A Wonderful Week of Progress

Against my own will I have decided to take a short break from school. Since Brooklyn was born I have continued to go to school full time which has been very trying and also very rewarding. My goal has been to just finish and get done as quickly as possible so I can concentrate on Brooklyn,but now that doesn't seem to be happening as soon as I had hoped. I was going to take summer school full time and then do my student teaching, but I felt a little too stressed and decided that my little girl has a lot going on and may need me a little more now.
I'm not sure if excited is the right word, but Brooklyn is getting surgery on her feet this coming Wednesday which is a great milestone for us. Her feet have become too crooked to fit in her braces so we haven't made any progress for awhile with her standing, and the doctors agree that she is ready to understand the concept of walking. Just the past few days she has done something rather remarkable. She has been trying to pull one of her legs up to stand (like the position when someone proposes on one knee.) Her therapist and I have tried teaching her this for a while and of course Brooklyn does it when she is ready! Her legs lack the feeling and strength to support her and she ends up almost standing on her ankle bones (it is so gross to watch!) and when they start collapsing she looks at me like, what's wrong with these floppy things??? She gets pretty frustrated which is great motivation for her to try harder. I do have to admit when she gets upset at her little body that I imagine must feel like a trap at times my heart breaks and I wish it was me. Okay, I don't wish it was me. I wish it was Jonny. Just Kidding! She has also told us on numerous occassions that she has to go potty. Usually this occurs almost to the minute that she has to be cathed. This is another little miracle that has occured this last week. We also should be getting her her wheelchair soon which I fully plan on calling it her "Bike". This will help her explore so much more and give her more independence. I just might I have to keep an eye on her then!
I guess I share this little story because I am so proud of my little Brooklyn and excited to start this next chapter. Once her feet are fixed I know we will really see what she is capable of. I am sad that she will not be able to swim for most of the summer (which is one of her few pleasures because she just gets to sit and splash for hours!) because of her casts, but we will just have to have one heck of a pool party the end of July!