever had! I am not sure what they did today but she sure loved it! You may notice her picture at home is taken in Caroline's room -at her request. It seems that Grace has decided that she no longer likes her own room and wants us to move her stuff to Caroline's room. More on that later...

The debut of Grace's Blog...

Drum roll, please! This is Grace's Blog! She is super excited about having her own "website". We hope to use this as a place to communicate our journey with Grace -her unique challenges and her joyful spirit. She is scheduled to have surgery on September 25th to repair a birth defect that severely impairs her speech. This surgery offers the best possibility for her to communicate effectively and independently but it comes with risk. In order to reduce the risk of her airway being compromised with the pharyngeal flap repair she will have a tracheotomy. Not exciting but necessary and thankfully temporary! We look forward to all that God will show us through this experience and trust that He loves her even more than we do!