Braska Bear

29/366 Sunday Jingles

2012-01-29T21:30:00.001-06:00

I took Jingles to church with me today. I sat with Mommy and Daddy today, while KiKi went upstairs to class. Jingles sat with us. I think he liked it.

Then we went to Costco, and we showed Jingles how fun it is to shop there. We LOVE going to Costco!!

Tomorrow, Jingles has to go back to class, so I get to write all our fun things down in the Jingles Journal that he brought home with him. We’re even gonna put pictures in there!

28/366 Position number 1

2012-01-28T22:58:00.001-06:00

We went back to dance class today since it’s Saturday. Here’s a little movie. (Me and KiKi are 3rd and 4th from the left, I have the purple BabyLegs on.)

27/366 Drinking and Jumping

2012-01-27T23:55:00.000-06:00

It’s very late and it was big day, so here it is quick!

After school, we had a special lunch at Chimi’s and Daddy got to come meet us there too. It was fun!

After Daddy went back to work, we finished up our lunch. Mommy was giving me drinks and decided to let me try to use the straw again. And I surprised her BIG! I got drinks with the straw! That’s new!

After we got home from lunch, it was time for naps. We had to rest up before out big party tonight!!!

I got to bring Jingles home for the weekend. He’s our class pet at school. I get to do stuff with him and write about it in my journal. Of course I want to show him to you too! He tucked me in for nap…

KiKi had to take a turn with Jingles, too, of course. She thought he was cuddly.

Tonight we went to Jump4Fun for a big party with all my friends who are “extra” cute like me. I took Jingles along to show him how fun it is there.

We had SO much fun. Daddy was my sliding buddy, but I even like to do them myself!

Maybe more pictures later, but for now, I’m SO tired!

26/366 Playroom and Library

2012-01-26T23:24:00.001-06:00

We stayed home again today because KiKi and me were still pretty darn snotty. It’s hard to sleep when all that stuff is in our noses, so we were a little grouchy.

This is our playroom. It looks nice and neat on the floor, but it’s because Mommy put our toys away where we can’t use them for a while. We left a big mess after Mommy told us to clean up. Sometimes we don’t listen very well… especially when we’re grouchy, like today.

This is our library. A library is where there are lots of books. We have little chairs so that we can sit and read. Since we didn’t take care of our toys, Mommy reminded us to take good care of our books. We definitely DON’T want to lose our books!!

Sometimes we have to learn things that aren’t much fun, like putting our toys away. But we learned about it and we did better. And THAT made Mommy happy!

25/366 Day at home

2012-01-25T22:14:00.001-06:00

I stayed home from school today because I was pretty grouchy this morning and I was still a Snotty McGotty. We got our comfies on and watched some shows, and we played some too. We didn’t want to be in the playroom today. Mommy kept asking us why we were playing in the living room, but we just wanted to play out there today.

KiKi got up in the hiding place in the easel. She almost doesn’t fit.

Then I did it too, because I like to get in that spot. I usually climb up in there when the easel is in the playroom.

Then we played on the floor a little. KiKi likes to play with Mommy’s phone, and I like to watch her play.

24/366 Computer helper

2012-01-24T22:13:00.001-06:00

Every day at school, we pick a job. I like to be the light helper, or the counting helper, or the weather helper maybe. But at home, when Daddy is working with Mommy’s computer on the couch, I like to be the computer helper.

I asked Daddy, “Can I sit with you? Work on the computer?” And he said I could. So we looked at lots of pictures together.

I’ve been a Snotty McGotty the last few days… that’s what we call it when I’ve got an icky nose. It’s all red and it hurts some. I hope it’s better soon.

23/366 Little girl, big eyes

2012-01-23T22:22:00.001-06:00

Wow. What a busy day we had!!

First I went to school. Mommy and KiKi went to the Y for exercise and Y-School but then they came back for my special snack time with Miss J and Miss S. And Miss C was there today too. She checks on how big I am and if I’m eating healthy things to make me grow. Today I wasn’t bigger. I was smaller again.

BUT—I was taller. So I have to start eating things that will help me get bigger to go with my taller-ness. (Mommy note: Stats today—26 lbs, 37.75 inches.)

After school, we went home for a quick lunch and went to the eye doctor. It was time for my check-up to see how my eyes were doing.

This time I decided I wanted to sit in the big chair myself. Mommy was really surprised, but I’m 5 now… I can do lots of things myself! The first doctor looked at my eyes with some lights and showed me a little movie.

Then the first doctor put drops in my eyes and then sent me back out to wait a little more. KiKi was reading a book to Daddy. He came over because the doctor’s office is close to his work. He and KiKi waited out in the big room while Mommy and I went to see the doctors.

My eyes felt kind of funny, and Mommy said they got all big too.

While we were waiting, we decided to take a pretend trip with the car driving place. KiKi put the chairs all there so we could sit down.

Then I got to drive us to the dentist. KiKi said we couldn’t pretend to go to the eye doctor because we were already at the REAL eye doctor.

Then it was my turn to go back again. I like the doctor’s spinning seat.

We got to talk to Dr. L, and he looked at my eyes. He’s done my eye-fixings. He calls them surgery. He said I did good with my last one, but I still need some more fixing. Mommy said that might happen, so we were ready. My next surgery will be in a few weeks.

(Mommy note: Braska has improved from the former tip/tilt situation that was so obvious before the last eye surgery. Her chin is not as high as it was when she was looking down over her nose at things, but she is still looking out of the right corners of her eyes at things. She turns her head to the left of something she’s looking at, instead of looking straight on. So we’re going to do another procedure to once again try to tweak the eye muscles to give her “null point” for her nystagmus a more centered position. Thankfully, the previous two eye surgeries went very well and the recovery is very doable. Wednesday, February 15, will be her next eye surgery. We expect this to go as well, and hopefully it will be her last one.)

22/366 ELMO!

2012-01-22T22:08:00.001-06:00

Today we went to see Elmo’s show. It was GREAT! Sesame Street friends were there and we had a lot of fun!

KiKi took a picture with Dorothy before. I thought the picture time and playtime before was a little too loud, so I didn’t want to do pictures.

Then we went to sit in our seats for the show. We took silly pictures with Auntie Rachel.

And Mommy tickled and bounced me a little to get me ready for the show. It was good to have a minute to relax before the music started.

Then they came out!!! They were just right in front of us!

This is what we did when we saw them…..

It was a lot of fun!! We didn’t dance around and laugh like Mommy thought we might, but we watched the whole show VERY carefully and liked it a lot. We just never saw anything like that before!

When we got home, Mommy wanted to take pictures of our cute shirts, since this was the first time we wore them…

See, now we’re tough…………………. no, not really! We’re goofy!

(Mommy note: In-laws…. recognize that face on KiKi in the first shot above? I need to get some pics scanned so I can do a comparison shot. So amazing in that one I think!)

21/366 Back to practice

2012-01-21T22:46:00.001-06:00

Today we got to go back to dance class again. It’s always fun!

After dance, we went to PaPaw’s house because cousin Xander was there visiting. We played a lot. He went to take a nap, so me and KiKi sat with Grandma C a little and played on the couch with PaPaw.

20/366 Decorating with love

2012-01-20T22:22:00.000-06:00

Christmas stuff is gone now, but we liked having cute things around and especially the things on the windows. We call it decorating. That means sticking things on windows.

So today we got to do more decorating with lots of hearts.

KiKi’s Turn: Working on words

2012-01-20T14:13:00.001-06:00

Kinlee’s been into words all her life. Especially since her big sister has been a big fan and forces word flashcards, books, and letter games on her every chance she gets.

But KiKi has taken off long ago, passing up her big sis, which is ok and just part of the natural dynamic of our family. She’s a great reader, which we are very excited about, and lately, Kinlee has been pushing the development envelope a little into spelling and just has started a real interest in writing, too.

So a few days ago when she decided to play a new game with her magnetic letters, it blew us away and made us proud all at once.

(In case you’ve not got time for the whole thing, there’s spelling at the beginning, then the last minute or so is writing, the first real attempts.)

I do so wish the sound was better and I wasn’t so darn loud… you can just barely hear her working out each word, making each sound and thinking outloud about what letter it should be for that sound.

