Ten Years In

Thursday 31 October 2013

I've been doing this for ten years now.

I've been a parent to a child who has Down syndrome for ten years. A decade's worth of experience, yet I feel like I have no great wisdom or advice to give.

I experienced the roller-coaster of emotions upon realizing that my first born child has Down syndrome: through being in a fog, to guarding myself, to depression, to acceptance, to moving forward. Yet there is no way I could write a memoir.

There is nothing in my experience that would be overcoming anything and coming out the other side unscathed.

Even though everyone has their own story, there is nothing in my story of having a child with Down syndrome that would stand out.

I had no major turning point, but rather a slow day-by-day grasp of finding my footing of being a new mother and a mother to a child with a diagnosis.

I have one vivid memory of an 'a-ha' moment. Kayla was a newborn and I can't remember if we had our 2 week visit with the pediatrician at that point or not. I just remember trying to find something, anything, on Down syndrome. Something that would give me a glimpse into what this meant and what to expect.

I was in my room and picked up the Mayo Clinic Complete Book of Pregnancy and Baby's First Year that was sitting on my dresser. I found the section on special needs and Down syndrome. I can't remember a thing that was in the book about Down syndrome, but I remember it was the first time I came across Emily Perl Kingsley's "Welcome To Holland."

I know people either love or hate this poem. But for me, in that moment, it was what I needed to read. Maybe it was because I found it on my own and I didn't have it thrust in my face from so many people right after Kayla was born.

By the end of the poem I was crying (I'm sure postpartum hormonal fluctuations played a role in that, too).

Yes, when I read the line, "But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland." it spoke to me. It opened my eyes that I couldn't sit around and be depressed because I would miss out on the experience of being a new mom; the experience of this beautiful, adorable baby in front of me. So it did help give me perspective.

But here I sit after 10 years and I've heard over and over the usual cliches about being a parent to a child with Down syndrome and find that I can't identify with most of them.

I don't feel that Kayla was sent here to teach me a lesson. There is nothing that Kayla does with the intent and purpose of teaching me, or the world a lesson. She is simply a child, living her life. She does not exist so the world can learn from her.

She has not taught me to be more patient. Although I should be more patient, it is a 'lesson' that I've just resigned myself to not getting. I do get irritated and impatient with her; just as I do with Lucas.
 
I don't feel that having a child with Down syndrome has changed me as a person. I am still the same person I was before I gave birth to Kayla. The only thing that has changed is that I'm more aware of Down syndrome whereas I had no connection with it before her birth. Giving birth to her did not cause some seismic shift in my personality, in the core of my being. I am who I am and that didn't change just because my daughter was born with Down syndrome, anymore than it changed when I gave birth to my son.

I don't feel that having a child with Down syndrome has made me a better person or parent. I fail at being a parent every single day.

I can say that I can't imagine my life without Kayla, but it has nothing to do with Down syndrome. It has to do with the fact that she's my daughter and once someone important is in your life, of course you can't imagine life without that person in it. I can't imagine my life without my husband, my siblings, my parents, my son. It's not Down syndrome that makes me say I can't imagine life without Kayla in it.

She's a blessing in my life, but not because of having Down syndrome. Again, she's a blessing simply because she's my child, she was a very much wanted first-born child. She's a blessing because she's my daughter and I always wanted a daughter.

She hasn't taught me the meaning of unconditional love because she has Down syndrome. I would love her unconditionally if she was born without Down syndrome and I know she, and Lucas, love me unconditionally because I am their mother. Down syndrome doesn't play a part in understanding what unconditional love is; it's unconditional because we are a family.

My journey is not extraordinary. It's a journey like hundreds and thousands of parents, all doing the best we can with what we have and what we know.

There is nothing special and there are no great life lessons to be learned from my journey.

So, no memoir from me (there are some great ones out there though!). The single piece of advice I could give a new parent of a child with Down syndrome can be summed up simply and it is live your life. Live your life with your baby the way you planned to before you received that diagnosis.

Having a child with Down syndrome does change some things (school decisions, employment, independent living, planning for the future in a more precise way) but it doesn't change everything.

