Earlier this summer, you, Matías, and I went up to Bogus to do the ropes course. It was a summer goal that Matías had, and you were curious and were willing to do it, as well. I was really impressed with your bravery in getting up there, up to 3 stories high, balancing on ropes and small planks that moved around. But the best part was watching you do the zip line at the end. Up until that day, you hadn't done a zipline before. Matías, Belén, and I have always done them on family vacations while you and Papi wait below. The one on the ropes course was short, but the interesting thing about it was that there wasn't a person there to clip you in or to catch you on the other side. It was my first time doing it this way, too, and I was nervous for all of us. I went first and braked on the cable with my gloved hand and found that it wasn't as scary as I thought. I waited for you on the platform to catch you if necessary. You de...
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On Sunday you performed for the first time in sacrament meeting. You played a beautiful arrangement of "Gethsemane" on the piano. Even though you told me a few times half-heartedly that you didn't want to do it, you seemed to play with confidence and you did really well. I'm so happy that you seemed to have a good first time experience, that you got lots of compliments from people, and there's the hope that you might be willing to do it again in the future. I think you have the potential to really enjoy playing piano. This summer you have played several times a day, partially out of boredom, but I think partially because you enjoy it. Last night I was able to convince you to hike Table Rock with me. We had a fun time. I was surprised by how fast you went - I struggled to keep up with you at some times. I love that you stopped several times to look at flowers and bugs and to take photos, that we weren't just rushing through it, even t...
Update of your scoliosis situation: last fall, we went in for a check-up with Dr. Roth, the pediatric orthopedic doctor. They did an x-ray and found that the curve in your spine was getting worse, despite the physical therapy, so Dr. Roth said the next step would be to get a brace. That wasn't the news we were hoping for, so it was disappointing. We went several weeks later, to Tom Padilla, who is the expert in making braces, where you were measured for yours and he explained what it would be like to wear it. He was really helpful and gave us lots of info to help us get used to the idea of the brace. In January, we took you in to see Tom again after he had finished making it and you tried it on for the first time. You were understandably not excited about the appointment, knowing you would have to start wearing the brace. It was a gradual process to get to wearing it full-time. The first day you just had to wear it for an hour,...
While doing your physical therapy for scoliosis, I often read to you while you are doing certain stretches that don't require you counting how many breaths you are doing. We read one from the Lemonade Wars series where the kids put on a magic show. That has inspired you the last month or so, to learn more magic tricks. You borrowed a magic set that Belén had gotten for Christmas when she was younger. You decided to put on your own magic show (with Freddy as your assistant, of course), which you performed for the family last week. We were very impressed and there were 2 tricks that you did where I honestly don't know how you did them - they were truly magical and left us wondering how it was done. On Sunday I was feeling sick so I stayed home from church. I was camped on the couch with a book and before you left to go to church you brought over your new panda slippers, set them on the ground in front of me and told me that I could borrow t...
You were diagnosed with scoliosis late last year and you have been doing physical therapy for a few months now. I'm pleased with how well you do the therapy, when we have to do it several times at home between visits to the therapist. I know it's not your favorite, but you seem to be mature enough to understand that it's for your benefit. You're also doing well with skiing this season. We have been trying new blue runs and you're doing great. The only time you have fallen was one random day, maybe your second day on the slopes this season and for some reason you fell several times getting off the bunny hill lift. You were for sure frustrated, but things improved later in the day and you had fun. During your guys' winter break last week we took a day trip to Pomerelle and we had a lot of fun. There were lots of runs that were very long and fun for us. Your favorite run was called Spud. Papi got a photo of Freddy with the sign f...
For Christmas, Belén gave you a yellow banana duck. It quickly became Freddy's best friend and you carry the two of them around together often. The last few days they have been joining us on the ride to school. Yesterday, as you got out of the car, you handed them to me and told me to take care of them and that if I got in a car accident, to not forget to take them out of the car with me. I thought that was a funny and usual thing to say.
This last week you had the chance to do your first backpacking trip. We hiked as a family to Alice Lake in the Sawtooth Mountains. We got up early Friday morning and got to the trail by about 11:00 in the morning. The hike was a little over 6 miles, and went up quite a bit. The river crossings where we took off our shoes made you a little nervous on the way up, but on the way down the next day, you said it was one of your favorite parts of the trip. About half way up you asked if we could just turn around and go back, but we kept on going up. You were such a trooper and you persisted and made it to the top! I gave you a very loud high five, which you didn't appreciate. I hope you were able to appreciate the beauty of the lake. I made sure to get your favorite dehydrated meal of lasagna and we tried instant potatoes, which we enjoyed, too. Lots of trail treats like Snickers bars, licorice, and Tillamook cheese seemed to help kee...