Then today, on her own, she was very excited to show me this…..

Unassisted. No hand over hand. Just her.

Impressive, I think. Fun.

19/366 How big are we?

2012-01-19T23:19:00.001-06:00

Tonight while Mommy was at work, Auntie Rach came over to play with us a while. We went to get yummy eats and did some shopping. And we got this fun thing that matches our room. It’s so that we can see how big we are getting.

My number (37.5 inches) was just a tiny bit above KiKi’s number. (37 inches)

It’s gonna be fun to see how fast we grow! Thanks Auntie Rach!

18/366 Cold but cute

2012-01-18T23:33:00.001-06:00

Today it was cold. REAL cold. So we had to bundle up a little bit more than usual. When we got to school, Mommy wanted to take a picture of us in our winter stuff, but KiKi was too cold and didn’t want to stop for a picture.

She was happier later when we got home and we asked Mommy to go outside, and she said, “Yes!” Wow! We were surprised, but we went right out and had some fun!

We like to play on our swingset a lot.

Swinging is the best. Like the best thing to do. All the time. Even when it’s cold.

17/366 Snuggle sleep

2012-01-17T21:55:00.001-06:00

Sometimes I get out of bed but I’m still tired. So when Daddy holds me after nap, it’s nice to snuggle up and get a little more sleep.

16/366 Computer buddy

2012-01-16T23:33:00.001-06:00

KiKi is really good with the computer. She can figure stuff out so quick. She can find good things to watch and play fun games on the computer. I like to try sometimes, but I can’t make it work good like her. So she puts on our songs and videos for me to watch. Today we watched some good Laurie music.

KiKi likes to play Starfall. She knows how to open up the computer and make it go to where Starfall is. I like to watch her play and tell her where to go next.

15/366

2012-01-15T21:57:00.001-06:00

Quick one tonight… but we’ve got video to come soon!

KiKi fell asleep in the car on the way home from church. Guess that candy cane wore her out… (See it in her hand? She made it all pointy!)

Here’s what KiKi wore to church. She doesn’t usually like to let Mommy take these pictures anymore, but today she didn’t fight. She’s getting so grown up, isn’t she?

We played with our easel tonight, drawing and making words. Mostly it was KiKi because I was busy listening to my iPod and watching football. She did some great writing, and we’ve got some video to show you soon. She even surprised Mommy and Daddy with some stuff she could do!! I decided later that I would do a little, too, but I was done pretty quick. Writing is hard work!

Have a good week!

14/366 No work!

2012-01-14T22:08:00.001-06:00

Today Mommy didn’t have to work! And since Daddy doesn’t have to work on Saturdays, we really had fun with our work-free day! We didn’t have dance class either, so we found some other fun things to do.

We had breakfast with Miss Linda and Mr. Gary at a new place.

Everybody thought it was funny that we went there, but it was yummy food and Mommy liked that it reminded her of when she was a little girl. This was Miss Linda’s first time, and Daddy and Mr. Gary had been there once before. Mommy has been there lots, but it was a really long time ago. I ate something called grits and they were GREAT! I ate almost 2 bowls of them. Yum!

We even danced around to some music. Breakfast with dancing is the best, you know.

After breakfast, we went to Aldi to get some food stuff, then we went home and Mommy made a bunch of veggie soup for me to have this week. When it was all cooking, she took us to the Y to play basketball and run around for a while.

I didn’t sleep very good last night again, so I took a nap after lunch. KiKi and Mommy went back to the Y to swim, since KiKi wanted to and Mommy doesn’t usually get to say “yes” when she asks to go.

We just got to be at home tonight, all together. It was nice. We haven’t all been home at the same time in a really big lot of days. And we get to do it again tomorrow! Yay!

13/366 I’m a scientist

2012-01-13T19:05:00.000-06:00

That’s what Sid always says, that we’re all scientists when we try to find out how things work and stuff like that. We love to watch Sid… now if I can just figure out how to get Mommy to let us watch some more!

12/366 Bright snowy day

2012-01-12T22:29:00.001-06:00

Today there was snow outside when we got up. And it was cold. REALLY cold. We could tell something was different because when we got up it wasn’t as dark as it usually is. The snow makes it day sooner, I guess.

It took a LONG time to get all dressed to go out and play, but we finally got to go outside. We took great big spoons with us and just scraped all the snow off everything. We thought it was a fun game.

After we came in, because it was SO windy and cold, we played at the table for a while with our color books that we got at Christmas. They are fun, and you can color them over and over again. And Mommy likes that they don’t make ANY mess except a little bit of water drips sometimes.

I don’t like to color very much, but today I did it for a little longer, and Mommy was surprised. It’s hard work for me, though. This special kind makes it really easy, so I practiced for a little while before I decided to go do something else.

Tonight we went to Y-school while Mommy was working and Daddy did his workout. It was a pretty nice quiet day today.

11/366 Late to PJ day

2012-01-11T22:26:00.001-06:00

I got up early today, but then I went back to sleep in Mommy’s bed. I didn’t sleep very well last night, so she let me sleep for a while. But then it was time for school and I just woke up! I was kinda snotty in my nose, so I got to take a nice warm shower. We call it de-snotting. I just like it because I LOVE to take showers!

Oh, and it really does feel better to get all that icky stuff out of my nose.

I finally got to school, and it was PJ day, but Mommy forgot to take a picture of me in my p-jammies because we were in a big hurry to get to school and then after school too. Don’t worry, I’ll wear p-jammies in a picture again soon!

We finally got to eat lunch and take naps, then when Daddy got home, we all went to the Y. Mommy took me and KiKi to the pool to play and swim and swim and swim, while Daddy went to work out.

When we got home, Dad showed how strong he was. Except he sure made a funny face while he was picking us up in the basket…

10/366 When you get up really early

2012-01-10T23:13:00.001-06:00

When you get up really early, you get to cozy up in Mommy and Daddy’s bed for a while.

But you also get to give Daddy big smoochies before he goes to work. He leaves when it’s still dark.

But when you get up really early, you gotta take a good nap, because you get tired early too.

(Mommy note: KiKi’s little orange Bible there. She was reading it when she fell asleep. Pretty good way to snooze.)

9/366 The Listener

2012-01-09T23:23:00.001-06:00

When I’m sitting on the potty, sometimes I don’t go right away. So Mommy says we have to listen to hear the tinkle. And we listen…

Today, Mommy said she was going to go to the other room for a minute, and KiKi said, “It’s ok, Mom. I’ll be the listener, and I’ll tell you if there’s a tinkle.”

(Mommy note: I don’t like to post potty pictures… hence a lot of cute times not being shared. But this one kind of cracked me up, and everyone is appropriately covered, so I thought it was worth it.)

8/366 Rest and running

2012-01-08T21:29:00.001-06:00

This morning I went in to cuddle with Mommy early. But not for very long. KiKi came in a little later, but I wanted to get up. So Mommy got up with me, but KiKi said she wanted “more sleep,” so Mommy put her down by Daddy and when we came back in a few minutes, they were zonked out good.

Mommy had to work most of today, so we played with Daddy and we also got to go to play at Jack and Dashlyn’s house, too. Mommy picked us up after work and we came home and got to be silly for a while. We love to run in circles in the living room!

When it was almost time for bed, we pretended to sleep on the floor with Daddy. I think Daddy would just stay there and sleep if we let him… but WE were just playing!

It’s gonna be a busy week!!! I hope we can put our pictures up still!

Mommy life: Little evening chat

2012-01-07T22:14:00.001-06:00

Braska has a couple funny little things she tosses out in conversations occasionally, and I’ve had trouble catching them in spontaneous situations. So I thought I’d at least get it on video so that I don’t forget it down the road. And while I’m doing that, I might as well share, right?

If you’re around Braska in her regular settings, you’ll know this isn’t her best example of clarity (at the end of a long day with no nap!), but it’s still cute. (Don’t miss the last bit. Priceless. Will be referred to when the teenage attitude shows up one day.)