You have a baby with Down syndrome, and just like that old TV show ... Life goes on.

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I'd Rather Celebrate My Birthday

It's Halloween today and aside from bear wishing me a happy Halloween this morning, followed by a "here's to many more happy Halloweens together", I think it's safe to say I'm not feeling festive in the slightest.  While I realize I blew a lot of your minds with my post about why I hate Halloween, it seems there's another blogger out there, one of the queens of blogging to be specific, who is also not a huge fan of this day. So, boom goes the dynamite, I'm not an alien after all. (Or maybe I am?)

Today I'm joining Erin (Not my Erin, the yellow one!) in discussing a few things I'd rather do than celebrate Halloween. 

One. Crack open a fresh box of wine, shove a 9-er of Bagel Bites in the oven, turn down the AC in the Princess Palace to 68, pop in a solid RomCom from the 90's, and snuggle under eleventy blankets. Now that, my friends, is far more appealing than Halloween. Don't even try to tell me differently. 

Two. As of tomorrow it's officially acceptable to start thinking about how much food I'm going to shove in my Chardonnay catcher on Thanksgiving. Well, that is, as long as my Thanksgiving curse stays far, far away this year. Give me all of the turkey and potatoes and no one gets hurt. 

Three. Share an entire pint of Talenti sea salt and caramel gelato with bear. You can keep your candy bars and questionably wrapped caramels because once bear and I get a taste of that gelato we. can. not. stop. eating. alllllll of the gelato. (And we wont stop.) There's absolutely no stopping halfway through the pint. 

Four. Celebrate my birthday again. Because I fucking love my birthday, that's why. I don't really need to get older, we can pass over that small detail, but aside from that let's just go ahead and celebrate my birthday again. Because celebrating birthdays is fun.

Five. Browse Pinterest for hours. Real talk, last night I bounced from food to humor to quotes to tattoos for the majority of the night and it was friggen incredible. Bear was busy doing his fantasy basketball draft, so while he and his laptop had that little date going on, I was next to them with my laptop and my glass of wine, pinning my little heart away. 

Six. Work on a new venture I've been investing a shit ton of time into and can't freaking wait to introduce here on le bliggity. Initially I was going to launch it today, because I'm the most impaitent person ever, but I really need to put more time into it to make sure it's a success, so now we all just have to wait a little longer. Ooops, that was a super Halloweenie (See what I did there?) tease right there, wasn't it? My bee.

Let's leave it at a solid even number. Because even numbers are just prettier, it's Science. 

Have a great Halloween for those of you who are excited to celebrate it. And if you're still in college, super slut it up tonight. DO IT FOR ME! 

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Politely Cutting the Line

Wednesday 30 October 2013

About a month and a half after school started we had a special-review IEP meeting. We discussed how the accommodations and modifications were working out, went over her progress thus far, and in general see if there was anything else the school team could be doing to help make sure Kayla would have a successful year.

During this meeting her teacher told us how all the kids really like Kayla and she gets along with everyone.

She said the kids all like Kayla so much, that when she goes up to sharpen her pencil she cuts in line and they let her. They don't say anything to her, but she knows if another classmate cut in line the students wouldn't let it happen.

Her teacher has been making sure it doesn't happen either and reminds Kayla she has to go to the end of the line.

I talked with Kayla about this when I got home.

Me, "Kayla when you go sharpen your pencil in class are the other kids sometimes in line already?"
Kayla, "Yes."
Me, "And you just go to the front of the line?"
Kayla, "Yes, I sharpen my pencil."
Me, "But Kayla you're not supposed to cut in front of the line. You need to wait at the end of the line."
Kayla, "I say excuse me!"

Well there you go. Maybe the other kids aren't being polite when they cut in line.


 

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My Face's Arch Nemesis

Over the course of the last two months, or so, my face has been that of a disgusting 13 year old, pubescent boy. 

Had to.

I've honestly had the worst time with it and this is the first time in my life I've had to deal with anything of this nature, and I know that sounds obnoxious but it's the truth. I was #blessed with nearly flawless skin. Well, I was until about two months ago.

