Learning to Stand Alone

Rachel's physical therapist brought with her this week a pair of wooden platform shoes. They reminded Rachel's sisters of the the wooden Chinese shoes worn by the characters in the book Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. (the book is a favorite of my girls)

The wooden platforms help Rachel keep her balance for standing. They are not good for using with the walker but worked while holding Rachel's hands and walking.

Rachel was able to stand on her own a few times during her therapy session. This was such a great sight to see!

Rachel standing some more and telling Susie which ball she wants. "That one there".

 We have the wooden platform shoes on loan for a week. Yesterday Grandpa Bill and I went to Home Depot and bought the supplies for making Rachel's own pair of platform shoes. We will be sharing the tutorial on how to make your own soon. Grandpa Bill is also busy making Rachel a set of parallel bars and we will share the building instructions on those as well.

One of my friends Julie from work gave Rachel a Little Tykes art desk and chairs. She absolutely loves this desk. It has two lights- one on the top and the other one is located underneath the papers the she has in front of her. The cool thing about the hidden light is that it is a tracing light. We are planning on using the tracing light to start practicing tracing shapes and writing Rachel's name. She loves using crayons. (I have caught both of her sisters squeezing themselves onto the chairs and coloring at her desk- too funny- they are 13 & 11)

Updated version of Rachel's feet. They look so big but in reality they are a baby/toddler size 4.

Little Feet Big Heart

The girls and I have been searching milkweed plants for monarch caterpillars this month.Each year we find some and watch them go through the stages of becoming a butterfly. We haven't found any caterpillars yet this summer. The girls however caught some frogs instead. The first picture is blurry from water on the inside of their creature hut but I love the baby frog sitting on the bigger one. I had the girls return the big frog but we have 5 baby ones. They are currently vegetarians in their lifespan so they are eating lettuce. I am planning on having the girls return the babies as well soon.

Rachel attending a Birth to 3 summer picnic last night. She had a great time. She really enjoyed going up the steps and sliding down the ramp there. She liked seeing other little ones also.