Happy Down syndrome awareness month! Update on our daughter...

October is Down syndrome awareness month!

Those of you who have been following this blog for a while, may remember that during the past two years I took part in the "31 for 21 Challenge". I blogged every day in October to raise awareness for Down syndrome.

This year, I decided not to do the challenge. 

As my daughter is growing, I realize that I have not many new things to share about Down syndrome. 

She is just who she is, and I don't seem to think about her having Down syndrome as much as I used to.

However, for those of you who are wondering how she is doing, I like to share in this post where we are now.

If you're new here, you might want to read more about our story HERE.

Our beautiful girl is almost two and a half already!

She is doing very well and she has the whole family wrapped around her fingers.

There are certain things she isn't able to do yet, which a typical two year old would be able to do already, but rather than focusing on the things she can't do yet, I will tell you what she CAN do, since that is so much more important.

She understands simple commands in Dutch as well as English. 

She can say a few words, and uses some American Sign Language. 

We decided to raise her bilingual, since that is what we did with her older sisters. 

We are aware of the fact that that might slow things down, but feel that in the long run we would regret if we wouldn't give it a shot. 

So, combined with sign language, she is working on mastering THREE languages!

Signing 'baby' 

She can feed herself, using her hands or a fork. 

She simply loves food, there is hardly anything she doesn't like. 

Using her fork

Helping herself to some fries of someone else's plate

She is a loving mother to all of her baby dolls, and hugs and kisses them a lot. 

One baby always has to keep her company when she goes to bed.

Speaking about hugs and kisses, our girl is the most cuddly little girl I know. 

I just LOVE how she wraps her little arms around my neck and kisses me! 

She loves to make friends, wherever we go. Whenever I am at a check register paying for something, most of the time she spends her time waving at the people behind us in line, who she is facing, since she is sitting in a shopping cart. 

We have started lots of conversations that way.

She is a speedy crawler, stair climber, and can take some steps without help. 

When things are outside her reach, she finds a stool or box or whatever else can help her to get higher up. Just last night she decided to climb the ladder of her sisters' bunk beds, but we stopped her when she was on her way to the second step up.

She likes baths. 

Recently, she was worried to miss out on a bath with her sisters, so she decided to dive in on her own. 

Unfortunately she didn't take time to undress first. 

(Another skill she just mastered, when SHE decides it is time to undress...)

Climbed in bath tub

Books: she LOVES books, she likes to look at pictures, read to her dolls, 

or just distribute them throughout the room.

Reading to her doll

She loves to 'cook' food for us in her play kitchen. 

She shares it with us, or eats it herself, saying "Mmmmmmmmmmmmm!"

Coloring: she loves coloring! 

We give her crayons, but she prefers markers or pencils. 

She drew some artwork on one of our walls, fortunately she used a pencil for that one!

Coloring (I drew the smiley face to get her started...)

She loves music:

Whenever she hears music with a beat to it, she hops up and down, right on the beat. Her current favorite is her older sister's multiplication table CD, which is pretty funny. It has the multiplication tables on fast rap-style music, and she just LOVES it. 

And she also likes to MAKE music. I cannot have the piano to myself anymore, every time my little musician HAS to come over and add some bass to my music. Or she wants the whole piano for herself. She used to just bang on it, but now she is starting to use her individual fingers more. So we may have a future pianist on our hands.

Little pianist

Laundry is one of her favorite 'chores'. 

She loves to unfold laundry, we're still working on the folding ;)

When I am sorting laundry to be washed, she is eager to bring me any clothes that she finds in her room, that need washing too according to her. So cute! Until she starts to get them out of her drawers, that is!

 The other day I was trying to find her socks after her nap. Couldn't find them anywhere, and I thought she must have tossed them behind her bed.

Well, when I took a batch of laundry out of the washer, there they were: two tiny red socks that I hadn't put in that pile. Fortunately, she hadn't picked my white pile. So I realized she must have taken them off before her nap and added them to that pile without me noticing it.

OK, I realize that this is getting quite long here. Our little girl has SO much personality, that it is hard to just share in one post, but I hope you get the idea.

Happy Down syndrome awareness month!

World Down Syndrome Day - Check this out!

Today is World Down syndrome day:

3-21-2012 


World Down Syndrome Day is celebrated on the 21st day of the third month of each year to symbolize a third copy of the 21st chromosome in Down syndrome. This year is especially exciting as it is the first year that the date is officially recognized by the United Nations!

In honor of this day, parents of children with Down syndrome were asked the following question:

If they could go back right before they had, or adopted, their child(ren) with Down syndrome, 

what would they tell themselves?

Watch the following video for their answers, it's beautiful!

(My youngest daughter has Down syndrome, 
so that is why this clip is very touching to me.)

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Be.YOU.tiful - Valentine's day printable

Inspired by the idea on this blog, I wanted to do something with this neat word play, so I made this little printable.

Think it contains a great message for our kids, or another loved one...

Use it as a card, for your scrapbooks, home decor, etc.

Would also work great as a Valentine...

Shared at Craft-O-Maniac, Sugar Bee Crafts, Thirty Handmade Days, Oopsey Daisy and Embellishing Life.

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Two choices...

Someone shared the following story with me, and it was so touching, that I just have to share.

The important question the writer asks is: would you have made the same choice? 

The context might be different, but all of us could be in a similar position one day...


I believe this is also a good story to share with your kids, if they're old enough to understand.

Two choices: An Anonymous Email (worth sharing)

What would you do?  You make the choice.  Don't look for a punch line, there isn't one.  The question is: Would you have made the same choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that will never be forgotten by all who attended.  After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: 'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection.  Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do.  He cannot understand things as other children do.  Where is the natural order of things in my son?'  The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued.  'I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.'

Then he told the following story:

Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball.  Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?'  I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play.  The boy looked around for guidance and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning.  I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.'

Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt.  I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart.  The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.  In the top of the ninth inning,Shay put on a glove and played in the right field.  Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands.   In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again.  Now with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be the next at bat. 

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? 

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat.  Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.  However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact.

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.  The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay.  As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over.  The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.  Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.  Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates.  Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first! Run to first!'  Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base.  He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. 

Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!'  Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.  By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball.  The smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be a hero for his team.  He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.  Shay ran towards third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases towards home.

All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay!'  Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, 'Run to third! Shay run to third!' 

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home!  Run home!'  Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.

'That day,' said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, 'the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world.'  Shay didn't make it to another summer.  He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy and coming home and seeing his mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

A footnote to this story:  We all send thousands of jokes through the email without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people hesitate.  The crude, vulgar and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.  If you would consider forwarding emails such as this one, you would probably sort out the people in your address book who aren't the 'appropriate' ones to receive this type of message. 

The person who sent this email to me believes we all can make a difference.  We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the 'natural order of things.'  So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice: Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?  A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats its least fortunate amongst them.