Thanks for the super cute blouse, Auntie Vanessa and Uncle Brian!
She's not in her manual wheelchair due to her strength and because the canopy is out for repair.
Gracie started second grade on Monday. Second grade.
It was such a gift that I happened to be on campus (and in her classroom) going over some things with Cathy, the nurse, during calendar time. Gracie remembered the routine, signed, "Gracie, me" and was ready to give ten to each student. When her friend Kaelyn went through the circle giving "ten," Gracie remembered that they did "ones" last year and stuck up each pointer finger at Kaelyn. The whole scene was wonderful, but took my breath away so much that I had to turn around, bite my lip and furiously blink back tears. There were many moments over the summer that we didn't dare imagine this would be possible.
Because she'd turned such a corner Saturday evening and had such a good day Sunday, we thought we'd give school a shot. It is, after all, a huge source of joy for her. We have all other therapies on hold for now and are just focusing on regaining strength and stamina as well as re-establishing a routine. While the "school drama" hasn't been resolved, we are sending her under the terms of her current IEP and with the faith that the issues will be resolved in a timely and fair manner.
She has been exhausted at the end of each day and today was so tired that she fell asleep at 6:30pm. This adjustment will take time - - her body is still very much in recovery mode following the assault of the illnesses, infections and surgery this summer. She is slowly headed in the right direction... and she's in the second grade!
12 comments:
Aww - looks like she found her friends at school and they are loving on her too! Have a great SECOND grade year! :)
Oh, happiness! I have tears in my eyes knowing that Miss Gracie got to enjoy being at school. I have no doubt that buoyed her spirits after such a harrowing summer.
Kristi, I am imagining what it must have felt like to be witnessing Gracie back in the routine of school with her teachers and friends. No wonder it took your breath away...such a joyful, celebratory and beautiful moment. xo
"S"is for Stupendous! Way to go Gracie!
S is also for SUPER! :) I love the photos, and I love that Gracie is getting back into the routine of school, happy and recovering. Emily is going into 2nd grade too. She goes to a Special Day Class and then is mainstreamed through-out the day in a kindergarten classroom. I just love it, and I can't wait for school to start. Like Gracie, she has friends and routines and just loves school!
I pray that Gracie continues to recover and gain strength. She looks adorable in her first day clothes!
Yay for Second Grade! And yay for Gracie being on the mend!
Oh, mama, oh GRACIE! I can't see the screen because my joyful tears are flowing. Gracie so wants to be where she is...the second grade.
Love,
Jackie (I'll post again after showing Danny these great pictures)
[Danny hasn't viewed pics yet. We have to run an errand and I know he will want to go back through the blog archives so I'll show him the pics when we return. I know I'll be posting again. You'll know why I couldn't wait to post this.]
"Danny, guess who started second grade"? "Who"? "Gracie". "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"!!! "Is she better"?(voiced with much apprehension). "Yes and she is getting stronger". "Are her teeth back yet"?
Jackie,
The teeth thing made me laugh out loud. You'll have to tell him... Gracie lost another tooth while in the hospital! LOL! It was actually quite dramatic because it was just gone... then we had to find it! I'll share the details when we finally get a chance to get together!
Such a wonderful start to Gracie's school year! She is such a beautiful little girl and a humongous inspiration to the Clayton family! I hope she has a wonderful year in the second grade!
I am so happy Gracie was able to go to school. By your posts I could tell she so enjoyed it. She looks like she is doing so much better and we hope that September continues to bring good days.
Love,
Mary and Caden (unfortunately sick with a mild case of pneumonia:()
I love how happy she is to be at school, amazing Gracie that is what you are AMAZING!!
Finally catching up on blog posts, and I have to say, I just love this one! It brought tears to my eyes just to read about Gracie's first day back at school and see the pics of her. What an amazing girl you have there! She is such a source of spirit and inspiration. I hope second grade goes well for you, Gracie!
P.S. Kristi, we had a lot of school "drama" the first two weeks, too. I won't go into details here, but it was not fun to deal with, to say the least. It's been resolved now, though not really to our full satisfaction. It's really frustrating always having to fight for simple, common-sense things for your child.
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