***You may have noticed one phrase in the video… sparkling with asterisks. This is something that showed up out of nowhere. Anytime she is asked “why” something, she answers with that response. And we’ve talked several times about what it means and how we don’t say that… but honestly we’re not 100% convinced she’s saying *that*. And she seems to think it’s funny when we address it, so we’re opting to leave it alone for the most part. If she IS saying that, she’s not using it “appropriately” or with malice, so for now, we’re hoping it just fades away quietly.

7/366 Baby party

2012-01-07T19:08:00.001-06:00

Today we went with Mommy to a baby party at the Y for one of Mommy’s friends. Mommy won a game they played so she got to open a present. Except we wanted to do it.

When it was over, we stopped in our favorite spot… the windows by the pool.

We also got to play some games with a new friend Ms. Mary, and she took us on a bear hunt while Mommy finished working. It was SO great!!

6/366 Working together

2012-01-06T22:53:00.001-06:00

KiKi lets Belle out sometimes, but this time I wanted to help. We make a lot of funny noises when we try to open things that are hard. Mommy giggles.

5/366 Tuckered out

2012-01-05T22:22:00.001-06:00

Another busy day, but mostly playing and painting and dancing and running at home. Then Y-School. But Mommy forgot to take pictures so she had to bright us when we’re sleeping.

(KiKi sleeps in the chair sometimes. I always sleep in my bed. It’s comfy.)

4/366 watercolors and water fun

2012-01-04T21:09:00.000-06:00

Today we did a lot. I went back to school today since all the days of no school are done. I had lots of fun with my friends! I like school SO much!

Then we did some shopping after school. When we got home, KiKi wanted to paint, and I said I did, too. Mommy got our paints out that we got for Christmas in our stockings.

Mommy made it so we wouldn’t make too much mess. She doesn’t like when we make messes, but we’re teaching her that sometimes messes can be fun.

Look, I even got it on my chin! (I’m not sure how I did that.)

KiKi’s favorite color is black. She paints a lot with black.

Mommy was trying to get me to practice things like holding the paintbrush right and coloring good on the picture. I told her “I just want to paint! It’s Braska’s turn!”

Tonight after Daddy got home and we had dinner, we went to the Y to swim!!! Me and KiKi were SO SO excited! I was taking special swim class with Miss S, but then I started to not like it at all. At All. And I got very loud about it. So Mommy and Daddy decided I could take a break. So they said we were going to go just to play, not to work and get sad. And that’s what we did.

And ya know what?!? Miss Julie let me borrow a super great thing that I put on my arms and around my belly. And I just LOVED it! I swam all by myself for the first time ever!!!

Mommy and Daddy were really excited, and Mommy asked one of her friends that works there to take pictures.

I just kept saying, “Mommy, can I swim to Daddy?” “I wanna let go and swim, please.” It was lots of fun to get to do it myself. I jumped in on the side and climbed out and it was so fun!! We’re gonna go back and have some more fun times in the pool. I get to do just fun practice for a while before we do class again. It’s a good idea, I think.

After we did our swimming, we went to Y-School. That’s what we call the play place where we go when Mommy and Daddy go do exercise. Me and KiKi like playing in there a lot.

It was a busy day and we are really tired. So it’s time for bed!

3/366 yes, 366

2012-01-03T22:13:00.001-06:00

(Mommy sometimes forgets about stuff. And she forgot that this year we have an extra day. So we changed the numbers. )

Some days we might only have one picture to show you, but today we have a few funny ones. Is that ok with you?

Today we got dressed to go do some errands. I didn’t have to go to school, so we just went to some different places. We really like to do errands.

Before we left, Mommy wanted to do some kitchen door pictures. That’s where we go to wait when Mommy says, “Kitchen door!” That means we’re about to leave to go somewhere. But we were being silly, so she just took a bunch of pictures to show us how silly we were.

This one was when we were telling a secret…
KiKi: (whispering) Hey guess what
Me: (whispering) What
KiKi: (yelling) It’s time to go!
Me: YAY!!!

We went a few places, but then we went to our favorite place. ALDI!!! We know where everything is and we are really good shopping helpers.

And after Aldi, we went to Auntie Rachel’s office to see her and we got some lunch in her big work building. I had some really yummy soup.

2/365 wide open spaces

2012-01-02T22:58:00.001-06:00

Our tree is all gone, so me and KiKi spent most of our day running around the living room and tackling each other in the big open part. Mommy forgot to take any pictures while she was laughing and watching us... But here is where it was...

1/365 Very Big Bear

2012-01-01T12:21:00.000-06:00

We’re going to try to show you a picture every day this year. (Abby’s mom did it and we loved it last year!) It might not always be super great, but we’re going to try. I have a camera and sometimes take pictures, so sometimes I’ll put my pictures up too.

Today, we’ll start with Mommy’s picture. We watched the Bears at Miss Cindy’s today, and she has a room with a very very BIG TV and super comfy chairs to sit in, kind of like when we go to the movies.

See how big it is? It’s way bigger than me!

And we won!!!! Yay! See ya, Bears… Get ready for next season!

Mommy life: Prepare for BLTN posts

2011-12-30T10:31:00.001-06:00

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 margin as well. But I make no promises if it will always be up-to-the-minute. I do all my posting from Windows Live Writer, so I rarely ever actually enter Blogger directly. (Streamlining is important to me. Posting to 5 blogs in a matter of a few clicks with no sign-in changes is priceless!)

So there you have it… there will be content coming. It might be a tad hidden. But now you know how to find it! Remember—you can comment on old posts and they still show up and come through notifications for me. So tell us what you think! Comments are part of our archives and back-up as well, so I cherish them for later when Braska can enjoy what friends said back when she was “little.”

I hope to do better with the freshness of 2012 to rejuvenate me. Current posts and BLTN posts?? Here’s hopin’ !

Happy New Year!!

It’s almost time!

2011-12-23T22:43:00.000-06:00

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

Pictures by the tree

2011-12-05T23:36:00.001-06:00

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!

It’s my birthday!! I’m 5!

2011-11-21T15:56:00.001-06:00

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!

Good report from Miss L

2011-11-08T23:35:00.001-06:00

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.)

Mommy report: “Eating” cookies

2011-11-04T14:52:00.001-05:00

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 go. And though most kiddos don’t have anywhere near the long learning-to-chew journey that Braska has (but a few do right, Jennie?) for those that know those months and years of work waiting for true eating to happen, it can be so difficult to watch.

The true picture of where she is in this process… At a couple weeks short of 5 years old…
~She is crunching on very small graham cracker sticks in feeding therapy. She will close her teeth and crunch a few times. Sometimes the crumbs will stay in and she’ll manage them and swallow, but many times the pieces come out.
~It has taken us over 18 months of feeding therapy to get to the point that she will even have food in her mouth that is crunchy, and then to close her teeth and make the crunch sound.
~She still has a very VERY long way to go before she just picks up a snack cracker and eats it like her sister does.
~She IS still taking all her necessary fluids orally, as well as all her calories and nutrition in her food. No tube use (except for eye surgery day when she slept all day) for over 2 months now. YAY!
~Her “eating” on a daily basis is still mashed or pureed foods, though not a super smooth texture. She is handling a thicker, more lumpy texture at times. She can now do instant oatmeal without it being blended.

So celebrate with us for what she has accomplished! But keep pulling and praying for our girl to keep progressing. I’m looking forward to the day I hand her a graham cracker and she just eats is like no big deal!

One more dress-up

2011-11-03T23:36:00.001-05:00

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!)

Fun-full Saturday

2011-11-02T23:15:00.001-05:00

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 tell us how proud they are of us.

This week, since we were in our costumes, we went down to see PaPaw John at his house after dance class. Grandma C was not home, but we got to show PaPaw how cute we were.

Mommy went to work, and we took naps. And after nap, Daddy took us to a birthday party for our friend Anthony. It was at the jumping place where they have great big slides and bouncy houses.

Here’s a quick movie of me an Uncle Ethon sliding. He came to play with us there.

KiKi’s favorite part was Batman. Isn’t this a funny picture? (And Daddy didn’t even tell her to stand like that!)

What a fun day!!!

31 for 21: I have Down syndrome. Look what I can do.

