Braska Bear

BLTN: Better Late Than Never Because I’ve totally fallen behind in …. well, in life in general, in many ways…AND in blogging, obviously, I am going to be posting several old posts, and I’m going to have them post closer to when they happened, so that as I archive my blog chronologically, things will fit properly.  That means that if you are NOT on a Reader getting posts automatically, or getting them by email, you will likely miss many of them (unless you want to hunt back through the archives from this past fall...)  So this is my attempt at giving you fair warning…  Sign up for email notifications, which sends you an email with new posts (little box at the top of the blog on the left) or click on the “Join this Site” under  Braska’s Best Buddies.  The point is that I don’t want to forget to include times like this in our family memories archives… even though I’ve failed to be timely about it. I’ll also try to keep up the BLTN Posts list in the left ...

Soon it’s gonna be Christmas!!  Today we made cookies for Santa.  

Tonight Mommy took our pictures by the tree so she could put them on the cards she’s gonna send out.  We’ve got cute matching p-jammies that we’re gonna wear for a different bunch of pictures soon.  You’ll have to wait to see that.  But tonight we just put them on for a few minutes to take some pictures. Then Mommy made us take them off so they stay all new and clean…  Daddy says she’s silly. Here’s a peek at a couple of the pictures…but we’re not gonna show you the one that we picked to use.  You’ll have to wait til Christmas for that one!

Yep, that’s what I’ve been saying all day. “It’s my birthday! I’m 5!” It’s been a pretty fun day, and there’s more fun tonight. So I’ll tell you about it soon!

Here’s a little piece from a note Mommy got from Miss L today… she helps me learn how to climb and run and get stronger. I came by the classroom to get her and I was helping her get ready.  She stood there and started squatting in place.  I asked her what she was doing and she tells me, "I plie`-ing" …  It was hilarious!!! I’m learning so much in dance class that I have to share it at school! You should try it! Just put your feet together and bend your knees… Plie` everybody! (If you missed some of my stories about dance class, you can go here .)

I feel it’s only fair to provide full disclosure, to clarify where we’re at with feeding.  Jennie left this comment on a recent post … Tears in my eyes seeing her eat a snack... just like everyone else. Someday... And because I know that feeling so well, I don’t want to mislead those of you who are somewhere on this feeding frustration journey. Braska is progressing GREATLY, when we look at the big picture.  If you saw this pic , you can see something huge even if you don’t see the following few seconds.  She has a cookie in her hands, and of her own free will, she has it in her mouth, between her teeth.  That, by itself, is amazing.  She has come a long way to get to that point. But she didn’t eat the cookie.  She probably closed her teeth on it just a bit.  But she didn’t actually break the cookie off in her mouth.  She then set it down and was finished. So while we celebrate where she is, we know we still have a long way to ...

Today was Thursday.  On Thursdays I don’t have school.  So Mommy asks us what we want to do and then if it’s not too hard, we go and do it. Fun! We decided that we needed to go see Grandma C today.  At her work.  And we needed to take her an apple.  That’s what KiKi said.  And we needed to wear our costumes, too. So we did… Since we didn’t get to see her on her birthday on Monday, we gave her birthday kisses today.  (And we got to see PaPaw John and Uncle Ethon too. Extra fun!)

Saturday we got to wear our costumes to dance class. Here’s a little movie of our practicing at dance class. Here’s a little movie of me and KiKi doing our princess walks. Except this time we were flying bugs! And here’s one more short movie of our dancing practice. We have been getting better at learning to listen and try to do what Miss SJ does. After we finished our dancing part, we got to have snack, and it was a cookie snack.  Anyone know why Mommy likes this picture a lot??? After snack, we got our sticker cards.  Every time we go to dance, we give our cards to Miss SJ so she knows we’re there. Then when we get done she gives it back to us with a new sticker! Then it was time to go take our class picture since we were all so cute in our costumes. At the end we always say a prayer to thank God for our friends and fun dance class. Then we go over and see Mommy and Daddy again. We always get big hugs and they...

