Garden of Hope – indeed

Brace yourself for one of those posts wherein a wax poetically about Ella’s developmental achievements. At least, that’s how it seems in my head. How it actually appears on the screen is always a long-shot…

A few nights ago, I was perusing some old blog posts at random. Somewhat shocked on just how large Ella’s cheeks were in retrospect. But there was a bit of sadness for me in those posts. Not for anything in the writing, but once again, it was retrospect sadness. Here I was, excited over the milestones my baby was “about to” achieve. The amazing future that lay before her. The ignorant bliss of a young mother who’d never heard the words Delayed Myelination, watching her baby go limp from anesthesia before an MRI or holding down a baby who was getting vial after vial of blood drawn. 

All cheek.

But, despite the diagnosis, the MRI, the blood draws, therapy, meetings and more – Ella has always made progress. She eventually hit those milestones and we rejoiced. We cheered, smiled, laughed, teared up and enjoyed her achievements!

Last year, on the glowing recommendations of our neighbors, we went to an open house for Garden of Hope Montessori. I’d never imagined I would have my child in a Montessori school. The whole twenty minutes spent on it over my entire elementary education college career hadn’t left me with a very good impression of Montessori. It’s one of those cases where misinformation or lack of information leads to improper beliefs. After that one open house, I was sold. The papers were signed, the check in the mail – I knew this school was as amazing as our neighbors had said. This year, as I’ve experienced the Montessori method through Ella and her eyes. I’ve taken it upon myself to learn more, read more and educate myself. Really, to build upon my twenty minute foundation, which was rock solid…or not. Now, I’ve even considered taking the Montessori training myself.

Through Garden of Hope, we have an amazing three year old daughter. This was proven to us during the parent-child night they hosted this week. We entered the classroom in the evening and saw Ella’s day in a downscaled timeline. She amazed us with her favorite – water work. First, she showed us the sink and float activity. Carefully retrieving the needed pieces off the shelf, then filling a pitcher with water, herself. This required her to go into the bathroom, climb a step stool, turn on the water, fill her pitcher to the right level, turn the water off, step off the stool and bring her pitcher of water to the table. This is not something she could have done successfully a few months ago. That stool may have well have been a mountain a few months ago. Sure, there were some spills on the table. But, Ella knew just what to do! She popped out of her seat (another big milestone) and grabbed a rag to clean her spill, then deposited the rag in the correct bin to be washed. Ella even “read” the float or sink book to us. She just chatted away, showing us how items float or sink, then retrieved them with the net. Next up, she showed us pouring between two small containers. Spills? Yes. Success? Yes! More water was in the containers than on the table.

 

 

Ella started this activity by asking Loran and I, “What sinks? What floats?” Then she showed us!

I’m not a coddler. I am a cuddler, but I promote self sufficiency.  Even Lily brushes her own teeth. So, I wasn’t doing things for Ella for the sake of doing them. I was doing them for her because she didn’t have the necessary skill set to do them. But through her first year at Garden of Hope, the love of her teachers, the time with her therapists, my little daughter has bloomed. The Garden has given me Hope. Hope that Ella will be “normal” sooner rather than later. Ella has been walking less than two years. Now, she can gallop. She runs, jumps (with actual lift), climbs and descends stairs, pours water, sings songs, dances, twirls, hangs from bars, colors, draws, knows most of her letter sounds, knows her uppercase and lower case letters, knows the names of every child in her class, has conversations and tells jokes. Sure, you may think, every three year old can do these things. But they can’t. They can’t all do that. It doesn’t come naturally to every child. So when I see Ella doing these things that seem natural to childhood, I know that she had to work to get there. She had to practice and persevere. And she’s doing just that.

 

 

 

Ella did some pouring work, and when finished, she sprayed off her mat and scrubbed it down so it would be clean for the next friend.

Every single day, I bring Ella to school. She gallops, hops or runs to the building. She smiles throughout her day and spontaneously hugs her teachers. And then when we come home, I listen to her pretend play and you would think the teachers were in the room with her. She’s still talking to them, playing school at home.

Twenty minutes in college turned me off of Montessori. Forty-five minutes in the classroom with Ella this week and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Garden of Hope is our school. We love it, and when I tell my friends to check it out – it comes from a place that’s deeper than my academic wants for my child, it’s comes from my heart.

 

 

A month or so ago, Ella got to start a sound card. It’s kind of a big deal. When she starts to learn a letter sound, they underline it, when she’s proficient, they circle it. It’s hard to see, but she has at least a quarter of the letters circled. Not bad for a three year old. You’ll also note how nice her card is. Two weeks ago, Ella ate her sound card. She may be the first child in GHM history to have to recycle her card because she literally took a bite from and swallowed her card. I made her apologize to her guide. She was so proud, however, to retrieve her card from the folder and show off her skills for us.

We had wanted to make Ella’s special night at school even more special by taking her out to dinner since Lily wasn’t with us. Just the three of us. And where do you go on a fancy night out? Why Burger Time of course! Sadly, we approached Burger Time to find that it was closed, for good. So, quick on our toes, partially because Loran had a flight to catch that night, London-bound we walked a few doors down to LeeAnn Chin. Upon entering, we spotted one of Ella’s beloved classmates and family who had also just been at school. Ella was struck at seeing this particular boy outside of school. Partially because she adores him in the classroom. He’s the little boy that held her hand on the train ride and holds her hand throughout the day. They were both all smiles. As his family was leaving, his dad remarked that we would see them in twelve or so years for prom photos! Ella presented Loran and I each with a cup of trail mix prepared for us and she got a “Garden in a cup” for her treat. Ella ate my trail mix on the way to dinner, so I snuck some of her garden. However, there wasn’t much to sneak. She demolished the little flowerpot of pudding, crushed cookies and gummy worms. Anything not in her, was smeared on her forehead. After Loran left for the airport and Lily was in bed, Ella requested to cuddle with me and watch “Pounds” – I don’t know why, but she loves watching The Biggest Loser with me. I can’t imagine she even understands it that well, but she adores it and gets so excited when the contestants lose weight. So, we ended her special night, curled up together in pjs, watching part of “Pounds” while thunderstorms rolled through. We learned that thunder is just a loud noise that can’t hurt you and try as I might, I can’t pause time and forever enjoy my oldest baby cuddled into my side, growing by leaps and bounds inside and out.

And just to top it off, one of our LeeAnn Chin fortune cookies reads: “Failure is not defeat until you stop trying.”