Over the course of the last two months I've been hitting the Clarisonic harder than a guido hits the gym, I've been careful what I put on my face, I even bought a face wash regiment to leave at bear's house to assure I wasn't forced to sleep in my makeup. Speaking of that last part, I was convinced that was going to solve my issue because I was sleeping in my makeup more often than normal when bear and I first started dating. Such a convenient time for my face to start looking like a zoo, right? Neither here nor there, none of it worked.

So, I did what any other chick with a random face problem would do, I obsessed over every last thing that touched my face until I figured out what was causing WWIII up in this mofo. 

Now, maybe if I watched more CSI shows I would have gotten to the bottom of this case a lot sooner because it really wasn't that difficult to figure out. But, alas, those CSI shows give me the mad creeps and so my face product investigation skills were a little lacking. 

Granted if it had to do with bear, I would have gotten to the bottom of it in less than an hour. Cut me some slack though, I've had years of practice in the boy investigation skills area. I am a female, after all. 

The first thing I cut out was my beloved Revlon PhotoReady foundation, which was the most devastating thing for me because I love the stuff. Yes, I said devastating. I'm a very rational person, as you know. 

Thank sweet baby Jesus, this wasn't the issue. My face continued to look like a pizza and now it was even worse because I couldn't use the world's greatest cheap foundation to cover that shit up. 

The very last thing I decided to try cutting out was Revlon's PhotoReady BB cream, though I was positive that wasn't going to do anything because the point of BB cream is light coverage and shit, right? Wrong. 

Blog, meet the culprit and my face's arch nemesis:

When I started using this stuff it was, pretty much, a daily thing for days when I wasn't feeling up to a full face off makeup. Instantly I noticed it made my face a little bit greasy but I figured that was just because it had some type of moisturizer in it. Aside from that, I liked that I could use it as a lighter alternative to foundation so I continued using it regularly. 

Fast forward to two months later, I can't keep my face blemish free.

I do my CSI work, stop using the stupid BB cream, and guess what? I'm back to my old #blessed skin. Womp womp womp womp times a million. 

So, now what the shit do I do? Are all of these BB cream fad things the same? Are the all going to make my skin hate life? 

For once I actually really am asking for your recommendations. Tell me what you know (What you really, really know.) about this BB cream shit so I don't have to do more trial and pizza face error, and waste all of my monies that I don't have. 

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Not Suffering From Down Syndrome

Tuesday 29 October 2013

There was a discussion today on FB over a comment saying that people with Down syndrome suffer.

The reference to suffering from Down syndrome is seen in articles (the last 2 paragraphs) and websites describing the condition.

Here is the thing though: Down syndrome is not a disease. It is a syndrome. And this syndrome is a set of symptoms and/or characteristics indicating the existence of a condition.

Down syndrome is an extra chromosome. That extra chromosome does not cause the people who have it to experience pain from the extra chromosome. Pain would equal suffering. You do not suffer from the extra chromosome.

Yes, there are a list of potential health problems that can be associated with Down syndrome, but are not unique to Down syndrome; they can also be found in the general population.

Individuals with Down syndrome may be at a higher risk for certain health conditions, but not all people with Down syndrome will have every potential health condition listed. There are some people with Down syndrome who don't have any other health problems at all.

Kayla is relatively healthy. She doesn't have too many of the associated health conditions.
- She had a small ASD that closed on its own and a small PDA that was closed with a cardiac catheter
- She's had 4 sets of PE tubes in her ears
- She has Celiac Disease
- She has some vision issues and wears glasses
- She was recently diagnosed with mild/moderate sleep apnea and will probably need her tonsils taken out as a first plan of action

Who is to know if Kayla would have had any of those issues if she didn't have Down syndrome? Joe has had his tonsils and adenoids out and he still snores!

Dictionary.com defines suffering as: to undergo or feel pain or distress

Even with that small list of health issues; Kayla still wasn't/isn't suffering from any of those. She might have been suffering from a headache from eye strain before getting glasses, but she never expressed it if she was.

