ChloeWatts.com

Tuesday, June 15, 2010 = School’s Out

What a day! Today Colin became a Sophomore and Chloe moved to Middle-School. Great job, both of them.

Chloe’s day was extra special. First thing in the morning was graduation of the 5th graders. The place was packed. Little did we know but Chloe had a plan. Go figure… She announced she would use her walker at school and she would talk to some of her friends. The walker was used for the talent show but along with her wheelchair. Today it was solo. And the talking was a first!

The ceremony was really well done and just before her class was announced they played Mr. Black’s podcast with the reading of Chloe’s hospital story. Dry eyes were few and far in-between. It drew quite an applause but it was dwarfed by the applause Chloe got when she and Dana walked across the stage to get her diploma. In her typical fashion, however, Chloe looked straight ahead, across the stage, and not at the audience. She had quite the cheering section with six of us there for her.

At the end of the day the parents lined a path and they clapped the kids out of school and marching on to their next platform of education. Chloe took up the rear and no one left before she appeared. She was a hit today for sure, with all the people that asked her to sign their autograph books from the school.

Chloe beamed a happy light and we all were so proud of her for diving into this endeavor that certainly stretched her comfort zone.

We ended the afternoon with speech therapy and Steve and Sierra. Wendy’s was on the menu along with pop rocks and a few other candied choices. When they went to make the fluff/nutter sandwich I excused myself to avoid an allergy attack.

Tonight Dana will try her best to catch up on her sleep. She has been pulling the overnight shift two nights in a row. That means she doesn’t sleep for two day! Someday she may be able to change that, but for now she’s committed. We just don’t want her to be doing it so long that she IS committed.

When I last saw Chloe today she was tasting anything she could get her hands on. The food that is delivered is such help with this. She loves tasting, and it is essential to her regaining her ability to swallow. So far the easiest thing she swallows is whipped cream in a can. She can fill her mouth and actually swallow some of it. She spits the can out though…

School’s done for this year so we are planning on getting out and enjoying the upcoming good weather. Hopefully you are as well. We’ll probably start with Colin’s birthday on the 21st.

Be well,
Ron