Getting Healthier ...

During the past year, Catherine's health has really improved.  I recently found these pictures, which just make me smile.  Catherine actually looks healthier in them.  She has gained some weight, is walking independently ... she even seems to be maturing some.

She is a serious child, so her facial expressions are often very serious.

Catherine's eyes are still quite sensitive to bright light, so she frequently wears sunglasses.  We have quite an extensive collection of princess sunglasses.  She also picks out jewelry to wear with her outfits a lot. 

My little girl is growing up!

Catherine's Dance Team

We are so fortunate that Catherine's former elementary school lets her continue to participate in their dance team.  It is a low-key, fun group which meets once a week.  At the end of the year, they performed for the school.  Catherine loves it!

I was so impressed because she knew the routine well ... she was actually a few seconds early on most of the transitions, which meant she wasn't taking cues from the other girls.

The whole team:

Even though it is a Kindergarten-Second Grade team, Catherine is still one of the smallest girls on the team:

Almost a smile:

She loves dance team and has requested that we start one for our family (now that the school's dance team is over for the year).

Dorothy!

A few weeks ago we celebrated Catherine's seventh birthday.  She has been obsessed with the Wizard of Oz for at least six months, so that was the theme she chose for the party.  I made cupcakes and decorated them with icing Yellow Brick Roads and little plastic picks of ruby red slippers.  Here is Catherine looking at her seven cupcakes:

As a complete surprise to Catherine, we invited Dorothy to come to the party:

 Can you tell how thrilled Catherine is?

We had planned a "Yellow Brick Road" game in the playground next to our neighborhood pool.  Catherine and Dorothy led the way:

We picked up a few "extra" kids along the way from the people at the pool.  Toto was a complete hit.  I had no idea Dorothy would bring her dog and I was thoroughly impressed that Toto stayed in the basket for about an hour and a half.  No dog I ever owned was that well behaved.

 Dorothy talking to all the children:

 Heading to the playground:

At the beginning of the game they were in "Kansas" and sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow together.  Not all the kids knew the story, but Catherine and Sabrina know every single detail of that movie.

 Then a "tornado" flew by and everyone spun around, across the bridge:

They landed in Munchkinland.  Catherine pretended she was Glinda the Good Witch and changed Dorothy's boring black slippers to ruby red slippers.  At each "stop" of the Yellow Brick Road Game we had a box of treats for all the kids (and the adults).  Here we had Munchkin donuts.

In the corn field Dorothy handed out potato sticks, which are similar to the Scarecrow's straw.  I couldn't think of anything else more appropriate.

 The kids running along the trail (we had spray painted a yellow line on the grass):

In the Apple Orchard all the kids put on Tin Man hats (basic party hats which we spray painted silver).  They acted like they were rusty and Dorothy squirted pretend oil on them from a purple plastic watering can.  For treats they got Hershey Kisses, which are sort of like miniature Tin Man hats.

 In the Spooky Forest the treat was Animal Crackers (lions and tigers and bears, oh my!):

In the Poppy Field everyone fell asleep.  I could not figure out how to get snow to land on the kids, so Catherine said we could blow bubbles instead to wake them up.

 Then the kids ran to the Emerald City:

But the Wizard told them they could not get the Emerald City prize until they brought him the Wicked Witch's broom.

So they ran to get the broom (I tried to figure out a way that they could melt a witch but could not think of an easy way to do that):

 The Emerald City prize was green bead necklaces:

 Then Dorothy clicked her heels three times and we all ran back to Kansas:

It wasn't until I looked at all the pictures that I realized how often Catherine was holding Dorothy's hand:

Catherine also loved Toto (she asked me why his fur was not black like in the movie - I told her that Toto spent so much time in the sun this summer that his hair was lightened, just like hers becomes blonder by the end of the summer):

After the game, while everyone was swimming, we went back through the game and took some clean pictures of Dorothy and the girls at each stop:

 Munchinkinland:

 The Corn Field:

 The Apple Orchard:

 The Spooky Forest (Catherine helped me raid my scrapbook collection to decorate the signs):

 Another nap in the Poppy Field:

 The Emerald City:

 Dorothy helped sing Happy Birthday to Catherine:

 I love this shot because she looks so happy and healthy:

We had very few actual Wizard of Oz decorations because they are hard to find and I really do not like shopping over the Internet.  But, we did have ruby slippers on the Yellow Brick Road napkins, which Catherine showed Dorothy.

When it was time for Dorothy to leave, Catherine gave her another hug (love that smile of genuine happiness!):

 And Catherine walked Dorothy out of the party:

The party was a few weeks ago and Catherine still talks about it all the time.  She tells everyone we meet that "Dorothy came to my party."  She told me a few days later that it was "a miracle" that Dorothy came to her party.  I explained that a miracle requires God's intervention and Dorothy came because we called her and asked her to come.  Immediately Catherine said "You have her cell phone number!!  Can we call her and invite her to a play date?"