Many adults with Down syndrome do have dementia and/or Alzheimer's disease when they get older. It is more correct to then say that they are suffering from Alzheimer's disease (although it could be simply stated as saying they have Alzheimer's instead of suffering from). The 'suffering' would be referring to the condition/disease and not Down syndrome. 

You don't suffer from Down syndrome in and of itself. But some of the specific medical conditions that someone might also be diagnosed with could cause pain, and then suffering, if not treated.

Interesting that Dictionary.com also says, "It is better to avoid using the words suffer and sufferer in relation to chronic illness or disability. They may be considered demeaning and disempowering. Suitable alternative are have , experience , be diagnosed with."

Exactly. Kayla has Down syndrome, she does not suffer from it. 


 

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UBS mais saúde para Sarandi .....................

 Hoje ao chegar em casa me deparei com esse panfleto informativo , levei até um susto
 e comecei a achar que esse o Papai Noel vai trazer presentes para mim.
 Como vão fazer todas essas UBS(Unidade Básica de Saúde)  se não tem médicos para atender      na UPA.
 Não seria mais facil investir todo esse dinheiro nos prédios que ja existem que são destinados a      Saúde  Publica.
 Mas como as eleições estão ai , tem que aparecer com novidades e ilusões , apenas ludibriar o  povo.
 Fico triste em saber que possivelmente esses mesmos políticos que ai estão , vão estar  novamente  cumprindo novos mandatos e usurpando a dignidade do Povo Sarandiense.

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21 Life Experiences

Monday 28 October 2013

21 life experiences that Kayla has had. Some of them are big life experiences (becoming a sister! flying to another country!) and some of them are little things (going sledding after a blizzard!) but they all add up to enjoying life, living life, and experiencing life.

1. Putting her feet in the ocean for the first time.
2. Flying to Denmark. Twice.
3. Taking a ferry to Sweden.
4. Enjoying the aftermath of a blizzard.
5. Going to an NFL game.
6. Having fun at the Boston Children's Museum.
7. Hiking a mountain.
8. Throwing out the first pitch at a Charleston RiverDogs game.
9. Going to Disney. And Sea World. And Sesame Place.
10. States Kayla's been to, or through: NM, AZ, TX, OK, WI, MO, IL, IN, OH, WV, VA, MD, DE, NJ, NY, PA, CT, MA, NC, SC, GA, FL.
11. Roller skating and ice skating.
12. Sledding at White Sands National Park.
13. Visiting a pumpkin patch and jumping in to a pile of hay.
14. Spending a weekend at Victory Junction camp.
15. Mastering the monkey bars.
16. Climbing a tree.
17. Participating in a dance recital.
18. Tea Party/Slumber party birthday.
19. Becoming a big sister. 
20. Giving yourself an oatmeal facial.
21. First job experience as a hostess at a restaurant.

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Meet Nancy - My Alter Ego

I'm alive, I'm alive! I made it to class blog today despite what my alter ego, Nancy, who decided to come out in full force yesterday, had in mind.

You see, Nancy is one crazy little bitch. She thinks taking multiple (ie. more than four) shots of $2 tequila on a Sunday is a great idea. She also thinks fireball at 11pm, after said shots of tequila and multiple pitchers of beer, is also a great idea. Nancy is reckless, thinks nothing of the consequences her decisions will create, and lives the hell in the moment as if tomorrow will never come. Nancy is all fun and games until my 7am alarm goes off and I feel as if I am paralyzed when I try to move. 

I think Nancy got a bit upset over the weekend because on Saturday she was left at home, hanging up in the closet, because I had to be responsible and be the designated driver. By the time I woke up on Sunday morning, I was so alive and chipper from the lack of alcohol consumed Saturday night, I couldn't even get dressed before Nancy was demanding a bloody Mary, amongst any other alcoholic beverage she could get her sassy little hands on. 

Anyways, the moral of this story; $2 tequila shots are never a good idea, Fireball late on a Sunday will force you to pretend you have a migrane the following morning so you can sleep off your hangover an extra few hours before arriving at work, and when you're losing in your Fantasy league really, really badly, Nancy is going to come out on a mission to make you completely forget all about it. 

