Big Girl Standing!

Last night, I began working on the video to commemorate Andi's past year, in celebration of her birthday in 20 days!  I found myself cussing at the mediocre software, then after a few clicks I was cheering.  At one point, I was giddy with my creation and said aloud, 'this is fun!'

Today, I sold the crate used to house Maddux on his Delta flight to Atlanta.  It was a craigslist purchase prior to departure, and we don't have any use for it anymore.  It was a bit small for him anyway.  The odd thing about this sale -- the buyer is a guy from Sacramento, who moved to ATL 6 months ago, via Portland, OR.  Uhm, that's exactly my route here too, well, with a few side hops.  I told him we'll be best friends, and we'll have them over for dinner.  His wife/fiancée is a daycare provider/nanny/sitter.  So, he said if we ever need someone to watch Andi... uhm, HELLO!!!  :)  They also have a 10 year old and a 2 year old.  Thought that was a cool meet-up.

I went to Andi's school today at the request of her teacher.  It was "field day" where the whole school participated in mostly outdoor games and activities. Her teacher asked that I come help Andi navigate the outdoor environment.  I'm glad I went because it would've been a lot for them to handle -- 8 kids while helping Andi as much as she requires.  I also got to see Andi grab at her friends, overly love them with some "hugs" which look more like some neck yanking, debilitating wrestling move. One kid was a complete spastic disaster. He not only didn't listen, he was all over the place.  When we left at 11, Andi's teacher thanked me for coming to help.  I thanked them for having me.  She said, "sure, any time!"  I jokingly responded, 'there's not enough booze on the planet that would enable me to do this every day.'  It was rather loud & chaotic.  I see where some of Andi's new habits are coming from, both the good & the bad.  The one thing that came out of my visit is my new found desire and conscious responsibility to complain about the special education classroom.  They have eight pre-K kids, a teacher, a teacher-assistant and an interpreter in a classroom the size of my master bathroom.  I mean, for a bathroom, it's pretty dang big... but, for a classroom containing all those people, it's way too small.  I feel the need to voice my concerns about their well-being in such a small area.  I think I'll wait until tomorrow when I'm a bit fresh, and have the knack for pulling out the really good letter.

The one thing I was delighted to see while I was at school today, was to witness Andi getting off the floor and standing unassisted.  She's great if she can hold onto something, but today, I watched her stand without holding onto anything.  It was AWESOME!  I'm so glad I was able to see that.

Here are some recent photos - for those not following us on Facebook.