This month was Down Syndrome Awareness Month.  I told you stories about what I like to do and things that happened each day. Mommy and I said at the beginning we would tell you what DS means in our house.  Here’s all of my things I showed you… I have Down syndrome.  I like to play at the park. I like to be with my family. I have Down syndrome. I love football! I like to cheer for the Bears and I LOVE touchdowns! I have Down syndrome. I love to play with my grandmas. I like to see all my family. I have  Down syndrome. I love to talk and be silly. I have Down syndrome. I have to brush my teeth before bed. I like when my Daddy helps me. I have Down syndrome. I like to look at pictures of when I was a baby. I have Down syndrome. Sometimes I surprise my Mommy and Daddy. I have Down syndrome. I go to school and get pictures just like my friends. I have Down syndrome. I like to play outside and climb trees. I have Down syndrome. I...

Today is my Grandma C’s birthday. So me and KiKi sang her a song this morning. She is far away at Miss Karen’s house, so we had to take a movie of our song. Here you go Grandma C! We love you!

October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month. So we’ll highlight a few little special things about what DS means in our house. [I have Down syndrome. I like to play dress up on Halloween. And I like to have fun with my friends at school.] On Friday, we had a party at school and everyone got to wear their cute costumes. KiKi came to school to be at our party, and she had her ladybug on, too!  I was glad to see her! We took a little walk through the halls so everyone could see all our costumes. Then we went back to the classroom to play some games. But first we decorated cupcakes with fun stuff.  I just ate yogurt pretty much. Then we tried a few of the games. We made some big pumpkin spiders. Then we had spooky story time. Me and KiKi stood by the wall for a picture beforew we took off our costumes. That night, we went to work with Mommy because Daddy was busy.  Most of the time we played in the playroom, but at the end...

October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month. So we’ll highlight a few little special things about what DS means in our house. [I have Down syndrome. I am learning to go potty like big kids do.] Mommy’s excited she got a hot tip on this today…. It’s going to be out soon… check out www.pottytime.com to sign up for notice of when it’s available.  I hope it’s out in time for my birthday soon!! Woo Hoo!!!  Potty Time!!

When we lived in C-U, we had a little adorable circle of friends for Braska in the local DS group.  One of them was Madison. I received news today that sweet Madison was involved in a horrible accident today in her driveway. In a split second, her precious light moved on to shine in heaven. (Photo courtesy of Madison’s family.) I can’t even formulate words that make sense. It all sounds so cheesy and hollow and insignificant. So I pray, asking God to carry her family during this time when they cannot walk alone.  My goodness… I’m numb, and I’m not related to the situation at all. Seems so silly. Please PLEASE pray for Madison’s mother. There are layers to this that I can only imagine will make a horrific situation even more impossible to deal with. <a href="http://braskabear.blogspot.com/2011/10/mommy-life-madison-angel-too-soon.html"><img src="http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x198/wish4rk/madisonbutton.png" /></a> ...

October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month. So we’ll highlight a few little special things about what DS means in our house. [I have Down syndrome.  I like to celebrate with my friends and sing them Happy Birthday.] Today its Jack’s birthday.  He’s 5!!!  We went to lunch today for his birthday, and I had lots of fun, but our mommies didn’t enjoy it as much.  You can see about it over here .  I especially like his birthday because it means that MINE is only a few weeks away!!! Since Mommy forgot to take any pictures today, I thought I’d show you a few old ones of me and Jack…. Here’s one from the first day we met … 5/29/2008 Here’s one from when we were signing together … 10/2009 Here’s one from Halloween a couple years ago … 10/31/2009 Here’s one from my first day of 3-school … 11/23/2009 Here’s some of our Christmas p-jammies pictures … 12/11/2009 And one from this year… 08/15/2011 Happy Birthday Jack!!

October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month. So we’ll highlight a few little special things about what DS means in our house. [I have Down syndrome.  I like to draw pictures.] Today we played at the kitchen table for a little bit while Mommy cleaned the kitchen.  You can see how nice it looks over on her page. I just LOVE white boards.  It’s lots of fun to write on them, and I don’t have to push very hard to get them to draw.  That’s nice because it’s sometimes hard for me to make crayons work on paper. I also just LOVE when big people will write words for me to read or draw pictures for me to see.  So Mommy drew us some pictures…KiKi though they were GREAT, so we had to take pictures. Mommy didn’t think they were AS great… And we did some practice that we learned from Miss J at my school…first Idid my practice. Then KiKi tried some too!  And she made her very first smiley face!! Mommy told her to take a picture with her smiley, so she said she ...