Well played, Nancy. Well played. Where the hell is that bitch when I need some Advil though?

Oh, oh! Everyone should be extra proud of me because in addition to the story of my alter ego, I came prepared today with lots and lots of pictures from my weekend. Look at me go, all bloganized and stuff! 

Saturday was my bestie's birthday celebration, which started out with tailgating at UCF. I, quite honestly, don't care much about UCF so I decided to support my Noles despite being on someone else's campus. #sorryimnotsorry Bear also decided to rep his school, Miami... This weekend should be interesting.

And by interesting I mean that him and I probably wont speak to each other on Saturday.

(For those who aren't in tune with college football, our teams are rivals and are playing against each other this weekend. It's a pretty big game because we're both undefeated and in the same division.)

If you can't figure out what we're doing in that picture on the right, we simply can't be friends. That's all there is to it. 

Every year for Panda's birthday I make her some type of craft present. Sometimes it's something sparkly and exciting, but most of the time it's something off the wall and/or ridiculous. This year I went ridiculous. 

(We call her Panda.)

Panda party hat, oh yeah!

And then bear and I got caught being gross... 

Sorry, mom. 

And then, like I said, we went out to continue the celebration.

Weave Tutorial

And that's all she wrote, my friends.

Now that I'm feeling slightly, somewhat, back to normal I'm going to attempt to get some work done. Look at me go!

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Royal Fairytale Ball

Sunday 27 October 2013

We have taken the kids to a few plays at Creative Spark Center For the Arts and they have really enjoyed them. They are close to the action and the cast involves the crowd in parts of the play.

I saw they were having a Royal Fairytale Ball and the whole family was encouraged to dress up. I knew this was something my kids would enjoy so I signed us up. I only had to buy one item to complete our Royal Family transformation.

I was a queen. I wore the red bridesmaid dress from my sister's wedding and pinned my kids' dress up king/queen robe to my dress and wore the red headband crown from Kayla's outfit.

Kayla was a princess in a red and gold gown that my mom got her last year for Christmas. My dress matched hers almost perfectly. She wore the tiara that she wore when she was a flower girl in the above-mentioned wedding.

Lucas wore the knight cape with his shield and sword that he got for his birthday last year. He thought it was pretty cool that he was the only knight. (considering there were only 2 other boys, one a toddler and one a little older, odds were in his favor!)

Joe could have went as a king, but he opted for the jester hat that I picked up for him at the store. Every royal family needs a jester.

Joe wasn't alone in his jester-ness!

Twirling and dancing (notice she couldn't keep her tiara on as referenced in my sensory post; nor the necklace she tried on at home or the one they gave her there.)

Protecting the jester and chasing the Giant from Jack and the Beanstalk

Having her palm read.

Also, this family won the best dressed royal family award. One of my kids will be attending a free summer class next year!

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Endlessly Beloved

Happy weekend, my friends!

Today I'm introducing you to Brianna from Endlessly Beloved. This girl's got a ton of heart and a lot of experience in long distance relationships, for those of you looking for advice in this area, Brianna's your girl!!

Check out what Brianna has to say here and then go over to her blog and visit her!

1. Why did you start blogging?

I love to read blogs. Before I started my own, I would read other girls blogs and I was so inspired by them! I never thought about starting my own though. When I came home from visiting my boyfriend from Germany, I needed something to keep me busy. So one night I thought, what the hell and gave it a try. I've fallen in love with everything about blogging and I'm so glad that I was bored enough one day to give it a try! 

2. What inspires your writing?

Hmm. Boredom. And good food. And my handsome man! I really just write about whatever is on my mind or whatever projects I'm working on :) 

3. What's your favorite post and/or posts you've written?

My favorite posts so far have probably been my love story and my post about being in a long distance relationship, I guess that's just because I love bragging about my handsome man and sharing our story :) 

4. What's the funniest thing you've seen in a while?

I have a ridiculous sense of humor. I can't get over that GEICO Hump Day commercial! My boyfriend has literally made me watch it a million times and we laugh just as hard every time. 

