Rah Rah Rah!!!

So on the long list of things that Cate would never do that flew through my mind after receiving the diagnosis when she was born one of the silliest ones was "Cate will never be a cheerleader like I was".  OK so I know just having a girl doesn't mean she would even be a cheerleader but when you are in that post diagnosis place all these things random thoughts fly in and out without warning or logic.  It is not that I was upset she wouldn't be a school cheerleader like I was in middle & high school, it is more that I thought Cate wouldn't even be one for Halloween or during dress up play.  Silly I know - but I was completely ignorant of Cate's potential when she was born and since I wasn't into blogging or message boards nothing I read gave me even a hint of the possibilites.  I will say its not something I really have thought about in the last few years and definitely not a persistent worry or sadness.  But because my girl is completely awesome and can do all things - she brought it back to mind recently, only not with sadness or regret.  Cate is learning to cheer!!! There is an adaptive competitive cheerleading squad that practices very near to us, runs the normal school year, and competes in 2-3 competitions a year.  It is a squad of girls ages 5 - 18 that practice weekly and learn dances, cheers, and pyramids.  Each girl has a buddy who helps her learn the material and do the stunts.  We are SO joining this squad in the fall!!!!  In the meantime they are having a cheer/tumbling class for special needs children at the facility where the squad will practice, so I enrolled Cate a couple weeks ago.  She LOVES it!!!  They are working on the basics - somersaults, handstands, arm position, little lifts.  Well this weekend Cate got a special treat - she was the only student in the class.  So she got lots of attention and had a blast.  Here are a couple of pictures I got with my phone:

Cate the flyer - check out that perfect arm positioning!

definitely her favorite part is the basket catch coming down!

OK so the handstand is not quite there yet!  At least she gets the prep part - the next part is basically a coach holding her upside down by the legs!

I really can't even express how much I love this girl.  She is so ready to try new things and to do the work it takes for her to learn them.  Here is a video of the coaches doing a heel lift with Cate - this is only her 3rd class so I think its pretty awesome! (if you getting this past as an email you'll need to go to the actual blog to see it):

 

On another note - I apologize for the iPhone photos the last couple weeks.  I am just swamped these days and it is only going to get worse the next couple weeks.  Somehow Cate only has 15 days left of kindergarten - didn't she just start?  So our schedule this week includes a doctor's appointment for me, Cate's Heart day snack at school, an anniversary dinner for Ric & I, technical rehearsal and dress rehearsal on two different days for the dance recital on Saturday (and of course the dance studio is 30+ minutes from the house), last swim practice before the swim meet which is also on Saturday, speech therapy and a swim lesson for Lucy.  Plus I need to work & breath & sleep in there somewhere!  But I'm promising (we'll see if I can follow through) to blog as well because this is a big week - 8 year wedding anniversary and 6 year heart surgery anniversary - both deserve a great post that I'm determined to complete.  Although my fabulous plan to take Cate to the park and get all sorts of amazing pictures of her to contrast to the baby who had open heart surgery didn't happen.  I will still try to get something that didn't come from my phone though! 

 Have a great Monday!