Braska Bear

I found Braska this way this afternoon . Angry Birds on her Nabi next to her doodle. And she would send a bird flying then go scribble for a bit. Then reach over and launch another bird. She counted it a successful snow day.

Writing is VERY hard for me.  I have to have a lot of help to learn how to do it.  But I’ve been getting better and Miss Jenny is pretty proud of me.  She’s the one who has been teaching me about how to use my hands for a couple years.  This week I wrote lots of letters for Miss Jenny.  AND I cut a paper right on the line with big kid scissors, the kind that don’t help me open them.  I’m learning lots these days!!

Braska can't write her name. She is still working on forming any letters. Fine motor is just about her most delayed area, after feeding. But this was on her paper brought home today. It's a B. And the best one yet. The big red heart, star, and note are from her superbly patient and very wonderful teacher Mrs. E. She always recites her "a line down, a bump and a bump" when she writes them.  The other night she spent an hour writing lower case i and capital H on her magna doodle over and over.  Maybe we'll see "a spurt," as the girls like to say about anything they learn or when they grow.  I am ok with a spurt.

Today we went to school, Mommy went to do some cleaning she does, then she came to pick us up and we went back to that house for her to finish. Then we came back out to where we live and went to my old school so I could see Miss Jenny.  I go play with her every week so she can help me write my letters better. It was a lot of being in the car back and forth. I like to untie my shoes and sometimes I take them off. I’m not supposed to do that.  Shhhhhhh….. When we got home after seeing Miss Jenny, KiKi asked if we could take a walk, so we did.  Just a short one down the street.  We found a place where the puffy things are that you can blow.  So we picked some and practiced our blowing. Then it was dinner, and a quick swing in the back yard with Mommy, then bath and bed.  Whew… these days make me tired.  Glad I don’t have to stay up and do the dishes!

And Braska drawing H.

We have been practicing our skills for school.  Today we did some cutting with scissors. Here’s a movie of me doing my practice. It’s especially for Miss Jenny, because she’s the one who has helped me learn to do so good!  (Mommy note: For those of you who ask for video of Braska talking, there’s a bit in here… psst, Hi Ellen! )   Here’s a quick one for KiKi too.  She’s pretty fast!

We love to paint! And Mommy loves when we paint at the table for a good long while. She always seems to get the kitchen nice and clean while we paint. KiKi likes to make rainbows lately.  This was a nice one.

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 somethi...

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 t...

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 ...

(For those of you who skim, there’s a video at the bottom with some speech fun, if you’re into that kind of thing. ) Yesterday we did some fun things that also made me work hard with my hands. First we got our stuff together that we would need.  And we got excited! Then we counted a little and put the squares on the pan.  They were a little sticky. Then we put the squares in the oven.  After the squares had turned into to cookies in the oven, we came back and got ready to put frosting on them.  Mommy didn’t want us messy, so we did frosting with naked body. KiKi started first.  She put her fingers in the cup Mommy gave us that had frosting in it, then she put it on her cookie. Like paint.  She did a pretty good job.  And she even licked her finger and said it was “YUMMY!” KiKi showed me how to do it.  “Stick your finger in the frosting, Braska.” ”Well, this is not fu...

My teachers at school are just the best. I like all of them so much. And it’s so much fun to see what new things we’re going to do everyday. Miss J had a fun new thing for me to try a few weeks ago.  They are LETTERS! My favorite thing in the world!  Miss J helps me learn how to use my hands better and make them stronger, which is really hard for me.  But these fun new letters are so great I don’t even mind doing them for practice. Then the coolest thing happened…. I got home and there were MORE letter beads, just like my ones at school!  It was like magic! Somebody special loves me a whole lot, I think! KiKi plays with them too, but they are my special toy to practice with.  The first day we had them at home, Mommy let me play with them some after KiKi went to nap.    Here’s a little movie for you to see…  check out my skills! Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com Mommy note:   Neat things to no...