Braska Bear

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

Braska reporting :   Sometimes KiKi and I will read together. I can read books by myself, but she’s a lot faster at it than I am.  I like to sit with her and look while she reads books to me. On Friday, we were reading Curious George.  It’s a big book with lots of his stories in it.   While we were reading, she asked me to scratch an itch on her arm.  She kept telling me where to scratch for her.  I’m happy to help.  She reads books to me, and I scratch for her.  We work pretty well together. Mommy’s Edit : I found this tonight, and I couldn’t help but smile… how far they’ve come!  From 6/28/2009, ages 2.5 and almost 5 months…  the leaning and supporting roles are a bit reversed now, but they’re still together.

Mommy reporting: Today we had an appointment with a PT who specializes in pelvic floor issues.  Typically that’s for older women who have bladder issues. But I took my almost-7-year-old to see her. Maybe I should back up a bit…  I’ll try to summarize as simply as possible. Braska is very verbal. We thought that since she could tell us “I need to go potty,” when she was 2 we would be knocking this potty training thing out with no problem. And it has not gone that way. At all. Braska will be 7 next month and, though she has success on the toilet sometimes, is no where near consistent.  We’ve tried scheduling, and every possible “sure-fire method” including those deemed as especially for kids with DS. I’ve been convinced for a while that something wasn’t clicking, either with the right sensory messages getting to her brain or something medical.  But then she’d do ok for a day or so, and I’d think we were past it. But as we approach her birthday and still s...

It’s great to have friends with fancy cars.

Kinlee reporting: Friday was 50s day at my school. Mommy made me a skirt really fast for me to wear. Braska’s school was on a vacation day so she came with Mommy to my party.  She has lots of friends at my school since she went there last year, so everyone is always glad to see her. This is all of the kids from the kindergarten classes at my school with all 3 teachers. We had a fun 50s day!  We even had a sock hop…it’s a dance! In the afternoon, Auntie Rach came to pick us up and took us on a secret mission. We went to get ready for a surprise party for Mommy’s birthday.  It was a super fun time! There was a lot of music and friends to see. It was a great day of parties! Mommy has more pictures of her party on her page too…