Braska Bear

When I got up this morning, I found Braska sitting by the back door corner. (Three doors in not enough space.) It kind of acts as our mud room for drying snowy dog feet and leaving snowy people shoes. During wet or snowy times, it's not a place we sit or stay. But Braska circumvented the hall gate (really only meant to slow her down and cause enough noise for me to hear the girls getting up) found flashcards she loves, and apparently decided a seat with a view to the snow falling in the back yard was her pick. When she looked up to see me, the remorse was obvious. Or her nose was itchy. Judgement call.

Because sometimes you just have to take a minute and remember where we started… and how far we’ve come. Make a video - it's fun, easy and free! www.onetruemedia.com (Thanks to Grandma C for bringing this video back to mind. Just had to share after I watched it for the first time in years.) Since B will be 7 in about 6 more weeks… here’s to the next amazing 7 years!

Braska reporting: Daddy sometimes has us help with the dishes. He calls it matching, but I know that it’s really what’s supposed to be called chores. I’ve heard of those, and Mommy sometimes give us “jobs” but they’re probably chores, too. We’re good at matching the spoons and forks in the right spots.  It’s a very serious job, so we have to concentrate. But every chore is more fun when you stop and smile sometimes!

Before we can go to school, we have to get a note from the doctor to tell our teachers that we’re healthy. First we had to wait a little. But we didn’t mind. Then they had to see how big we were.  We’re both 29 pounds and 38 inches. Then we checked out some of the stuff the doctor will use. We giggled when she looked in our ears.  It tickled. Later, while Mommy was busy at Auntie Rachel’s, KiKi read some books on the iPad. She’s pretty good at finding stuff on there.  I don’t really like to mess with it. We passed our doctor test, so now we’re all set for school!

Today was the last day at my school.  I’ve been at that school since before I can even remember.  More than 3 years, since I was just a little 2-year-old. If you weren’t around back then, here’s the story about my first day. (I was so little and cute!) (Mommy note: Here’s a bit from that other post, in case you’re one of those who can’t be bothered to click ALL the way over there. She's 25 months old. That's a 9 month shirt, 24 month "skinny" jeans with the adjustable waist cinched to the max, and size 3 shoes that are still PLENTY big. Oh, and underneath is a 9 month onesie. She could wear 9-12 month jeans since they fit around her waist but they're too short. These are a little long still, but better than short in the winter. Eventually she'll even out...maybe. The funny part to me about that is that today, at over 5 1/2 years old, today she wore a 3T shirt, 24 month capris, size 7 shoes.  She’s taller, and she weighs almost 10 lbs more than sh...

We’re catching up on our daily stories, (and there’s some more movies down there to see, so if you haven’t read the other days, you should go back and see some of them!) but I wanted to tell you about this today! This morning, Mommy was writing sentences for us on the Magna Doodle, and then we would take turns reading them. She did a few little short ones that I read to her, and she was happy. Then she did a couple that were a bit harder. And I did them fine too!  She was surprised! So she wrote another one, and gave it to me to read.  She didn’t point at the words or show me where to look, and she took a movie of it….  Mommy was REALLY excited that I did so well! It is usually very hard for me to know where to look when I’m reading.  It’s not easy for me to keep my eyes in the right place, so even though I know lots of words, it’s hard to read in sentences.  But I’m getting better! I’m gonna be SO ready for kindergarten next month!!

(Mommy apologies for the delayed posting of these… getting caught up soon!) May 11 is my daddy’s birthday.  But I forgot to take a picture with him!  Oh no! We’re having a party for him in a few weeks, so we’ll do pictures then.  This is where I did my hand print for school.  The kids that are going to kindergarten get to put their hands on the wall and leave them there for a while…  it’s pretty neat.  Miss Natalie, Jack’s teacher, let me come with them so I could have my hand next to his.  Mine is the red one over my head…  I was being silly about this picture stuff. Here’s Miss Natalie with Jack and Me.  She was my teacher a couple years ago with I was 3.  And she’s Jack’s this year. 

I love going to the Tot Lot!  Instead of going to Ella’s house tonight, we went to play at the Tot Lot with Landon and his mommy and daddy.  Mommy found me doing my favorite thing lately.  Climbing!!       I’m so much faster than last time Mommy saw me.  She was really impressed with me.  That means she liked it.  And I always love getting up to the top!       And of course, to get down… I slide!! Here’s a movie of me doing my climbing and sliding… I did it over and over and over, but this is just showing you once. 

Very soon I get to take a break from school for a few weeks.  Then I’ll get to go to summer school for a few weeks. And I’ll be done at my school this summer.  Then I’ll go to a new school.  But there’s a lot of stuff going on to get ready for my new school.  I’ll try to write it all down for you soon. 

Sometimes I like to pretend to be a dinosaur.  I’m a T-Rex, with little short arms.  See? ________________________________________ Mommy report: Speech/language Braska doesn’t really want her speech therapist to know she can talk.  And that’s unfortunate.  She’ll show just enough to get by, but nothing like what she’ll do with other therapists or in more comfortable environments.  The SLP is very very sweet, so it’s not like she is difficult for Braska to deal with.  I’m not sure what B’s reasoning is.  But she just will not do much spontaneous talk around Miss C.  It boggles my mind, because Braska is a chatterbox, no doubt. She talks almost constantly at home. But after talking with Miss C the other day, I decided to jot down the things Braska said for just a little snippet… then I emailed her the “findings.” *When climbing up in her chair, "all safe and sound!" *She picked up my phone sitting there in front of her and sa...

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!

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 ...

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!!

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 ...

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… bu...

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.

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. ...

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/...

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 wo...