Bittersweetness

Yesterday was a bittersweet day as we were told that Zoé's services at CCS (California Children Services) would end. It's kind of a double edge sword as you definitely want your child to stop having services, because then it means that they are doing great, but it also means the end of extra care and comfort, of dedication on the OT and PT's part.

We are getting tons of extra therapy elsewhere, but we are now turning the page on 2 years of care at CCS, where I went through the motions, learning tons of techniques to help Zoé grow into a strong and busy girl, who never ceases to amaze me.
Transitions are hard to take. PIP was one, and the loss is huge.
Now CCS.

We are now moving on towards new horizons, new prospects, new projects, new ideas, new teachers. I guess it goes with the new year.

Zoé had an amazing PT session this morning. I don't need to attend the therapies anymore, which is quite a relief, but this morning for her real 1st PT session I decided to stick around to see what new techniques I could use with Zoé. I was flabbergasted. Stacy, from STarfish Therapies (The place we used to go to, on the Peninsula) has a really intuitive way of working Zoé's body. She just knows how to make PT fun, and hard work. It must have exhausted Zoé. I would have been flat out on my back had I done what she did for 45 minutes nonstop:
wheelbarrowing her way from one side of the room to fetch little toys, sit-ups, egg-shaped body movements, climbing on little step stools to place toys in their right place, sitting on a ball pretending to fish and twisting her body side to side, front to back.
I came out of there pumped up with new found energy. Motivated to do the same at home.
I always feel good about new invigorating activities I can use to help Zoé get stronger.

When our beloved OT at CCS told us it was over, she mentioned how it is important to focus on what Zoé can do, for therapies tend to focus on your child's limitations. She is at an age where she can start using tools: scissors, blunt knives, tweezers, pinchers, clothes pins to strengthen her fingers. Making it playful Zoé will increase her ability to do things without even noticing that it is hard work.
Don't focus on limitations, but look into what Zoé is capable of doing, what she masters, what she loves to do. She is at an age where she now has a sense of who she is. We need to give her a sense of achievement. For isn't it the way we grow? Nurture versus nature.
I need to work on developing concepts about Zoé herself and how she can then be proud of what she manages to do.
In terms of physicality, stepping on a little step stool is really hard for Zoé. we take things for granted, we run up and down stairs without even thinking about it. For Zoé a flight of stairs is a mountain. Mount Everest!
A step stool involves going up, hence using strength, which she tends to lack, firing off her quadriceps, and going down involves control. The same is for sit ups. All muscles tie in together, it goes up the chain: abdominals, core, shoulders, hands.

So this is it. What the new year has in store for us. The one hard thing to take in was what the OT said, how Zoé's tone might decrease, how perhaps in the future she will find herself weakened by the disease. I won't go there.
It scares me.
I just want to take it one day at a time.
or as Ann Lamott the writer said, "Take it bird by bird", when she was facing the daunting task of writing about a project on birds, it was the night before it was due, and she hadn't done much.
I will "take it muscle by muscle."
I add pictures of Zoé's 3rd birthday which was a real blast. And the cupcakes were so yummmmmy!
And the Queen of the Galette des Rois.
See you soon on the blog.