2011-10-31T23:04:00.001-05:00

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 like to cheer for our teams and watch ballgames with my family.
I have Down syndrome. I go to school at TWO schools and I like them both.
I have Down syndrome. I have lots of stuff that happens every week. Sometimes TOO much!
I have Down syndrome. I love music and singing, and especially singing Happy Birthday when someone has a birthday happening.
I have Down syndrome. I like to read stories before bed. And I like when my Grammy comes to visit.
I have Down syndrome. I like to read books and make pictures.
I have Down syndrome. I love my sister. And I love books. A lot.
I have Down syndrome. I like to play with my uncles whenever I can.
I have Down syndrome. I like to play with my friends.
I have Down syndrome. I like to draw pictures.
I have Down syndrome. I like to celebrate with my friends and sing them Happy Birthday.
I have Down syndrome. I am learning to go potty like big kids do.
I have Down syndrome. I like to play dress up on Halloween. And I like to have fun with my friends at school.

So if someone asks you what kids with Down syndrome can do, you can tell them about my list from this month.

THAT is what it means to have Down syndrome at my house.

Happy Birthday song for Grandma C

2011-10-31T10:18:00.001-05:00

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!

31 for 21: My Halloween Party

2011-10-30T23:53:00.000-05:00

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 we tried to help Mommy some. Except we thought playing in this box was way more fun.

31 for 21: Potty Time

2011-10-29T21:10:00.001-05:00

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!!

Mommy life: Madison. An angel too soon.

2011-10-28T23:46:00.000-05:00

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.

(Please feel free to post this button and pray for this family.

31 for 21: Happy Jack Day!

2011-10-27T23:40:00.000-05:00

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!!

31 for 21: Yay for white boards

2011-10-26T23:30:00.000-05:00

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 would do a smiley face with it. That’s a pretty goofy smiley face on her!

31 for 21: My BFFs

2011-10-25T22:03:00.001-05:00

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 with my friends.]

Tonight I will just show you some pictures of me and my friends Dashlyn and Jack. We live really close and we go to the same school, and we love to play at their house. It is really good to have friends like that!

31 for 21: Visit from Zippin

2011-10-24T23:33:00.001-05:00

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 with my uncles whenever I can.]

Today Uncle Ethon came over for a while. He and Daddy went to a movie together. We love to see Uncle Ethon. Or, as our cousin Xander used to call him, Uncle Zippin. We still think that’s a funny name.

(This picture was taken last month when Uncle Ethon was here, not today, but it’s still cute.)

31 for 21: Mommy’s favorite new picture

2011-10-23T18:18:00.000-05:00

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 love my sister. And I love books. A lot.]

This morning we were relaxing in our jammies since we didn’t have to go anywhere. We went to church last night, so we got to just be at home today. I was reading my ABC book because I really like that book. I asked Mommy to read it to me even though I know most of it without even looking. KiKi said she would read it to me, so we climbed up on the couch and she did.

Mommy started smiling at us all goofy like because she said we were so cute. She took this picture and then showed it to us. We aren’t even looking at her, but she really likes it. So I’ll show it to you and see what you think.

31 for 21: Read this. Paint that.

2011-10-22T23:08:00.000-05:00

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 read books and make pictures.]

(Pssssst… to all of you who have become buddies of mine in the last couple of days, HI! I’m so glad you like my stories!!! Thank you!)

I’m still trying to get better, so there’s not really any new pictures to show you. Daddy wants me to be extra careful for my eyes, so I didn’t get to go to dance class today or to the playground with my friends. KiKi went and she had fun. I can’t wait to go next time.

So I’ll show you some pictures from last week. KiKi is getting really good at reading. She just picks up books and knows all the words! It’s so cool! She reads books to me, and I like that a lot.

KiKi also kept asking Mommy for paints lately. So she got some for KiKi to try to use and see if she liked them. And she does . LOTS!

I did some painting too. But I don’t like it as much. It was fun for a few minutes though. How’s my hand look, Miss J?

Hopefully I’ll get to do more playing soon… but it’s not so bad to relax for a while!

31 for 21: Some new extra cool friends

2011-10-21T09:26:00.001-05:00

Crazy Beautiful Love is hosting the Hoppin’ for 21 Blog Hop today.

Since I’m still home resting from getting my eyes fixed, we’re gonna cuddle up and look at lots of pictures of new friends.

If you’re hopping by from the Blog Hop, HELLO! I’m glad you came to see me! I’m Braska, and I’m gonna be 5 next month. It’s almost happy birthday time! My little sister is KiKi and she’s 2. We live close to St. Louis!

Be sure to click over there on the left and join our fun bunch. Hope you leave me a note to say hello, and we’ll come see YOU too!

Oh! And there IS a prize involved. If you link up your blog to the Blog Hop, there are goodies to be awarded! So go check it out!

31 for 21: The cute old days

2011-10-20T23:19:00.001-05:00

I’m resting, but I’m feeling pretty good. So thanks to everyone who has been thinking about me!

Mommy is working on putting my blog stories and pictues in a way on the computer that I can keep forever and look at when I’m a big girl and I can read it all myself. So she’s looking back at a lot of pictures when I was a little bit smaller. She found some cute things, so I thought I’d let her share my story today…

~~In the last 2 years, Braska has grown 3 inches and 4 lbs. And almost 2 of those lbs came in the last 6 months. Amazing. This was her then.

~~Two years ago this month, we were sporting our Cardinals wear. But things looked a little different. Braska at almost 3 and Kinlee at 8 months. The shirt that Braska has on in that pic is the same one KiKi has on in this pic.

~~A couple of summers ago, we got to meet our friend LC for the first time when she came to our house. Both girls have grown up a little bit since then… but not all that much.

31 for 21: Happy it’s bedtime

2011-10-19T22:02:00.001-05:00

It was a long day. I slept for most of it though.

And now I’m ready for sleep again.

You can read the stories before this one to see how things went for me today. And Mommy might talk some more about it over on her page later too. But this is how I was when I left the hospital.

Looks a little weird. That’s what KiKi said.

I slept most of the day after we got home. Tonight I got up and played a little for about an hour, and I felt pretty good. But I was asleep again pretty soon.

I’m glad it’s bedtime. I’m ready to see if tomorrow is a little better.

Heading home now

2011-10-19T14:26:00.001-05:00

I'm ready to go.

Still napping through it

2011-10-19T11:38:00.001-05:00

It’s like magic… I can still tell you what’s happening when I am sleeping in the other room. That’s part of that 47th chromosome, I say.

The ear doctor said I don’t need tubes, so he just cleaned out my ears and left them alone. The eye doctor said I was really good and let him do all his fixing. And now the teeth doctor is messing with me. I’m so glad I get to sleep while they work.

Here’s a couple more pictures from earlier… I was happy when I got here!

Me and Daddy did my sight words flashcards for a while since we were waiting. I showed some of the doctors and nurses that I can read the words.

I’ll be done soon. I never feel good when I wake up, though. Boo.

Edited to add: I’m done! All went well… Mommy and Daddy should come see me soon I hope.

Playing and waiting

2011-10-19T09:43:00.001-05:00

Mommy is trying to take a million pictures while we wait for the doctors to work on me. I'm getting tired of it. So we had to have giggle and tickle time to get me to smile.

Posing early

2011-10-19T08:10:00.001-05:00

I'm here. I'm feeling good and talking to everyone. They always like me so much here because I say "Good job!" and "thank you" "you're welcome" alot. It is important to be nice to people who want to fix me!

31 for 21: Grammy story time

2011-10-18T23:04:00.001-05:00

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 read stories before bed. And I like when my Grammy comes to visit.]

Tonight Grammy came to my house. She is going to stay with KiKi tomorrow while me and Mommy and Daddy go to the hospital to see the doctors.

She read us our stories in the big chair tonight before bed.

She takes really good care of us and always teaches us new things. We’re so glad she came to see us!

31 for 21: Mommy’s happy birthday

2011-10-17T22:45:00.001-05:00

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 love music and singing, and especially singing Happy Birthday when someone has a birthday happening.]

We had a nice day. I’ll have to tell more about it later… but this was one more time for singing right before bed. We did a good job of remembering and we sang to Mommy this morning when we got up, and it was more perky. But here’s a little movie of the night-time one…

31 for 21: Ready for this week?

2011-10-16T22:58:00.001-05:00

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 have lots of stuff that happens every week. Sometimes TOO much!]