When she sees friends who were actually at the party, she asks what their favorite part of the Yellow Brick Road Game was.  So far every one she has asked has said "the food at all the stops."  We knew we were taking a risk because a lot of the kids may not know the story.  But at least the sweet treats were appreciated! 

It was a great party and very special for Catherine. 

Back Dive

Robby has spent a lot of time teaching Catherine to do a back dive this summer.  She is nowhere close to doing it without him spotting her, but she is getting pretty good at it:

 Love the arch in her back:

It generally scares me to watch this.  But, now that I see it in slow motion (via the camera) I can tell that she really does have a good amount of clearance from the board.

 Splash!

I Don't Want to be an Owl!

Because of Catherine's brain tumor being on her optic nerves, we have always been worried about her losing her vision.  We know several people who have had this brain tumor who have lost their vision, or much of it.  Many of their moms have told me that the kids lost their vision from "the outside in," which means that they lost their peripheral vision first.

We take Catherine to a pediatric opthamologist and a neuro-opthamologist several times per year to have her vision tested.  So far all the doctors have said is that she has lost some peripheral vision.  But, her brain tumor shrunk to almost nothing (there is just a little "remnant) with the chemo and there has been no re-growth since March 2009.  So, we have felt fairly confident that her vision was fine.  Maybe not perfect, but fine.

A few months ago we read a book about owls and learned that they cannot turn their eyes in their sockets, so they have to turn their heads more than other animals.  We practiced how owls have to turn their entire head to look at things to the side.

So last week, while I was getting the girls in the car, Catherine started to cry and said "I don't want to be an owl!"  I had no idea what she was talking about and asked her to explain.

She said she wanted to be able to look to the side without turning her head.  She said that she didn't want to be an owl and have to turn her head all the time.  I asked if she had more trouble seeing things to the side than usual, but she really couldn't answer. I asked her if things were blurry, and she said no.

Of course I have worried about her statement.  I try not to worry, but how can I avoid it?  Her next regularly scheduled brain MRI is set for September 8.  Other than her statement, there have been no other signs of possible vision loss. 

Praying not to worry and claiming her statement was just a silly comment by a young child!

"I'm Honoring My Mother and Father!!"

Recently I borrowed a book from our church library called "Let's Chat About the Bible."  The book contains Bible stories written at a child's level with questions based on each story, as well as drawing connections between the Old Testament stories and New Testament truths.  Robby reads a story from this book almost every night.  We have enjoyed the great discussions encouraged by the book so much that we have actually ordered our own copy of it to own.

About two weeks ago, Robby taught the girls about the Ten Commandments.  The girls really pay attention during the lessons and he takes the time to answer all of their questions and explain any terms they may not understand.

A few days after that lesson, Catherine and I read a book about Noah and the Ark.  As that book opened, the text described that people disobeyed God.  The picture showed some people fighting and others stealing from a neighbor.  Catherine stopped reading to me and studied the picture.  She pointed to the theft and said "that person is not following the Ten Commandments.  He is taking something that does not belong to him."  I was so impressed that she remembered that not stealing was one of the Ten Commandments that I didn't have the heart to tell her that God did not deliver the Ten Commandments to Moses until much later than the Flood.

A few days after that incident, Robby taught them a lesson from Judges.  As he was reading the story he said "the people were worshiping idols."  Catherine immediately gasped and said "Uh-oh!  They shouldn't do that!" 

This morning Catherine woke up fairly sick.  We read for awhile and then she began projectile vomiting.  She was feverish and hot to the touch.  As I held her while she was sick, I asked Sabrina to get me another towel (the first was covered in vomit).  Sabrina promptly did.  Then I asked Sabrina to get me the baby wipes so I could clean Catherine's face and hands.  As Sabrina was walking down the hallway to the bathroom to get the baby wipes, she turned to me and said "I am honoring my mother and father because I am obeying you!" 

I am so glad that we are able to teach them these lessons and that we see evidence that they are learning and applying the lessons. 

Swim Meet #3 of this Season

Catherine competed last night in her 8th swim meet (5 last year, 3 so far this year).  She did great!  After her warm up lap, she struck a pose for the camera:

During her actual race I was so proud of her because she stayed in the center of her lane, not even thinking of hanging onto a rope.  I love to see Catherine's improvement: she has gone from having to grab the wall every 15-20 feet, to swimming towards the wall and thinking about grabbing it, to knowing that she doesn't need to grab the wall and staying in the center of the lane.

She still won't jump off the starting blocks, but maybe by the end of this season she'll get up the nerve.