The first real autumn weather is in the country. The days are shortening and the dark nights are coming unexpectedly fast. The roof of our addition is not yet fully finished, so we can clearly see that the heavens are occasionally firmly open. These are those typical days where you snuggle together in the couch, grab a blanket and enjoy being together. Ella-Marie is still in Pulderbos, so we always try to make weekends extra cozy!
Amazement during swimming
Before grabbing the blanket, we headed for swimming lessons. Sportoase in Heist-op-den-Berg has been discussed here before. A separate changing room for wheelchair patients and a locker that can hold an entire wheelchair shows that real thought was put into how disabled people could still enjoy sports.
Ella-Marie enjoyed the hour of swimming lessons with Jana all over again! To make things go smoothly, she puts on her bathing suit beforehand, so that she can change quietly before stepping into the pool with crutch in hand. Of course, the floor there is wet and the foot splint is off, so support is absolutely necessary. When the starting signal is given, Papa Pieter helps Ella-Marie into the children's pool and then the training can really begin.
And then suddenly came the surprise! Ella-Marie was escorted out of the water by Jana and together they headed toward the big pool. There she was given a floating block in her hands and lay down on her back. As if it were an everyday occurrence, Ella-Marie began to kick very smoothly with the right leg and the right arm also technically came out of the water very nicely. The result? With guidance from Jana (mainly to make sure Ella-Marie stayed in her lane), 6 (!!!) lengths were completed on the back. It is also for this reason that Ella-Marie may compete in the club championships on October 21. She will swim half a length alone that day, together with the other G swimmers. Only a good six months after major brain surgery this accomplishment... Coordinator Diane will provide a medal or trophy anyway, but it will mainly be the emotional value that will stay with us forever.
Visits and trips
By now the people in Pulderbos know our whole family. Grandma
and grandpa Heist, grandma and grandpa Leefdaal and plus-grandma
Simonne come by on a weekly basis. And every now and then
Ella-Marie gets to receive extra visits, too. Friend at home Maxime
is busier for a while now, but godmother Kristine came happily to
walk and talk. Ella-Marie showed the animals in the petting zoo and
a tour of the playground could not be missed either. Especially
since there are go-karts there, which Ella-Marie is absolutely
crazy about. Most of the pedaling and steering is done by her
fellow passenger, but occasionally we see her legs turning on the
pedals as well.
A surprise visit from Aunt Katrijn, who stopped in Pulderbos with
Uncle Tom and the nieces on the way to Holland, was received with
great enthusiasm by Ella-Marie. Again, she was only too happy to
act as a local guide!
Getting out may also be taken literally. Ella-Marie may (or must, depending on her mood) walk from her room to the physiotherapist, ergo and logo by herself from now on. With her wheelchair, she gets to the classroom on her own. This is mainly for the purpose of learning independence. Ella-Marie has to keep an eye on the time and decide when to leave. There are of course some "security mechanisms" in place, such as a telephone follow-up as soon as Ella-Marie is 5 minutes late for an appointment, but we see it as a nice step forward.
One trip Ella-Marie had long looked forward to was the one with
Aunt Katrijn. Not unlike your writer, she did stay around the
metropolis of Leuven. And to give Ella-Marie a nice day, it was
decided to tour the city with her.
First item on the agenda? A well-known fast food chain! Then
particularly many clothes stores and also a make-up test. An
additional highlight was the visit to a professional nail polisher.
Aunt Katrijn was smart enough to relax the left hand first and then
lay it flat. It remains a tough exercise to get the fingers
slightly or somewhat mobile, but it worked and the result made
Ella-Marie especially proud. A top day!
We also got to visit friends Danny and Marieke. The latter celebrated her birthday and made delicious winter food. Ella-Marie was very happy to be there and it was especially noticeable that, just like at the previous family party, she is leaning more and more towards the "older children". She can express herself better, she makes jokes and ... she appreciates more and more the young male attention. The hormones are not yet running wild, but they are clearly at the barriers! :-)
The girl with the calculator
In our previous blog, we were very positive about Ella-Marie's progress. Her school performance is really improving. We do need to nuance and report that this is mostly about worldly knowledge and language. Mathematics is and remains a big challenge. It is therefore also important to focus on number recognition and teach her, for example, to understand the difference between 2 and 20 euros. Math itself will mainly be done by a calculator or who knows by what technology will be invented in the coming years.
Either way, the operation for the cognitive stuff has been a good thing. Now that we have also started the medication taper (yay! The last medication is also going to be eliminated), we hope that Ella-Marie will be able to increase her abilities a bit more.
Soccer tournament in Pulderbos
Pulderbos is dedicated to rehabilitation 24/7. The organization of side activities regularly gives the children extra stimulation to get going. Thus, Group B, the group to which Ella-Marie proudly belongs, took the initiative to organize a Pulderbos soccer tournament. From the beginning of October, invitations went out to the other communities and on Monday, October 16, the big day finally arrived: soccer!
The whole living group had dressed up and put on Red Devils clothes. Wheelchairs were decorated and cupcakes were even made in the afternoon to thank the players for their efforts. Supervisor Sam has as much affection for soccer as a vegan would admire an all-you-can-eat-meat barbecue menu. But all the greater is the heart that is in the right place to give the kids a top-notch evening. He grabbed Ella-Marie by the hand and together they played as one on the field. With static passes, Ella-Marie tried to kick the ball. Unfortunately, the only time she hit a ball was when rubbing her eyeball when she came to say she was tired. Which is by no means to say she didn't enjoy it! Under the expert guidance of eternal enthusiast and coach Lisse, the matches were expertly directed. It was especially noticeable that soccer-wise everything was possible, as long as there was fun.
The sleep ritual that night was drastically shortened. A chapter reading from the Efteling book "Raveleijn" and a few hugs later, dreamland was the place to be for a while. Would the Red Devils pay a visit?
Finally that blanket
A final trip was planned among the cousins of the Denies family. Corona and bad weather caused it to be postponed, allowing us to plan our Sunday differently. It wasn't French fries, but a nice and cozy Chinese dinner at omi and opi's that got us through the afternoon. And then came THE family moment: pajama night. The chips, cookies, snacks and drinks were laid out. Blankets and even the bed sheet were put on the couch and everyone snuggled together.
Netflix has "interactive" movies. You decide what to do during the movie. Everyone got to take turns choosing the path we were going to take and it was clearly a success for Ella-Marie. The following day she spontaneously looked up some additional movies and we already know what we will watch at a future family night.
The four of us snuggled together in the couch. The occasional head on the chest and a spontaneous hug. What more should a man have in life? :-)