One Step, Two Step and...

LOVE this clip of Noa playing with her cousin Elecktra - just yesterday! This really show how much more interactive Noa has become. One of Noa's BFF's (and ours) Sheila, started doing this game with Noa a couple of months ago - and suddenly about a month ago she got the idea that she could do it to us - which she really enjoys. I think this is the first time she'd done it with another kid, and as you can see she really enjoyed it. Elecktra enjoyed it too and they played this game back and forth for a while.

It's hard to explain how wonderful it is for us to see Noa - at 6 - being able to play interactively like this! Just a case in point, yesterday there was a huge street party on our block; very kid/family oriented: bouncy rides, giant slide, face painting, photo booth, games, etc... but absolutely nothing for Noa. She would have loved the bouncy rides or giant slides, but grown-ups weren't allowed and since she couldn't do them alone she couldn't do them at all. You'd think that after a while, one would get used to the fact that your kid can't take part in these things - and on one hand that's true. On the other, Noa is such a fun-loving kid. It never stops being hard to be someplace where your kid can't be a part of the fun. Of course, on the third hand, Noa wasn't aware of missing anything. She loves the sound of fun and probably liked just wheeling through the fair on the way to the playground where she had a great time on the reliable ol' tire swing. And course, having this lovely moment later in the day made it a great day after all!

Jump the Fence!

Here is a great example of how Noa letting go of us and making her own fun! (without pulling Mommy's arms off, which is an extra bonus) She likes to do this at the couch too. While it may seem like a small, cute moment, it's really huge that she is able to entertain herself and not be so dependent on us to bring the fun to her - and it allows her to figure out how to be creative and proactive in terms of how to make stuff fun. It's big.

(note the guest appearance of Noa's Aunt Izzy in the background!!)

Standing Tall

Okay, so another long, dull spell on the Blog. But life in the Land of Noa has been anything but dull! Noa has been just soaring in over the past month. As you can see in this photo, she just plain let go of Jes altogether. She needs to hold on to stuff to balance, but is become more and more comfortable holding letting go of us and hold onto her bike or the back of the couch or whatever.
She has been talking up a storm, got a new big girl wheelchair - with a stander coming next week - she's out grown her walker and now needs a bigger one (she is growing like crazy).
We're also very glad to report that Noa will be able to continue on at Blythedale School next year! Because Blythedale is a rehab hospital school it's really designed for kids to be there for a short time (one or two years) as a part of their rehab -- but for a kid like Noa, what does rehab mean??? When will she be "rehab'ed?" In any case, she is doing so well there - loves her teachers, her therapists, the other kids, even the bus folks so we're thrilled she be there next year!