Tomorrow is a special day at our house… anyone know why? Plus the Bears and Cardinals won, so yay!

Then Wednesday is when I have more fixing done on my eyes at the hospital.

And the rest of the week I’ll be resting.

So tonight, I’m sleeping plenty.

31 for 21: Thursday School

2011-10-15T23:15:00.001-05:00

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 go to school at TWO schools and I like them both.]

KiKi has a new school. It’s at a church that’s kind of by our house, and she goes there sometimes on Tuesdays for a little bit when she wants to go to school like me.

But on some Thursdays when Mommy has to go do cleaning work, then we both go there, and we call it Thursday School that day. I don’t have school at my school on Thursdays, so I get to go with KiKi.

These are some pictures from our first day of going there together a few weeks ago.

First I have to tell KiKi that when we walk by the cars area, we have a buddy and hold hands.

Then I go ahead because I’m older, and I have to show here how to do it.

Then she walks with me and we go to find our classes.

We really like Thursday school, and KiKi even likes to go on Tuesdays sometimes too. The teachers are all really nice there and we get to play outside and do crafts and have snacks. KiKi always gets upset when Mommy comes to get us, and she tries to hide so she doesn’t have to go home. She is silly like that.

31 for 21: Game 5 win!

2011-10-14T23:31:00.001-05:00

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 cheer for our teams and watch ballgames with my family.]

Tonight the Cardinals won again! Yay! Hopefully they will win next game too and we’ll all dance around.

Here’s KiKi in the shirt we had last year. We’ve been sharing it. She wore it this year, but it’s almost too small. It has “18 months” on the tag, so Mommy says it is about time that it is too small.

This week, we’ve been wearing our Cardinals outfits that Mommy found on super bargain at our favorite shop. The first day we wore them together, KiKi didn’t want to take pictures… (See we got a bigger one like our old one. Except it’s pretty much too big on me right now.)

But later that day, she was all giggles when she was playing in the mirror with Mommy. I tell KiKi that’s she is so cute all the time.

Go Cards! Hope you keep winning!

31 for 21: Tree huggers

2011-10-13T23:35:00.001-05:00

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 outside and climb trees.]

We have a tree in the backyard that I always want to climb in. Like always. Like I don’t want to play on anything else, just “climb the tree, Mommy! climb the tree!” The problem is that there’s no branches to climb on. Just one place way high up where Daddy put us once so we can sit. We’re kind of squished in there, but I still keep asking to do it. KiKi decided to try it, too.

31 for 21: School pictures

2011-10-12T21:41:00.001-05:00

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 go to school and get pictures just like my friends.]

Here’s some of my school pictures from a few weeks ago. I think I did ok. Usually Mommy gets growly with me because I don’t like to look at the camera and smile. And the people taking pictures always try to be silly or shake things at me, and I just look at them like they’re crazy. She was pretty surprised to see that some of the pictures were not too bad. These are our favorite ones…

This is when I was telling them how many ways I was the best kid there!
1. I’m the cutest.
2. I’m the smallest—which in the weird rules of my family means I’m the cutest, thanks to my Great Grandma F.
3. I had the best outfit there, complete with super cool shoes. That’s what I think.

(All photos courtesy of Lace.)

(Mommy note: Here’s a couple other shots, not great, but not the worst ones. I put them here just to show the tilt and tip, especially in the one on the left, that is the reason for her eye surgery this coming Wednesday, 10/19. This isn’t the best example, but some of you have asked about it, so I thought I’d include these. The one on the right also shows off BOTH her crooked pinkies, one of my favorite traits of DS.)

31 for 21: Mommy clarification

2011-10-11T22:31:00.001-05:00

Real quick, because I’m tired and really want some sleep.
~Braska has gone 7 weeks now without using the tube. That’s big!
~Braska’s button is not out for good. It’s been returned to it’s proper location in the belly.
~The button had been looking loose, and instead of actually checking the balloon and/or adding water to make it more snug, we just kept saying we needed to do it.
~When she woke up from her nap yesterday, she emerged from her room button-less. We scrambled to find it and then decided to try to put it back in even though it had likely been over an hour since it had been out. (The openings can often start closing within minutes.)
~We do not have a back-up button currently. Just figured we’d make it through the remainder of our time with this one.
~The button was located and after quite a bit more effort than we’re used to exerting, Daddy got it back in.
~I had resigned to the fact that the pressure was SERIOUSLY now on us to keep up this oral thing. But then he managed to get it in. Whew.

I don’t intend to use the button, but she’s having surgery next week and then it’s winter with colds and such. I’d prefer to hang onto that thing just in case for a little while longer.

So THANK YOU for all your kind words, and keep cheering for our girl! But for now, we’re gonna keep little g-button right where he is. We hope.

31 for 21: What’s wrong with this picture?

2011-10-10T22:19:00.001-05:00

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. Sometimes I surprise my Mommy and Daddy.]

Oops… notice anything here??? Or not here??

31 for 21: 4 1/2 years ago

2011-10-09T22:28:00.001-05:00

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 look at pictures of when I was a baby.]

Mommy’s working on getting all my stories ready to be saved so we can make them a book sometime when I’m older. And she is working on some from when I was a tiny baby. Here’s some pictures she found today that she likes a lot. I like them, too, but I think I’m cute ALL the time! Which one’s your favorite??

Mommy taking care of me after my helicopter ride to the hospital.

This was my sad little face while I was in the hospital not feeling very good.

Me and Grandma C.

This was one of Mommy’s favorites back then. My first pink polo outfit.

Me and Uncle Ethon.

And this was when I was trying applesauce at the beginning. It was yummy!

I’ve grown a little, that’s for sure!

31 for 21: Happy teeth brushing

2011-10-08T23:11:00.001-05:00

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 have to brush my teeth before bed. I like when my Daddy helps me.

For a long long time, I did NOT like brushing my teeth. Did NOT NOT NOT like it, I mean. I would yell and cry and fight and kick and bite my teeth together really hard so Mommy and Daddy couldn’t get the brush in there.

Then last year we tried some new things with Miss Sue. She is really smart about all the things I don’t like with my mouth. And I practiced just a little tiny bit at a time, and I practiced over and over.

And now, Mommy and Daddy are so proud of how good I let them brush, and sometimes I even help!

Here’s a little movie of the other night when I was telling Daddy to do it slow and fast.

31 for 21: Stuff I said yesterday

2011-10-07T14:34:00.001-05:00

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 love to talk and be silly. ]

Mommy’s been talking to my teachers about what I say when I’m at home and at school. I sometimes talk a lot more at home. So here’s just some little things Mommy noted in one day…

We were in the bathroom for bath time. There’s a door right by the tub. I knocked on the door three times and said, “Penny.” Knock, knock, knock. “Penny.”
(Anyone know what I was doing? It’s from a show. Mommy and Daddy cracked up laughing.)

Me: (I’ve been a little snotty lately.) Ooh yuck! I’m Snotty McGotty. Hey Mommy, I need a Kleenex!

I spilled some milk on the table…
Me: Uh oh, I made a mess. I’ll clean it up. Please gimme a washcloth.

Mommy: It’s time for bed. Lay down on your pillow.
Me: I wanna sit up.
Mommy: No, baby. It’s time to lay down.
Me: No lay down. I wanna sit up. I’m not tired.

Mommy’s phone made a noise…
Me: Mommy did you hear that? It’s your phone.

There was a loud noise outside…
Me: Hey, what happened? Did you hear that? Let’s go see outside.

KiKi was crying because she didn’t want to go to bed at nap.
Me: She is sad, Mommy. I give her hug. Make her better.

Me and Mommy were sitting on the couch to have some milk. I put my head back on the couch and said, “Mommy let’s sleep.” Mommy put her head back, too. Then I said, “Now close your eyes.” Mommy did. “Count to 10 with me.” So I counted and Mommy said them with me. Then we pretended we were sleeping for a minute. Then I sat up and said, “WAKE UP!” It’s fun to play sleep!

KiKi was being grouchy after she got up in the morning. I told Mommy, “Keeks is grouchy. Need a nap.”

When I wanted to watch a show after school, I started picking up things in the living room. “Let’s clean it up. Put this away. I put it over here.”

