Today is Laila's 4th birthday! I was pretty bummed that we are not home to celebrate with Jack and the kids but it really turned into an incredible day with lots of love and accomplishments.
Grandma Mary and Grandma B (Great-Grandma Bierma) got in late last night to stay with us and then spend the day today. I got up early and spent some extra time with Laila getting her bathed and ready for the day. She was also very excited to see that the two grandmas were here! I went and bought her a new Mickey (Minnie) shirt and a new hot pink tutu skirt yesterday so she'd have something to open this morning and something special to wear. I'm hoping her actual birthday present gets to our house in time for her to open on Saturday morning with cake and ice cream for she and Jackson's birthdays.
We went down to the kitchen for breakfast and were greeted by a Happy Birthday from AMP and Grandma Jo. They are our friends who are staying here at RMH too and have been riding with us to school every morning. AMP is older than Laila but is always very kind and considerate to play with her here at the house. His grandma brings him here every four months for therapy at CLC and so everyone just calls her "Grandma Jo." We dropped Laila at school and then headed out to do some shopping. We ran and got some ice cream for a treat for her class for snack time and brought it back. She enjoyed it :) In this picture she is being helped by her conductor Lotsy (sp?) who is here from Hungary for this session. He has a puppet named "Grandma Sue" that he uses with the kids and it is hilarious to hear him talking back and forth with her. All the kids crack up!
When we got there with the snack she was getting ready to go to the table and this time they had her walking with the walker so that was a very fun surprise :) I love those little high stepping feet :)
When we got back to school to pick her up for the day it was an exciting sight to see! She walked out with the walker, had a star saying that she was dry all day AGAIN and she had flowers! I thought maybe Jack had sent them to her but then they told us that Grandma Jo bought them and AMP walked them down to her in class. Not only is that the sweetest thing ever but it is also a great accomplishment for AMP! She was very protective of her flowers and wanted to make sure we didn't forget them!
After school it was off for more ice cream with the Grandmas! (Mary and B, not the puppet) ;) Laila ate a little of hers but then was very interested in cleaning the table with her napkin and kept wanting us to make messes for her to clean up. She's a good helper!
I was a little leery that since we didn't have our normal routine of going straight back to the house for potty time that we wouldn't have as successful of a day and then........ she went potty on the big potty at Culver's! I bet anyone else in ear shot thought I was a crazy woman singing this crazy bravo song in this public restroom. It was so awesome! I put her to bed this evening and when I changed her into her PJs she was still wearing the pull-up I put on her this morning. It was our first day ever with a completely dry diaper all day! I'm still in shock. They told me at school that I could send her in big girl undies tomorrow because it's generally their rule that three days in a row warrants a try at big girl undies the next day. I told her I'm not sure I'M quite ready for that since I just bought my first pack of pull-ups! We'll see what the rest of the week holds and how she does being home this weekend. Again, I'm just rejoicing in today!
The Grandmas headed for home and we headed back to RMH. When we got into our room we were greeted by a big balloon bouquet from Tom, Melissa, Zoe & Kate! What a surprise! Laila dove right in as you can see and it was hard to get a picture where you can actually see her!
I had planned to take her to East Hills to go swimming but they had classes going on until 7 and since Laila didn't get a nap today I knew that was way too late. I was glad however because I forgot it was Wednesday and it was dog night. She's getting braver and braver with the dogs. You can catch a glimpse of our friend AMP in this picture :)
We felt very loved and cared for today and while we would choose daddy and the other kids over the great day we had, we are thankful for all the joy that came from this day.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAILA!!!
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