Kentucky Derby Here We Come!

I think it's safe to say that Ryleigh is now a big fan of horseback riding.

The video is short, and not the best quality. But you can definitely get the gist of how excited she was Thursday night at her lesson.

Horseback Riding

Last week Ryleigh started therapeutic horseback riding. Let's just say it didn't go as expected. She had been crying for mommy all afternoon at school. (Heartbreaking for me to hear). When we got to the stable the fussing and tears continued - for most of the hour session. Once we got home I discovered that she had a mild fever and probably just wasn't feeling well.

Luckily last night was an entirely different story! I should say, she has been having a great week. She is loving the farm theme at school this week. She's been waking up in a good mood. Yesterday morning she even told me, "I'm having a 'yes' day!" AWESOME! So this made me even more excited for a great horseback riding session. She did not disappoint. When we arrived she was excited and ready to go. She put her helmet on and went right to the volunteers to get on her horse, Babe. It was also good that she got to ride the same horse she rode last week - we'd been practicing, "walk on, Babe!" and "Whoa, Babe!" all week.

As she passed me she would say, "Hi mommy! I'm riding a big horsey!" :-) She was chatting up the volunteers the whole time too. On one pass I heard her telling them, "it's not going to rain today." The girl has the gift of gab and already know how to make small talk. Ha ha!

Unfortunately, I forgot to grab my "real" camera and only had my phone. They're not the greatest, but I did manage to get a couple pics.

She did so great. She listened and participated. And she had a great time! I'm so proud of her!

Hi, Remember Me?

Wow, August was a busy month! And I can't believe it's almost halfway through September already.

Here's a little rundown of some recent highlights:

A few weeks ago we got a demo wheelchair to test. Ryleigh is getting big enough to be independent when we're out and about so we were excited to try it out. Aside from independence it is great that she can be up taller to see out the windows, which she loves.

Here she is trying it out for the first time:

This model was a little big and bulky. We've returned it and currently have a lighter, more compact TiLite model that's PURPLE! Unfortunately, it is a little on the small side and we had a couple incidents of tipping over. Luckily, she seems fairly unfazed. Although she does keep reminding us, "Ryleigh fall down in the grass. And Ryleigh cry." We'll work with our mobility specialist Pete, to get the exact specs and have a chair custom built and will fit her better.

We've made several visits to the public library

"Doing work" on the computer

Playing with the library doll/treehouse

Oh yeah, and somebody celebrated her second birthday!!!
We didn't have a party this year. Instead we took the birthday girl out for some fun and ice cream on Sunday and had a birthday cake for the big day on Monday. She also had plenty of presents to open from mommy and daddy and family in Indiana.

Opening legos from Aunt Christy and crew

We decided to brave Chuck E Cheese's for some fun with our little birthday girl.

Playing a game with daddy

Ok, so "fun" may be a stretch. I can't say Ryleigh was all that impressed with all the wonders Chuck E has to offer. This video pretty well sums up her feelings, and really cracks me up. Especially at the end when she says, "get off."

 

She loves her princess castle from Grandpa Hugh

Cheesy smile from the birthday girl!

She blew out her candles like she's been doing it for years...

A couple weeks before her actual birthday, our wonderfully talented friend Christy took some two-year old photos for us. They turned out great, but for now I'm only going to share a couple...

You may remember Christy took Ryleigh's pics last year too. Looking back, it amazes me how much she has changed in a year.

And just a few more pics of some of our adventures over the past month...

Ry and daddy stopped to check out a fire truck on the way home.
She says she wants to be a fireman for Halloween. :-)

We made some salt dough to play with on a day off from school.

We also went out to lunch with some friends that day. Ryleigh pointed up to the wall and said "it's a frog!" It took us adults a few seconds to figure out what she was pointing at. It really does look like a frog! I love that she has such a creative eye to point that out!

"It's a frog!"

"Cheese!"
A little mixed message here... MU shirt and UK headband.

We rode the carousel at the mall.
But don't let that smile fool you. She wasn't the biggest fan at the time.

and ate ice cream at Andy's...at Ryleigh's request of course. 

You may notice a theme in her clothing throughout many of these photos. No, they were not all taken on the same day. She has her favorite "pretty dress" and wore it many, many times during the month of August. She is becoming quite fashion conscious and wants to pick out her own clothes most of the time. Sometimes those choices can be pretty interesting.

I'll just share one last video. Gerti sent this to us earlier this week. I'm certain this is the best walking I have seen her do. So exciting that she just keeps getting stronger and stronger.

We start therapuetic horseback riding tonight. I'm super excited! We've been talking a lot about it. We did the pony ride at the fair and the carousel - both were met with hesitation. I hope she'll be brave and actually enjoy it. Keep your fingers crossed!!

We also had a Labor Day weekend visit from Mimi and Pop. Along with more birthday presents. But all those pictures are on my "real" camera, so that will have to be another post. :-)