Fundraising Success!

In my post about the Trike-A-Thon, I said that I would consider it a success if Ella asked one person for money and if she rode her tricycle at the Trike-A-Thon. She did both! I had to help her ask for money, but she did it. Her teacher said she sat on the trike and watched the other kids for a few minutes, but then she rode for about half an hour. She was really excited about it, and even traded trikes with one of her friends for a few minutes! That really surprised me.

Thanks to a very generous anonymous donation, Ella met the fundraising goal I set for her the first day and she ended up raising a total of $240 (excluding what Dave and I donated). The grand total for the school was $3180. It was a huge success for St. Jude's!

The H. Luke Update
Ella, Luke, and I were in their room after the bath the other night and I was dressing Ella while Luke played in the crib. Ella and Luke were laughing at each other through the bars, and he just pulled himself up to his feet like he's been doing it for years. He was so proud! The next morning when Dave went in there to get him, he was standing at the rail waiting for him. He has also realized that he can move from his stomach into a sitting position by himself, and while he isn't crawling in the traditional hands and knees way - he is going all over the place using the army crawl, pulling himself along with fists and elbows. And, with all this new mobility, he's finally sleeping again and a lot more content.

He isn't really making any recognizable sounds, except the occasional "Heeey", but he does engage in back and forth interaction and he mimics us. This morning, Ella was coughing and he looked up at her and coughed back, then smiled, waiting. She coughed at him. He coughed back. This went on for several minutes. Then I was telling Grandmother about it when we got to her house, and he started coughing again and looked expectantly at Ella.

Watching kids learn really amazes me.