5. What's your current favorite #backthatazzup jam?

That's My Kind of Night by Luke Bryan. It's no secret that I have a little crush on him and I can get down to his new song anytime.

Blog  |  Bloglovin

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Down Syndrome Cognitive Test

Saturday 26 October 2013

When you enter the land of IEPs you'll find your child having to go through a number of tests and evaluations. These are to determine which one of the 13 categories the child falls in to be eligible for special education services. In some states and school districts you can opt out of the actual IQ part of the test and just rely on other assessments to evaluate, but in other schools its not as easy to opt out.

These standardized tests really don't seem to truly show a child's abilities; they don't seem show an accurate picture of your child either.

A few years ago neuroscientists at the University of Arizona developed a battery of tests to aid in the assessment of cognitive abilities of people with Down syndrome. What's different about these tests is they are a series of computer exercises that are not language dependent.

Down syndrome affects 3 major parts of the brain: the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum. The tasks that are on these tests hone in on particular functions of the brain regions.

"The hope is that the test battery is a way to figure out, for any given child, where they fit developmentally within each of these particular domains. The battery will give us a handle on understanding that profile so you might be able to target an intervention in a specific way for a given person."

Right now these tests are useful for clinicians and researchers to use as a before-and-after tool for assessing interventions and figuring out which therapies might work best. Drugs are being developed and tested in phase 1 clinical trials for cognition intervention and the use of assessment tools like this will help with research studies.

I'm not sure how wide-spread the use of these tests are yet; the articles I found were from 2010, but if these tests seem to more accurately show the cognitive abilities of people with Down syndrome, because in large part of not being dependent on language demands, I wonder if there is anything in the works to use this test in a school setting for educational testing. It seems like schools would get a lot of value from this battery of tests and that the results would be more reflective of the individual student's abilities.

You can read the full report of the Development and Validation of the Arizona Cognitive Test Battery for Down syndrome in the Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders.



 

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Boogie Board

Friday 25 October 2013

I don't know what it is about this Boogie Board, (sorry, link fixed!) but Kayla loves it.

It's not electronic, it's not battery-operated (there is a sealed watch battery that never needs replacing), there are no apps for it, no cartridges for it, no on-off switch.

It's simply a writing tablet with a stylus. Kayla loves to write, or more accurately doodle. I hate to say scribble, but I've mentioned before how much she struggles with handwriting. She loves having a pen and paper but she won't (usually) spontaneously write decipherable words, much less even letters, on her own.

She likes to make lots and lots of circles all over her paper. Which is why I got her a Spirograph Design Set so she could make cool designs with all those circles (but of course she doesn't use this as much as I thought she would).

But this Boogie Board? Loves it! Maybe it's how easily the stylus glides across the board. Maybe it's the fact that with the press of the little button at the top of the frame it instantly erases everything and you have a clean slate. I don't know what it is, but she's using it to do more writing than she did previously. Oh she still does a lot of doodling with it, but she independently writes more words with it than she does with traditional pen and paper. I've caught her several times copying down the title of books, or words from pages of the book. She'll ask me how to spell things and write them down. We've practiced math on it. She likes to have it in the car when I pick her up from school to go to vision therapy.

This is not a paid ad, or review. I saw it in some magazine (can't remember which one) and suggested it to my sister to get for Kayla's birthday. Lucas likes it so much that he might be getting one for Christmas.

Maybe this writing tablet/stylus tool might be useful to someone else out there who has a child who struggles with fine motor skills and writing. Maybe they might find the stylus easy to use as it glides across the board. Or you can use your finger too!
It also comes with a magnet so it could be hung up in a locker too.

I didn't expect Kayla to like it as much as she does; I was hopeful, but not expectant ... but it's probably her most-used gift ever!

 

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Don't Take Me Seriously

Sometimes I get comments that really rub me a weird kind of way. Not even necessarily rude or snarky comments, because typically those give me a good laugh, but the kind of comments where I can tell someone just really doesn't get my sense of humor or the fact that 99% of my posts here on this blog are written out of pure sarcasm. 