When we were watching our favorite movie, Tangled, I was yelling at the TV when they were looking for Rapunzel… “Rapunzel! Where ARE you??”

When Mommy doesn’t listen to me fast enough, I go and grab her chin and turn it around. “Look at me, Mommy! Look at me!” She said, “What do you want?” I told her, “I wanna watch a show. I wanna watch a show PLEASE!” She asked me, “What do you want to watch?” So I told her, “I want to watch Blue’s Clues please.”

When Mommy is working on her computer, I like to sit by her. “Mommy, can I sit with you?” Sometimes I try to close the lid. “No more computer. Let’s read a book.”

I was sitting by Mommy on the couch, and I was licking my foot. She looked at me with a grouchy face. I said, “No licking the foot!” Mommy said, “That’s right.” So I said, “Ok, I just kiss it.” *smooch*

And best of all, as Mommy is typing this…
Me: What are you doing Mommy?
Mommy: I’m writing on the blog.
Me: Oh yeah. Blog.
Mommy: Do you want to say anything else to people today?
Me: Hmm. Yeah… I am wonderfully made!
(That was my Bible verse at church last week. I’ve been saying it a lot. Mommy and Daddy are very proud!)

31 for 21: Grandma C rocks

2011-10-06T14:51:00.001-05:00

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 love to play with my grandmas. I like to see all my family. ]
Today Mommy had to go to my IEP meeting. That’s where they talk about how much I get to see my teachers and what stuff I am going to try to learn this year. We were going to go to Kinlee’s new school, but she’s been sick so we had to stay home. While Mommy was gone, Grandma C came to play with us. It was VERY fun!
Mommy will talk more about the meeting over here. If you have questions, you can ask her here or there. I just know she was glad with how it went, and there were goodies left over when she got home. She said I will have a great year, but I already knew that!

31 for 21: Don’t DIS my ABILITY

2011-10-05T21:55:00.001-05:00

This was the shirt I wore to school today. But we didn’t take any pictures today. We were busy taking Daddy to the dentist to fix his teeth that had problems and trying to let Mommy rest since she doesn’t feel good and KiKi is still pretty hot too. So that picture is from last year. (Click for some more super cute pics of my super cute friend and me.)

Tomorrow is the meeting where all my teachers get together with Mommy and talk about what I’m gonna work on this year. It’s called an IEP. You can check out what Mommy has to say about it or you can ask questions if you want, too.

I just know that the most important thing that we always say to everyone is this… never go to your IEP meeting without goodies. Treat your team nice!

31 for 21: Keep me fever free!

2011-10-04T22:25:00.001-05:00

KiKi hasn’t felt very good for the last couple days. She was really hot last night and again today. (You can read what Mommy said about it here and here and here.)

Dr. A wanted to see her, so we went after school. She was not very excited about going. She said it was supposed to be my turn at the doctor, not hers. I do go see doctors more than KiKi, but today it was all her turn.

She did pretty good, and she picked a smiley sticker at the end.

She still isn’t feeling very good, but I hope tomorrow she’s better.

We’re saying prayers that I don’t get her germs and fever. You can pray for that, too, and we would say thanks!

31 for 21: Bear Down, Chicago Bears!

2011-10-03T00:02:00.000-05:00

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 love football! I like to cheer for the Bears and I LOVE touchdowns!]

Football is big at our house. But Bears football is the best!! On game days we get our Bears Wear out and get ready to cheer. This was us last Sunday…

And this was from yesterday… we started with some reading practice with Daddy before we left in the morning.

Then we went to Auntie Rachel’s to watch the game. They get the channels that play Bears, and we don’t. So they are nice enough to let us watch it there. We took some pictures on the fireplace.

Grandma C got to come yesterday for the Bears game, with Uncle Ethon and Auntie Cheryl. It was a good game, and we won!! I got to yell “Touchdown” a few times, and that’s lots of fun when we all jump around and cheer!

And we took our regular family Bears picture… Go Bears!

If you want to see some quick but cute video, hop over to Mommy's page. Bear down!!!

31 for 21: Picnic at the park

2011-10-02T06:22:00.000-05:00

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 at the park. I like to be with my family.]

Yesterday Mommy was busy all day at church, so after Daddy took us to dance, and Grandma C came to watch us, we all went to Daddy’s work picnic.

KiKi got on the pony, but not me, no way!

It was a fun day!

31 for 21: It’s time again!!

2011-10-01T07:19:00.000-05:00

Grab This Button

Today starts October. October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month.

There are lots of my friends who are all gonna be putting up a lot of great stories this month. If you wanna see some of them, click on that button up there (my mommy made it for Miss Tricia) and it will show you lots of new friends.

And if anyone has any questions that they want to know what I think about, you can ask me. I’ll answer just for you!

Silly scale again

2011-09-28T17:13:00.001-05:00

Back when I was a tiny baby, I used to have to get on that silly scale over and over and over and over. A lot. Doctors always wanna know how big I am, so they have to check all the time.

Today Miss C came over to check on me and see how good I’m doing with my eating and drinking. And of course she always brings a silly scale with her.

Mommy used to take pictures of me every time on the scale, and there were lots of scale times… like here, and here, and here. But she hasn’t done that for a while. So she thought it was about time for another one.

And do you know what the silly scale said??
26 lbs 2 oz. A new high!!!
And I’m 36 3/4 inches tall, too.
(Mommy note: I’ve talked before about my feelings about growth charts… But since some of you like to know how the comparison looks, I’ll humor you. I’m feeling generous today. On a typical growth chart, she doesn’t even show up. 5th percentile for typical would be 32 lbs 39 1/2 inches. On the DS chart, she’s at about 5th percentile for weight and just a hair over 25th percentile for height.)

KiKi decided to get on the silly scale too, but she didn’t want to take her clothes off like I always have to do.

KiKi’s numbers were really close to mine.
27 lbs and 36 inches. Miss C said that without her clothes on, we’re probably just the same numbers on the silly scale. But I’m still a little taller!!

(Mommy note: KiKi hits about 20th percentile for weight and about 40th for height.)

Miss C said I was doing pretty good! She gave Mommy some good ideas of new things I could try to eat so I can get all my healthy things I need in my food.

And in case you wanna know… I haven’t had to use my tube to put milk in my belly for over 5 weeks!! Woo hoo!! That’s a long time! I’m working pretty hard to drink. And I’m even trying to crunch crackers when I have special snack and practice times with Miss J and Miss S.

We’ll talk more about that next month… it’s a big month (remember this??) and we’ll have lots of stories to tell. Don’t forget to click over there by “Braska’s Best Buddies” to be in our buddy list or get on our email list at the top of the side there so you won’t miss any stories!

20 birthdays

2011-09-27T15:39:00.001-05:00

Today is my Uncle Ryan’s birthday. He’s had 20 of them. I can count to 20, but it’s way up there.

When we went on a trip last month and saw all our family for a few days, Uncle Ryan gave me my first class about guitars.

I really like guitars. I like pictures of them and I like to see them on TV. But I ‘specially like to get to see them for real. I watched him play for a very long time. And every time he was playing or Auntie Julia was playing I had to go sit by them again. It was very fun.

And guess what? Uncle Ryan even let me play his!

Someday I’ll get another guitar class. Maybe at Thanksgiving or Christmas. I can’t wait!

Happy birthday, Uncle Ryan!

Dance class 2--Movies

2011-09-26T14:04:00.000-05:00

Here’s a few little movies from dance class on Saturday… Me and KiKi do the princess walk, and then we get to REAL fun dancing!

….

Dance class #2 plus cousins

2011-09-24T23:09:00.000-05:00

Today was time for dance class again! Me and KiKi went right in and sat where we were supposed to.

KiKi did better this time and she didn’t cry or run away.

Shay and Xander were visiting Grandma C today, so they came to watch us, too. Mommy made us line up for a picture. Xander didn’t really want to.

We have some dance movies to show you from today, but we’ll have to do them another day. Maybe tomorrow!! It was lots of fun today, and we’re already excited for next Saturday!

Good ears!

2011-09-19T23:45:00.001-05:00

A couple weeks ago, me and Mommy went to see my ear doctor. We stopped on the way and left KiKi at Daddy’s work with him. She had a good time and helped a lot, he said. He gave her snacks for all her hard work.

