Noa's Summer Break

9/6/2022

August was busy! Noa had a great break with lots of interesting developments... so let's get this summer break report rolling!

Navigation & Exploring

The biggest shock of the month came when we discovered that Noa had managed to finish cleaning her room, find her walker (on the far side of the room), find the door, find the stairs, come down the stairs and sit at the dinner table entirely on her own.

We didn't even know it happened until one of us happened to find her sitting at the table waiting for dinner as if it was the natural thing in the world!

Noa clearly knows one of us is watching, you can see how she navigates (and listens).

While we were impressed, and more than a little terrified, to discover that she was looking for the stairs on her own, we know that this is an area of the house that is very familiar to her. But we were really surprised that she'd crawled around the room enough to find her walker - which we thought was beyond her desire to explore on her own.

Noa really seemed to enjoy getting around on her own as much as possible over break (both with her walker and crawling on the floor). She can get from her bed to the floor on her own, and from the couch to the floor as well.

Braille Like A Boss

Noa also really enjoyed brailling over break. She now wants to do 12 lines per session, rather than 10, but she does them very quickly. Once she is done, she takes out the paper and puts it on top of her growing pile of braille compositions.

Horsing Around

Noa has been working very hard at horseback riding. The main focus this month has been on sitting "back and up" (which her back straight and her head up - if you ask her do this at school, she may also put her hands in the position as if holding a pair of reins).

She has also been doing some great stretching on the horse, and core work (riding with her feet out of the stirrups and her hands out at the side or above her head). The work she's been doing has been really impressive!

Play Ball...

While Noa REALLY enjoyed attending the first several innings of a NH Fisher Cats game with some family friends, she really didn't like LEAVING a Fisher Cats game. It was the only mega meltdown of the break, but it was a whopper. We spent a full 45 minutes in the parking lot trying to talk Noa out of her wheelchair and into the car. It was rough and her frustration was very intense. We suspect that she was having a sensory reaction (because she loved the sensory experience of being at the game - the music, the cheering, the announcers - and didn't know how to let go of that).

Noa with her hand over her heart for the National Anthem

Doctor, Doctor!

Noa and Dr. D

Noa finally realized that she LOVES the dentist. He does zuzzy stuff!! For this visit, she allowed "Dr. D" to look in her mouth for 6 sets of 10 and then talked about "Dr. D" for days - she knows she sees him in 6 months.

While she is less excited about seeing her GP in 1 year, she did really great there too... until there it was time for a shot. Still, we put this one in the "win" column.

Noa's bean plant

Noa enjoys an accessible bike event.

In other news...

The bean plant Noa brought home at the end of the school year produced a handful of beans!
Noa has a new monkey at home: "James Sahl" who does big breaths with her at home, just like James does at school.
Noa has some new (less noisy) zuzzies. She wasn't thrilled about having them as her bus zuzzies, but we hope she'll get used to them because the old ones are quickly dying.
Noa wasn't terribly interested in her usual yoga and treadmill activities over break, but she was interested in doing a stationary bike with fun (pop) music playing.
Noa was very interested in spelling all kinds of words over break.
Noa wanted to meet and know the names (and spelling of names) for everyone she met over break including: Eli (grocery bagger at Hannaford) and Gloria (works the register at Target). She also a lot of new friends at Visions Center for Creative Housing, where Daddy works: Anjela, Denise, Sylvia, Salem, Emma, Ashley (who is her special friend there) and even Congresswoman Annie Kuster, who came to visit Visions.