Saturday, October 11, 2008

A medley for your enjoyment

Hollis has a great memory for songs, and can even sing along with songs she's not really familiar with - she just has that musical ear. This always amazes me, because she only has a vocabulary of about six words, but she has a musical dictionary in the hundreds! Of course, she's no Ella Fitzgerald, but she carries a tune and can "scat" just like her!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Whirly girl

We went to the Topsfield Fair today, as we do every October, and this was the first time Hollis really could enjoy almost everything there! For some reason, she really likes chickens, so we visited the poultry shed, where she made friends with a Bantam chicken and a sort of Lilliputian duck called a "Gray Call". After this, she had fried dough and a corn dog, and loved both. In past years, she had been either on the ketogenic or low glycemic index diet for her seizures, or was not eating due to her meds, so this was her opportunity to try the treats served up at carnivals all over the U.S.

Even after eating these deliciously starch-laden greasy things, she was up for a good twist on the Tilt-a-whirl. Dad and Hollis went on first, and she screamed with delight the whole time, until the ride ended and she signed "more" desperately. Mom took the next trip, and it seemed like I ended up with the whirliest of the cars: I walked off very dizzy and feeling car sick. Hollis, ever the adventurer, still wanted more, but we thought we'd better cool it on the "pukey" rides for one go, and Dad took her on a kiddie roller coaster. She loved that one too, and screamed as it went down its dinky little hill and around its tiny curves. When she got off, we thought we might have her take it easy for a minute, but alas, the Tilt-a-whirl was in sight, so she took off for that. Dad took her again (thank you!), and they spun madly around and around. She could have kept it up all day, but parents' tolerance for the dizzy rides is a bit more limited than an eight year old's.