10/04/2014 Update

The biggest news as of late is that Ruby has started kindergarten! She anticipated this new venture with great enthusiasm all summer. She (and Molly) would constantly comment every time we drove past the school, usually saying something excitedly like, "that's where I'm going to go to kindergarten, Mom!?" As a side note, Molly really can't wait to get started in school herself. The morning of the first day was so much fun. Ruby was excited and the rest of us were so excited for her. She shot out of bed that morning, ready for the day and while Mom, Dad, and Molly all walked on the way, Ruby ran! One of the girls in Ruby's class, who we met that morning, was somewhat apprehensive about the whole kindergarten thing. As she dutifully kept her composure, even in spite of her tears welling up, we were so proud of our happy little Ruby, who took her new friend by the hand, rubbed her back, and encouraged her as they walked into their new class that morning. This all epitomized the happy-go-lucky and empathetic Ruby we love so much!

Some of her favorite things to do at school are go to the library, the computer lab, recite the flag salute, and wear green & blue on spirit days. We're learning to read and write. Of course, writing is somewhat challenging, but she's really making good progress and her confidence is beginning to snowball. She can write her name consistently and has even learned to write Molly's name as well. She's learned to write many of the letters in the alphabet and is doing a good job with reading several words: so far we have "the", "I", "see", and "Sam". I was especially proud of the way she sounded out "Sam" the other night!

The girls at their dance recital.

Ruby is also now completely weaned from one of her anti-seizure medications. It has been about 6 weeks so far. This has been somewhat challenging, as there are definitely side effects associated with withdrawing from these types of medications. But, as usual, Ruby's gotten through all of it. So far so good, but we could always use prayers that she remains seizure-free and that we're able to establish a healthy equilibrium - even once all the medications are (hopefully) completely gone. We will be doing another EEG within the next couple of weeks to make sure that no episodes are occurring while she sleeps, which is when many epileptic episodes tend to occur in general. Basically, the hope is that there is still no sign of epileptic tendencies, let alone seizure activity.

"Bath tubs" on the lawn

One of the biggest challenges in Ruby's young life is that her schedule is so full. In addition to kindergarten, she continues to benefit from occupational, physical, and speech therapy. We've also been doing gymnastics, which is a great way to get a little extra PT in. One of the newest, and possibly Ruby's favorite, activities has been her water therapy, which she does every Thursday at a local aquatic center. There she works on balancing, strengthening her right arm/hand, and, of course, continuing to learn to swim. The last couple weeks, she's even been diving through hula-hoops, as shown in the videos below. She is so proud of the things she has learned to do in the pool and is very confident in the water now, though complete swimming still eludes her. She'll get there. It's got to be tough when you don't have great control of one arm! For the second video, just skip to the 1:00 minute point.

To the Lord be the glory.