We went on to the doctor’s office, and waited for them to be ready. First we went to see the ear test ladies. Usually, they try to show me toys and want me to look at the dancing elephant in the light box when they play a sound. I haven’t ever liked doing that. I usually just look wherever I want.

I talked a lot to the lady and counted with her. I would wait nicely until I heard the sound in my ear, then I would put the piece where it was supposed to go. We did it over and over. They said I listened and did what they wanted me to, so Mommy was glad.

The trick?? This time Mommy took some things I like to look at, (FLASHCARDS!!) and she told the ladies that I like to count and do my letters and words. So they did more things I liked, and I did GREAT on the test! It was the best scores I ever got! They gave me a sticker, but I don’t really like stickers to play with. I just give them to KiKi.

Then we went back to the waiting room for a while. We had to wait a little bit for Dr. M. So I played!!

I watched a boy do something for a few minutes. Then he left, so I tried it myself.

Then a big girl came and started doing my toy at the same time. She wasn’t sharing, she just moved me out of the way. Mommy wasn’t very happy, but I just moved over and did another toy.

Mommy made me come over and talk to her, to see if I was sad. But I was only sad because she made me stop playing!! I went right back to playing again!

They called my name, so we went back to a room. Dr. M gave me a high-five when I walked by him, but then he had to see another kid. So we waited a little more. I looked out and watched the cars going by for a while.

Then I asked where Dr. M was. “Mommy, where is he? Mommy?”

Mommy just took pictures. So I showed my goofy “cheese!” face.

I’m so funny. And kinda cute. And I know it!

Dr. M came in later. He looked at my ears and said we had to go next door to the room I don’t like. They hold me down and mess with my ears. Mommy says they’re cleaning and making me all better, but I don’t like it at all. And I yell about it a lot!

I heard them say that my tubes were out. I’m not sure where they were at first, but I guess in my ears somewhere. Dr. M said I don’t have to put them back in right now. So that’s good I guess. He said because I talked good and say all my words just right, he doesn’t worry about it too much unless I start to get sick a lot.

I was tired when we left, so I took a nap on the way home.

I don’t have to go back for a few months, and I’m kind of glad.

The other Braska girl!

2011-09-18T22:51:00.001-05:00

See her? Isn’t she cute? Her name is Braska! Mommy just found out that she got her name because of me!

She needs to find a mommy and daddy to bring her home! She lives far away on the other side of the world. And it costs A LOT of money to go and get her. Since she is my name buddy now, we’re going to see if YOU wanna help us find her a family!

You can go here to read more about her. Can you give her a little bit of dollars so she can come home soon?? And maybe someday I can meet her and play. That would be great!

(Mommy note: The kiddos on Reece’s Rainbow are listed with names other than their birth names for privacy and safety reasons. A dear friend who I know through the beauty of the DS community happened to have the privilege of picking the name for this little one. She said her given name in her country was similarish to Braska’s full name, so it just seemed to fit! And I think that’s very special! In honor of our girl, sharing the love for her new “name buddy,” if you can give any amount to her grant fund, we thank you!! Please pray her forever family finds her soon!!)

Presents from work

2011-09-17T23:49:00.000-05:00

Mommy came home with some goodies for us today. She got them from her work. She works at the Y. These shirts have too many letters on them, but she says it means the same thing.

We were just playing around after our naps, so we had crazy hair. But I think we do a good job of looking cute for her work. She said they didn’t have any smaller shirts, so we’ll have to grow into them later. When we’re like 10 or something!

Anybody know why she got us these colors??

Reading and waiting

2011-09-16T13:35:00.001-05:00

We are at a new dentist today. I don't usually like to go to the dentist but we are trying a new one that we hope I like. I'll let you know. Mommy says you should pray for me. And her.

Dance class #1. Swim class again.

2011-09-15T12:47:00.001-05:00

Last Saturday we went to our first dance class. Me and KiKi got in our pretty pink outfits with our white skinny pants. (Mommy tried to take a picture while we were still watching Word World. Of course we’re not going to look at her then!)

It was a little chilly that day, so we thought we better wear our sweaters, too. Dance class was at Grandma C’s and PaPaw’s church, so we knew where to go.

When it was our turn for class, we all sat down in a line and waited for Miss SJ to show us what to do.

I really thought it was fun! I even got to practice the princess walk with Miss SJ. I tried pretty hard to do what she was doing. (There’s a little movie down here if you can’t see it.)

KiKi got upset a little when another little girl cried. And she didn’t want to do the group things we did. But I think she will like it more next time.

After we did some more fun things, it was time to go.

Then we went back to where we live and hurried to get to swim class. KiKi swims with Daddy while I swim with Miss S.

It was a busy day, but we had lots of fun!!!

Just because I’m goofy!

2011-09-14T23:09:00.001-05:00

Sometimes Mommy wants to take pictures. And I might start to be good and smile….

But then I always get kind of silly…

Why? Like I have been saying a lot lately… I’m goofy!

(Hey Sophie, I still love your team shirt!!!)

(Mommy note: Braska’s favorite phrase lately is “Hey, you goof!” And then following it up with, “No, YOU are!” if someone begins the exchange with her. Teachers, therapists, and anyone who dares engage her is getting the “goof” treatment. After a while, she’ll say, “Ha ha, Mommy, I’m so goofy!” It is kind of adorable.)

What were we looking at last week?

2011-09-13T21:28:00.001-05:00

Remember when I showed you this picture?

Well I was reminded today by Miss C at school that I forgot to tell you more about it! Sorry! (Hi Miss C!!) Here you go…

Uncle Jim and Aunt Karol were in our town last week to see Jamee. She lives here now to go to school because she’s really smart. We just love that she lives closer to us now! We get to see her sometimes, and me and KiKi always get really excited when we go pick her up.

(That was her chocolate yummies after dinner…BIG!)

They invited us to go to dinner with them at a place I hadn’t ever gone to, so we went and had a really fun time. I liked sitting with Brock and Jade for a while.

Then I sat with Aunt Karol for a while. KiKi was being super silly.

We all got BIG foods! Jade’s sandwich was almost as big as her!

Brock’s was really big, too. And KiKi helped him with his bunches of fries. She is sneaky like that. She said she was just going to “borrow” them, but Brock didn’t want them back after she chewed them up! Ewww!

KiKi likes Brock a little extra, I think. She called him, “the orange guy” cuz she was being goofy.

Mommy had a big sandwich too, and she was pretty excited about it!

I had a big boat of mashed potatoes, and they were really yummy, too. I couldn’t eat them all, but I tried!

We like their family a lot. We count them just like our family, they just live away a little. We missed Grant and Moise since they stayed home, but it was a really fun visit!

Oh, and what or *who* were we looking at in that picture from the other day?? Well I don’t remember for sure, (edited to add: Aunt Karol reminded me we were looking at the moon because I spotted it in the sky and told them it was there, and I signed moon real good.) but Mommy and us look up in the sky and say “Hi!” to Laynee sometimes, especially when there’s really pretty pink clouds. And since she couldn’t have dinner with all of us like we sure wish she could, I think maybe we were just smiling at her to let her know we didn’t forget her, not for a minute.

(Psssst…. Laynee, I gave your daddy an extra cuddle hug for you, don’t you worry.)

Thanks for fun times, Aunt Karol and Uncle Jim! Love you guys!!

Finally off to dance!

2011-09-10T10:40:00.001-05:00

Here we go!

Thursday fun: Tot lot, shopping, lunch

2011-09-08T23:29:00.000-05:00

On Thurdsays, I don’t have school. It’s my day off. So Mommy says on Thursdays we’ll try to do something fun, just me, KiKi, and her.

Today we went to the new playground Mommy and KiKi found yesterday. It’s called the Tot Lot, and it’s just for little kids like us. It was REALLY fun!

We had snacks, played some more, and then it was time to go. I got sad in the car and started crying really loud. Since I don’t cry very often, KiKi always gets upset and sad when I do because she thinks I’m hurt. So she started crying too… Mommy said we were the pathetic twins.

But then we calmed down a little and Mommy took us to our other favorite place… Costco! We did some shopping, had some samples, and then we got a little lunch. Even ice cream!

