Halloween 2011

This year Julia was a bumblebee for Halloween. She got to wear her costume to speech and OT and then to ballet as well! Because her schedule on Mondays is busy, we decided to trick-or-treat at home this year. Julia loved walking from house to house to get candy (and tell them thank you) and see all the other children dressed up. Above all else, I think Julia's favorite thing about Halloween this year was to sit on our driveway and hand out candy to the other trick-or-treaters.

 

Before Halloween, Julia's Nan took her to a pumpkin patch to choose a pumpkin. Here are some cute pics from that day:

 

Then, Julia's class had a Halloween party the Thursday and Friday before Halloween. Julia got to wear her costume to school. She was so excited!

What a cute little bumblebee!

The second party day at school, Julia's Nannie got her a cute Halloween outfit to wear.

On Halloween day Julia was able to wear her costume to ballet class. She had so much fun dancing around with her ballet friends in their costumes.

Then came Halloween night...

Ready to go trick-or-treating!

Showing off her glow in the dark bracelets and bumblebee bucket.

Here we go...

First house... so exciting!

Sitting on the driveway ready to pass out some candy.

                                               HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!!

First Day of School- 2011

Julia started another school year. Her teacher this year is Ms. Sharin and Julia is very into and excited about learning her letters and writing them! She is very interested in her ABCs and numbers and has started "writing."

I was able to capture the day before she went off to school... what a big girl!

In her new classroom, ready to learn!

OT Progress- Summer Pics

With all of Julia's OT, I like to occasionally document her progress. Over the summer I had taken several pictures of different activities Julia had done. What better place to show off her skills than on the blog! Given how far she has come, I love to see her accomplish such great things!!

Julia colored this picture for her Nan at the end of June. I love how she colored everything!



We have been working a lot on fine-motor skills and cutting. This picture was taken beginning of July. 

Beginning of August- Julia started drawing faces and bodies!!

Same day- She worked on this for some time. I was so proud of her!!

Beginning of August- Working on her pencil grip



Budding artist, working on getting in the lines.

Our Beach Trip 2011

Another year, another family trip to the beach! We had a wonderful trip and enjoyed spending time with Nan, Pop, Aunt Erin, Uncle Bob, Nolan, and Tatum.

Julia was a little timid of the water this year until the end of the week, but we spent a lot of time at the beach and the pool.

Hello beach!!

Sitting up on daddy's shoulders was a safe way to walk by the ocean

Julia's pallet bed - no more pack n' play!

Watching a movie with Nolan

Testing out her new water vest... Julia liked floating by herself in the water.

Practicing some swimming with Daddy

Cousin pic!!

CHEESE!!

Finally playing in the ocean with daddy

About to go looking for shells at the beach after dinner

 

See you next year!

Swim Lessons- June 2010

After going back and forth many times, we finally decided to do Julia's first swim lessons with the City of Austin. Julia was so excited and finally ready! We were lucky enough to be able to coordinate swim lessons with Julia's cousin, Nolan, who is a year older. They had fun together.

On our way to swim lessons...

Hey mom! I'm at the pool!!

 Over the two weeks that Julia did swim lessons, she learned to blow bubbles in the water, float on her tummy (assisted), and float on her back (assisted), jumping off the side into the water, and even worked on kicking in the water and doggie paddling. What a great extension of her OT too! Julia LOVED being in the water! On the first day, she wanted to go into the deep end with the instructor. She had no fear of the water. Unfortunately they were short on actual instructors and Julia's class had lifeguards helping each day that didn't seem to know how to properly handle a child in the water, especially one with sensory issues who needed to feel secure when they were flipping her over from her front to back, in the water.

Julia showing her teacher how she can blow bubbles in the water.

Floating on her tummy

Blowing bubbles- she loved to do this while she waited for her turn in the water.

Flipping over on her back

Hanging with cousin Nolan before swim lessons

So cute!

Floating on her tummy

CHEESE!

Bright sun! Stretching out her body and RELAXING.

Posing with her completion certificate after the two weeks!

Lastly, here are two cute clips we got during swim lessons...