Of course, from time to time, I do get really real around here and occasionally I'll let you all in on a super, duper, big secret I've been holding in (Quite possibly my most favorite post on this blog, for the record.), but for the most part this is a light hearted space. Or at least I like to think so. That is the plan, most days.

It's really easy for me to forget that not all of you have been here since I got the bright idea to start a public blog and, I guess, that's where the disconnect comes in. Most days I just come here, get to clicky clicking on my keyboard, and completely forget that there's a good portion of people that are going to read what I'm writing who have never read my blog and/or have never spoken to me outside of that one post. I get it, I definitely get it. 

I'm sure if you don't know me and you happen to see a post I've written, say, about where Taylor Swift is currently, you may feel the need to give me an update. But really, I just woke up that morning, heard her song on the radio, and somehow ended up writing that post as soon as I got to my computer. I didn't really need all of the information on the Swifty I received that day but then I remembered that I did, technically, ask for it. So, my bad.

Pretty much, what I came here to say today is that I don't want you to take me seriously. Most days, that is. Obviously if I get all serious about some personal shit, it's cool if you take that seriously, though usually I do enjoy a good ice breaking sarcastic comment on those posts. Actually, I always enjoy a good, fun comment full of smart ass-ness and, to be completely honest, those are usually the people whose blogs I'll seek out and try to connect with. 

Anyways, that's my nonsense for today. Don't take me seriously. 

Unless you want to and then I'm assuming you think I'm a really twisted and deranged person. Actually, you may be on to something if you think that. Whatever, I'm just happy to be here and I'm happy to have you here. Yes, you. Thanks for reading, by the way.

Hey, now it's time to jam out and today I'm going straight 2000's because I recently reintroduced my ears to this song and, I've gotta tell you, it's the super sized, Pammy Anderson, tits. Pretty sure it's gotten a good 40 plays out of me in the past 3 days and I don't hate it one bit. Just listen to it, you won't be sorry. Or maybe you will. 

Have a great weekend, everyone!

It's #backthatazzup Friday!

The purpose: To start our weekend with some fantastic jams.

The station that inspired it: "Back That Azz Up" on Pandora Radio.

The rules: Link your jams up and have a jam sesh with all of us!

Click here for a tutorial on how to embed a song in your post.

Happy Friday!
Grab a button, pick your jam, link up and let's get this weekend started off on the right foot!

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Impressed With Her Flexibility

Thursday 24 October 2013

Kids with Down syndrome can be extra-flexible. I think this is a result of having low muscle tone/loose ligaments.

When Kayla was a baby/toddler people would often comment on her flexibility. I'm talking about being able to raise your legs straight up in the air almost touching your ears.

Lucas is impressed with Kayla's skills and has commented on this several times over the past few months. If he's trying to get by her in the van she swings her legs around and up for him to go across instead of bending her knees and bringing them to her chest.

A few months ago he was trying to find the words to explain this to me and he came up with: "Disability people can do something that not disability people can do! Watch Kayla, see how far her legs go up? Wow! Mine can't do that!"

(Before anyone says anything, yes, I realize that was not People First Language; however, he's 5 years old. He was trying to figure out the words to use to explain what he was thinking. The PFL will come with time. I modeled it for him by saying, "I don't think it's necessarily that people with disabilities can do that, I think it's more likely that people with Down syn can do that because they can be more flexible.)

I thought it was cool that he thought it was cool that she could do something that he couldn't, because she has Down syndrome.

My kids humored me and re-enacted Lucas trying to get by Kayla and Kayla raising her legs, so you can see that flexibility in action.

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This doesn't have anything to do with being flexible, or having Down syndrome, but Lucas noticed something else Kayla can do that he can't (yet!). She can pick him up and carry him, but because she's still taller than him, he's not able to lift her up. He thinks that's cool too. "I can run faster than Kayla and Kayla is stronger than me!"

And since Kayla had those Shoulder Buddies I mentioned in the previous post about sensory issues, I did a quick video of what she likes about them. 

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