Toby visits Owen

First school project of the year came home on Tuesday night. A project in the form of a monkey named Toby. The instructions were to take him on trips, feed him, write about your fun times with him to share in his memory book.

So what do you do with a monkey on a school night? Go to Perkins of course! But really, it is the only place our kids do relatively well eating out unless it is McDs. So off for chocolate chip pancakes we went.

Toby colored.

Toby got strapped into the carseat for the ride.

More fun was had at home, learning to play instruments. Learning how to make the perfect "rock" face.

Getting the kazoo melody to be just right.

Getting the notes just right on the harmonica.

Getting the beats on the drums.



Toby gets to go back to school tomorrow, onto the next classmate. I like the idea, I appreciate the opportunity. I just wish Owen was able to "get it". To be able to do the project with him and not really for him. He participated only because I had a camera and I asked him to play some instruments. I came up with all the ideas and staged the silly monkey in all the right positions. Owen didn't want much to do with him. It is one of those things that I never really realized would be something to struggle with. To want your child to be able to do the school projects and take interest in them. I know its preschool but it is an indication of what path we are headed down since projects become a bigger deal in the years to come.

Silly Monkey.

We make the most of it though, as we always do. We try to show him the scrapbook with all his classmates stories of what they did with Toby. We try to tell him what Toby is about. We try. That is all we can do, try.

Assortment of goodies ...

Dentist...

Friday was another visit to the dentist for Owen. We have made huge progress in the past 6 months. It used to take 2 of us to pin him down to get his teeth brushed. Now he welcomes the routine and even tries to brush on his own. His dentist could tell. His teeth look good. He still has quite a bit of grinding going on and it will be something we will have to keep an eye on with his baby teeth. I guess they wear down quite a bit easier than how his adult teeth will be. His "bruised" tooth is still in the leave it alone phase. Unfortunately it is pretty grey and it is his front tooth but if she says leave it be, that is just what we will do! Most times I edit it out of his pictures but left it in for the one below. It is also time to start trying to floss. I mentioned that to Jason and he had the same reaction I did, yeah right! We will give it a try though, he may surprise us!

The visit was a nightmare like they always are. I have to pin him in the chair. He shakes and cries and had broken blood vessels all around his eyes from all the screaming. He got a new batman toy after the visit because I felt so bad.

Fun Times....

Grandma and Grandpa are finally back from Florida so we spent Saturday with them. We headed to the community center for fun in the pool. Grandma had her hands full!

 They also have a fabulous climbing gym there. Which is WONDERFUL "homework" for Owen. It's been a while since he has been to one of these and he did fantastic. I can definately tell he has gotten stronger. See Olivia up in the balcony? She too had a great time with Grandma crawling around in there.

And if they couldn't have been any more spoiled, we took a trip to dairyqueen for some treats. Olivia in her true form had her own treat, ate some of Owens and then shared some of dads.

A new rule...
My little girl and her blankie have become quite attached. She wants it 24x7. She brings it everywhere. I would allow it if thumb sucking wouldn't have come with it. So it is time. Time to start laying down the law!
Blankie stays in your bed. We started a few weekends ago and she did great. Didn't fuss about it but did ask if she could carry around a different blanket. Which I let her since she didn't suck her thumb with that one! She wakes up and leaves it there but there are times where she sneaks off and this is what I find.

She tries to get away with it by being in her room. But I tell her it needs to stay in her bed. So this is what she does. Half in bed, half out.

I did buy the polish "hoof hands" as the next step. We will start that next weekend :)

At his own pace

Today is the day we celebrate Down Syndrome. The day to celebrate is march 21st. 6 years ago we didn't know the significance of this day. Today we celebrate the joys that down syndrome brings to our lives. The good and the bad. The ups and the downs. We share it with many friends around the world we would have never had the chance to meet. We share it with our friends, we share it with our family. We have all been touched by an extra chromosome.
Why 3-21? Down Syndrome is 3 copies of the 21st chromosome. A little something extra. To us the extra chromosome equals an amazing result. Owen.

My face might be different
But my feelings the same
I laugh and I cry
And I take pride in my gains
I was sent here among you
To teach you to love
As god in the heavens
Looks down from above
To him I’m no different
His love knows no bounds
It’s those here among you
In cities and towns
That judge me by standards
That man has imparted
But this family I’ve chosen
Will help me get started
For I’m one of the children
So special and few
That came here to learn
The same lessons as you
That love is acceptance
It must come from the heart
We all have the same purpose
Though not the same start
The Lord gave me life
To live and embrace
And I’ll do as you do
But at my own pace.

At his own pace, is the message that we live every day. Some days are hard. Some times it seems like there are things we will never accomplish. But we just have to remember Owen will do everything, at his own pace.
Seven months ago we started the journey of potty training. If you have ever been through it you will know it is trying, it is frustrating, some days you just want to give up and put the diapers back on. But we didn't give up. He didn't stop trying (although there were a few days where we wondered). Many days have passed, many weeks, many months. But we have made it over this hurdle. Owen is now in big boy undies all the time. At home, at daycare, at school, at night. He did it. He doesn't need reminders anymore, he brings himself all on his own. He is completely independent. There wasn't 1 day where we said to ourselves its done. But we have spent the last month saying we don't remember the last accident. We can throw the pull ups away. We can move on from this goal and start a new focus.
 