It was a pretty good Thursday. What did you do today?

Tiny dancers: The Movie

2011-09-07T23:01:00.001-05:00

Here’s some movie that Mommy did of us when we were trying on our dance costumes. This is especially for the ones who like to hear me talk sometimes. (But I usually won’t do it when they want me to.) There’s just a little chatting and some good wiggle dancing by KiKi!!

(Mommy note: If you can’t see the video below, refresh the blog page or click here. If you STILL can’t see it, please leave me a comment so I can figure out what’s up!)

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Anybody want a sticker?

2011-09-06T14:55:00.001-05:00

I am at the ear doctor today. First I had to go in a quiet room and listen with things on my ears. I did so well that they gave me a sticker. The only problem is that I don't really like stickers. So if you want it, let me know and I will send it to you.

Mommy will tell you later more about how I did with my test. But I can tell you that I did super great.

Now I am waiting again for the ear doctor. I hope he doesn't try to give me a sticker too. But I will still do a good job.

Who is up there?

2011-09-05T10:06:00.001-05:00

That's a good question. I'll tell you more about it soon. Today is a no-school day! I hope we do something nice!

But it is Saturday!

2011-09-03T13:53:00.004-05:00

Mommy said we got to go to dance class on Saturday. And today is Saturday. But we don't get to go today. Boo! I have to wait til next week to start.Boo again!

So you will have to wait til next week to see me be a happy dancer. Today I'm a sad dancer.

Yogurt dreams

2011-09-01T23:37:00.001-05:00

Today I ate really good, and I drank all my milk and juice again. Woo hoo! But tonight when Mommy got home from work and came to peek at us in bed, I told her I wanted some "beftist" and that it should be yogurt. Mommy said I could have that in the morning when we usually eat breakfast, but I said ,"No, I want it now. In the kitchen. It is in the fridge."

So Mommy got me some. I shared with KiKi and we ate our snack in our beds watching our fishes swim on the light we have. Then we had to go back to bed. My tummy is full up so its time for sleep.

Music with myself

2011-08-31T23:16:00.002-05:00

Today while KiKi was napping, I got the iPod to myself. Mommy put on my therapy music, clipped it on my shorts, and said I could go look in the mirror. What? I can walk around with my music? That’s GREAT!!

Mommy thought I was pretty funny. I did all kinds of silly things, like tapping on my nose in the mirror and talking with my chin on there. It felt funny and made me giggle. Mommy said it was good clean sensory fun.

I listened to lots of music for a long time. I went and asked Mommy to put on some more songs over and over. Someday I’ll figure out how to work that thing myself.

(If you wanna know how I'm doing with my drinking (no tube still!), Mommy's gonna write about it on her page.)

Tiny Dancers

2011-08-30T17:24:00.001-05:00

Me and KiKi like to dance. We like to dance a lot. We can dance in our regular clothes. Like these… this was what we wore today when I went to school. (We were playing “FREEZE!” for Mommy to take pictures. She used her phone, so they aren’t very clear.)

But since Grandma C has fixed it up so we can take a dance class in a few weeks, we got some clothes that will fit better for learning how to dance like big girls.

We got our pink things, kinda like swimsuits, and then we got these cute purple fluffy skirts. They’re called tutus. Duck has one on Word World when he wants to look TOTALLY terrific, so we figure we must look pretty good, too!

I just have to find my white skinny pants like KiKi’s, and we’ll be ready! Dance class is doing to be so fun!

(Mommy note: I had decided that we wouldn’t be buying “dance clothes” since we don’t really know how the girls will do and if this will be something that works out for them. But I thought I’d look and see how much things cost…. and they cost too much, in my opinion, and everything was too big for my tiny dancers. But after a tip from a fellow shopper at WalMart, we stopped by Target to see what they had. Their selection was nice, but again, far more than I’m going to spend.

But as I turned around from the dance attire rack, the chaotic piles of clearance were right there… and peeking out from within that pile were two—only two—pink leotards, size L/XL. The size made me laugh, but they looked about right. I held one up to KiKi and it looked about right. And the cost…. $1.74. Yeah, that’s more like it. The little purple tutus were also $1.74 each, so I splurged, and for less than $7, the girls have cute little “costumes,” as they call them, for dance class. Though I think we’ll skip the tutus for class, as Braska would be constantly distracted by the texture. It starts Sept10, so we’ll see…I’m excited.)

Someone’s been sleeping in MY bed

2011-08-29T15:53:00.001-05:00

(Miss Karen K, look at how she has BOTH of our blankets. Lots of K family love.)

Morning music

2011-08-29T08:14:00.001-05:00

This is a good way to start a day. While Mommy’s getting breakfast ready, we listen to our “morning music.” We like to hear songs that we know and we can sing with. And we each get to have the music in our ears at the same time. We like to use our iPod. (Mommy says it was given to her, but we kind of sneaked it away to be ours.)

Mommy likes that when we sit like this with music in our ears, we don’t move at all except to sing along a little and flip pages in our books. She says it’s nice quiet time for her. And we don’t mind since we get to keep our fun music all to ourselves! Mommy also likes that I don’t grind my teeth as much when I have music in my ears… and sometime she says she really needs a break from that.

KiKi and I can sing along with each other, and we can still hear Mommy when she talks to us. It’s a good deal for all of us!

(Sometimes they listen to Peach Jamz, which is modulated for Therapeutic Listening, but we admit we don’t have the official headphones for it. We have borrowed them, but the ones we had were too big for Braska. But she really loves the music, even though it sounds very weird to me. KiKi seems to think it’s ok, too.)

Now it’s time to get ready for school, so the music will have to wait til later!

Because we are dirty

2011-08-27T23:02:00.001-05:00

Tonight we wanted to take a bath. KiKi kept asking to take a bath, and Mommy asked her why she wanted to take a bath so badly.

She said, “I’m really dirty, Mom. I need a bath because I’m dirty.”

Then I said, “Yeah. I’m dirty, too. We wanna take a bath pleeeeeeze!”

Mommy said she didn’t know if we were really all that dirty, but it was ok if we wanted to get in the bathtub for some splashing fun.

So we took a bath. We even got to turn on the water bubbles that splash around.

Mommy said we didn’t seem all THAT dirty, but baths are good even if there’s only a little dirt.

And then it was bedtime… OH, and guess what?!? I drank all my milk again today! That’s 4 days with no milk in my belly tube!! I’m getting better at drinking good, too. YAY!

Mommy report: Day 3 and counting. More eye surgery.

2011-08-26T23:51:00.001-05:00

Yes, I’m ready to say I’m counting now. Days tube-free. THREE.

Actually, close to 4…her last tube feed was Tuesday breakfast. But let’s not get too picky. I’ll just count full days. Pardon my excitement.

She did great again today. Though she did fight a little this morning in both eating and drinking. Just was in a grouchy mood for a while. But we managed. We took breaks and she got it all in. Daddy even covered a big part of that tonight… so it’s now a team effort, and that’s good. Her total today was about 21 oz today, I think. Possibly a bit more. Go Braska!

Also today we had her 3-month check up from her May strabismus surgery. Her results have been great, and we are all pleased. In that time, though, her tip/tilt has become more consistent and defined. This was kind of expected, in that when we fixed the crossing issue, the true nature of her nystagmus issues and the related accommodations showed up. This is why we did NOT combine the eye procedures.

So we’re now in the process of planning for the modified Kestenbaum procedure. It’ll be a little longer before it happens, though. We are going to try to coordinate with her dentist, so that while under sedation they can also do a thorough cleaning and x-rays. Dental visits are TORTURE for her and me. Really bad. Working out scheduling for the eye center and the dental team can be tricky. Please pray with us that it’ll be able to be done relatively soon and combined as we hope.

What a crazy week. If someone had told me Monday morning that Braska would be drinking her whole fluid intake by Friday, I’d have laughed. But she did, beginning Tuesday afternoon. She proves us wrong once again!

Driving to the doctor

2011-08-26T09:09:00.001-05:00

Well Mommy drove on the way here, but me and KiKi are pretend driving to the "check-up" in the play area.

I hope the eye doctor likes my new better eyes!