Braska Bear

No matter that the table is a plastic one meant for outside or that the "big screen" is the Nabi... Still a delightful experience to enjoy a show with a meal. Clam chowder for B and pb sandwich for K go wonderfully with Wild Kratts.

I got some great blocks for Christmas from Grandma C. And she built some with me. Best way to do it, I say. ( M ommy note: I can't manage to do this bogging thing like I want to do... Documenting and pondering and discussing... So I'm thinking a snapshot format might work... Thoughts? We shall see...)

(With all the drama and pathetic, yet loud excitement she can muster…. “Dad! I’m sorry, but I accidentally forgot to control myself! I ran around and threw Braska’s very nice birthday card under the piano!” Ah, this kid… It’s hard being 4.

Today’s my birthday.  I’m 7.  But I’ve been telling people I’m 67 all day.  I think it’s silly. Mommy made me a sparkly bling shirt and I did my picture by the door like all the other birthdays. Mommy came to school and brought cupcakes and goodies for my friends.  Mr. H gave me a cool birthday hat when I went to his class.  When my friends sang to me in Mrs. F’s class, I put it on again. This is when they were singing to me.  It made me laugh.  And my picture is on the big board behind me too.  Mrs. F made that for me.  Saturday is my big party.  Lots of my friends are coming, so it’ll be so much fun!  I’ll show more pictures after that. But being 7 is kind of tiring, plus I had extra therapy tonight and I stayed up a little past bedtime to finish my Christmas show I was watching, so it’s time for sleep.  Mommy and me took a quick picture before bed… we’ve been together for 7 years!

Braska reporting : Thursday was a very big day. Halloween AND Grandma C’s birthday.  There was a bunch of fun stuff that we can show you so I won’t talk too much… This is my class, well, one of them.  I also go to Mr. H’s class but it’s a LOT more kids. Mommy came to the party and brought my cheer outfit to be my costume. We kind of forgot to get new costumes this year. Since it was raining a lot, we didn’t get to have our parade outside. So we went to the gym. It’s kind of a long walk, but I did a good job following the class. (Sometimes I like to not follow so well…) Then we sat in the gym for a little bit to see all the costumes. Jack was Spiderman and Dashlyn was a cute black kitty. They’re both in my class. We’ve been friends for a long time. We’ve had halloween pictures with them for a few years. Their mom, Miss Julie, did some super fun games and we made neat things. She also got out silly string at the end....

2007: Pygmy allosaurus 2008: Darling Duck 2009: Puffy alien/monster creatures… unsure exactly but cute.

Mommy reporting: Sorry all the posts came to a screeching halt.  Life took over.  But I do have a lot of things to post hopefully in the next week or so…  In the meantime, here’s what two girls at a pumpkin patch who are cold and don’t want to bother getting their coats on look like.   They like “stealing Daddy’s body heat.”

Braska reporting: Last week on Friday, Mommy and I took a trip with Coach Katie.  She went with us to talk to a bunch of 6th graders in another town a little far way from here about Down syndrome.  Mommy talked to 6 classes of them… she said the same thing every time and they watched a video.  Coach Katie talked, too. She told a little about my cheer squad that I was on last year.  After we talked, we went and had some lunch with the teachers. One of them is Mommy’s friend from a long time ago.  Me and Katie took some silly pictures, too.  Well, mostly I was silly… It was fun day.  This is our second year to go down there and talk to the kids. And we’ll probably go next year, too.

Braska reporting: Ta-da! Soon the rest of the little parts will be done too. But for now, I love to slide and sit on this new floor!

We’re getting new floors in our house. So our piano is in the middle of the kitchen. And we eat breakfast on Mommy’s bed.  It’s kind of weird. And we have to wear shoes all the time to be safe. So right now I can’t show much pictures, but I’ll have some good ones soon!

Flashback from Nov 2011… fun times.

Mommy reporting: This pic is from 3/20/11… Braska was 4.  She wore braids a lot back then.  Now, not so much.  Not because I don’t want to do them, because she is just plain not able to leave them alone. She gets in a zone, touching them, moving them, feeling the texture.  Seriously interrupts everything she’s doing.  It’s hard to watch, quite honestly.  It’s like this often with her hair, especially the last 9 months or so, and it’s getting worse.  It’s a sensory thing, clearly, but I just can’t figure out what tactile need isn’t getting met in order to be obsessed with her hair, especially braids.  So we cut her hair much shorter, going with a regular ponytail, which has often been the preferred way since it’s out of her face and out of sight.  But she got to the point she wouldn’t leave it alone either.  So we cut her hair again, in the attempt to be able to have nothing in it (the ponytail holder got to be the obsessions for a wh...

Braska reporting: We had a fun dinner with Mommy for her birthday last night. And to finish the night, we did pictures just like the one from last year… with a little extra silliness… This is from last year… Today’s a big day, too.  Me and Mommy and Coach Katie (one of our cheer coaches) are going on a trip to talk to a whole BUNCH of kids about Down syndrome.  Me and Mommy went last year.  I’m sure it will be fun again.

Mommy reporting: So…. today I’m 40. And I’m good with it. I’m actually excited about what feels like the beginning of the next big life stage, but there’s always a slight tinge of sadness for me when it comes to birthdays and anniversaries of different things.  I’ll not go on about that here, but I did want to show you some things that made me smile as I looked back. Miss B in some of her earlier cute glory.  (If you need more, go to the archives in the left margin and go back to 2007 and 2008… lots more where these came from…) From October 2007 From October 2008