 
It seems like there is always something. But what brightens our spirits is his amazing smile and his ability to turn anything into a rockstar moment. We know he will accomplish anything he wants. He has many supporters helping him climb every incline, every hill and every mountain that is in his way. He will get to the top of them all. At his own pace. All he is asking for is us to have faith in him. For us to be compassionate for others like him. To not be afraid. To be strong for him.

Indepedence

Big skills emerging around here. Small skills emerging as well. Of course we celebrate them all. Today I report on the little ones... Tomorrow I will tell you about the BIG one!

To some people they are minor. But if you are constantly doing this task for 2 kids EVERYDAY. You will understand why they are big to us.

Dressing themselves! Olivia still needs some assistance with her shirts since they are a bit more form fitting. But she loves to pick out her clothes. Yesterday I asked her to go get an outfit for the day. I was surprised she brought down an entire outfit. Some may say the pinks don't match. Some may say you probably shouldn't wear a skirt with jogging pants. But I say it was a beautiful ensemble because she chose it.

And Owen has been making big strides in getting himself dressed. He is now able to do 90% of it on his own. Except a little help reminding him which way is front on his shirts and some pants and getting his socks on past his toes. He too picked out his outfit yesterday. I have no words for this description, except that this is my boy. A super hero in every way.

Theres an App for that

Who knew a therapy session for Owen could turn into such a learning experience for Olivia? 

We are always looking for ways to entertain Olivia while we sit in the waiting room at Children's Therapy. They have a great assortment of books but we get though 1 or 2 in less than a minute and she is ready to move on, I bring puzzles for her to do but again they last for a few minutes. I love the warmer months when we can head outside for a walk. Her whole life we have been there 3-4 times a week. The routine and ability to keep her happy has gotten monotonous. And so I give full credit for Olivia's latest favorite thing to Jason since he is the one that started it all with his iPhone.

I never anticipated the results we are seeing. He started out with a flashcard app and she quickly learned all her colors, animals and shapes. And now she takes the quizzes and has mastered them. She names hexagons and pentagons among the typical triangle and stars. She picks out the colors they ask her for, she names all the animals and this week she started identifying her numbers 1 - 10, spot on, every time. Next goal - alphabet!

I Never really thought of using the iPad to help develop learning skills. But it is an AMAZING tool! Not only does it have flashcard apps (most of them free), but they have wonderful speech therapy and other therapy type apps for Owen. His attention span for it isn't quite there like Olivia's yet but I am excited for the opportunity to be able to use it with him.

Would love to hear some of your favorite apps for kids on the iPhone or iPad. I am going to start creating a list on the right of my favs!

silly kids

  

Puzzled

It seemed like a good idea at the time to show everyone how well Olivia is doing with puzzles. Capture the moment on video, be proud of her. But what we weren’t expecting is to show how it is hard to give one child full attention. It wasn’t until we watched this back that we saw it and it broke our heart a little to witness. Owen trying to get involved and he got shooed away, so off he went to pout. I promise this doesn’t happen because 9 times out of 10 we are working with him. And maybe that is why he reacted the way he did?

But this video is about Olivia. She has always loved puzzles. I bought her a puzzle board with interlocking pieces over Christmas thinking it was way more advanced than she was ready for but she caught on immediately. I love her little voice and her reaction to finding pieces. It is just priceless to watch her.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Special Olympics: Young Athletes

Here is the official description...
"Young Athletes is an innovative sports play program for children aged 2 to 7 years old with intellectual disabilities, designed to introduce them to the world of sports prior to Special Olympics eligibility. Since its inception in 1968, Special Olympics has established itself as a preeminent global organization offering sports training and competition opportunities to people with intellectual disabilities ages eight and above."

Here is our description...
A wonderful opportunity for Owen to build some fundamental skills in an environment where everyone is just like him. A place to not be judged but encouraged.

Tonight was the first night of the program. We were lucky enough to find out about the pilot program in our local YMCA and jumped at the chance. It falls on a day when he already has therapy in the evening so his day is crazy but he did great. He played with friends just like him and I got to sit back and feel normal.

He is on the far left in the red waving at me :)

Observations

One thing I love about being a parent is observing my kids. Not just watching what they are doing but really paying attention to all the little things that they do and say. I could do it all day long if they let me. I get so much joy out of it. The whispers, the imagination, the personalities.
For me it is different when I watch Olivia vs. Owen. With Olivia I am usually completely shocked to see and hear the things she has picked up that we haven't taught her. With Owen I get so excited to witness something we have been working on and working on. But regardless I am so amazed of each of them.  I love to see how they have matured in their play skills and how they are now starting to expand to play together.

I was putting Olivia to bed a while ago and Owen snuck off downstairs. It was dark, it was quiet and there he was playing with his little legos. So instead of stopping him I pulled out the camera and watched. There are things in here that you may not recognize as a big accomplishments. Mostly because he is 5 and most 5 year old boys do these types of things. But to us, there are things in the video that we witnessed for the first time.
And then there are things that he struggles with and we see them but others may not. He can't quite hold the little pieces with his fingers (the little lego man hats - pay attention to his fingers and how he uses the side of his fingers instead of the finger tips), he can't get the men in and out of the vehicles. But he keeps trying, he asks for help and even though things are hard, he still enjoys himself.
And I love all the talking he is doing. The imagination of how he plays. And his humor - he had me giggling a few times with the things he was coming up with!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com