Maria Rides an Elephant!
Maria seemed to have fun at the Renaissance Festival. Since it was Easter, the place was less crowded and she didn’t seem to be bothered by all the activity.
I took her on an elephant ride since Cathy was too chicken to take her 
They also had camels and a llama but the elephant was the only one big enough for me to hold her in front of me. The ride was short, just a quick walk around the yard, and it was hard to tell what she thought about it or if she even noticed it.
We took her to some music performances there that she seemed to enjoy. There was one in particular called Tartanic (bagpipes and drums) that she just loved. I clapped her hands in time to the music and she had this huge grin while I was doing it. I was annoyed that out of their 30 minute show they spent 20 minutes (no joke) hawking their merchandise rather than playing music. However their website says this was their farewell performance so I supposed I understand. It’s still disappointing that they didn’t play more, especially because Maria was really into it.
There wasn’t any food that she could eat. I tried giving her some Italian ice (which would upset her feeding therapist since it’s unthickened liquid) and Cathy gave her a couple bites of fish, but mostly she just ate what we brought for her (lobster pâté no less). Someday she can gnaw on her own turkey leg, but not yet.
She also enjoyed rolling around in the grass, something she doesn’t get much of a chance to do in Phoenix. It was very windy at times and the wind always freaks her out but she got used to it after a while.
I’m sure she was exhausted by the time we got home eight hours later since she had only a 15-minute nap the whole day. She may have gotten a bit too much sun even though we slathered on the sunscreen twice.
This week, her regular PT and the school PT are going to meet to discuss Maria’s therapies. Maria has two more Vitalstim treatments Tuesday and Wednesday, then another barium swallow on Thursday. We aren’t expecting good results from that but we are always willing to be pleasantly surprised.
I know we haven’t updated pictures in a LONG time but I have a ton that I need to make one more pass through before posting them later this week.