31 for 21, Day 29 -2012

It was a busy weekend so I'm catching up on the last few days.  Here's what I wanted to write for Day 26.  Our first school field trip of the year.  The annual pumpkin patch.  This year Maya's Dada was able to come with us.  Maya was so excited to have him there.  Usually field trips are a major challenge.  But the last year Maya did really well at the pumpkin patch.  This year it was even better. Maya was quite the independent girl.  She enjoyed the hay ride, the maze and decorating her pumpkin.  Then she was done!  That's my girl.  When she's done, she's done.

31 for 21, Day 25 - 2012

Snippet of my day.

Today I stuck to my guns and didn't pick up Maya and carry her in my arms after school.  This may seem like a small task, or you may ask, why can't you carry her?  99% of the kids walk to and from school (to the parking lot or the bus).  But Maya for what reason I have no idea, doesn't do that.  She stands in front of me and now she says "up".  If I don't pick her up she grabs my dress, she tugs, she sits on her bum and won't move.  And during the hot months, it's torture to stand there in 100 degree weather, trying to get her to walk with me.

The weather was manageable today.  I figure might as well start now.  She is on the verge of being 4 1/2 soon...33 pounds of dead weight and the most wiggly little monster in the world.  It's becoming more and more work to carry her around these days.  

How long does it take Maya to walk from school to the car? Well let's review: first stop, even before we get out of the school gate, she has to stop at the wagon, and try and play with it.  I play, "ready, get set, go!" with her, that usually works a couple of times.  Once we are out the gate the sidewalk fun begins.  I try and entice her, telling her, let's follow your classmates.  She sits on the ground.  Usually a very good tactic since at 90 degrees I'm ready to run for shade.  Today it was pleasant and I was determined....so I just stood there.  Encouraging her as much as I could, telling her she could do it.  "You wanna hold my hand?"  Um, no way!  She's too independent.  Ha ha!  We get to the entrance sign at the parking lot.  We are almost there I say.  Of course she has to read the letters on the sign, a game we played last year.  Then she takes another rest.  I wait patiently.  She gets up and turns to look at the parked bikes.  Ok down the curb to the parking lot that was a big step.  She sees more letters, opps, I forgot about that.  Ironically it says no parking on the ground, and soon she's sitting and proceeds to lay down trying to take her backpack off.  Finally I take the backpack and pretend to start running.  She runs after me.   Yes! We are at the car.  I feel like I've just completed the most difficult task of my day.  That is getting a four year old to do what you want them to do. 

Triumph!

31 for 21, Day 24 - 2012

31 for 21, Day 23 - 2012

Mat man appears.


Maya's been using her magnadoddle a lot lately. She been scribbling on it, making marks here and there, dots, etc. Today I caught a glimpse of something beautiful. It was a drawing. A real drawing. Maya made it all by herself. It is the first time that I've seen her work really look like something. It was Mat man.

Who is Mat man you ask? He's a figure that is created with wood pieces and other parts. It's part of the Hand writing without tears program. You sing a song and you put the pieces together.

"Mat man has one head, one head, One head so that he can think...
Mat man has two eyes, two eyes, two eyes so that he can see...
Mat man has one nose, one nose, one nose so that he can smell..."

And on and on goes the song. By creating the parts one at a time and singing the song Maya is starting to understand parts of the body. After you create Mat man with the wood pieces, you can draw Mat Man, singing the same song.

Maya's OT has been using this technique in the last few sessions. Last week she showed me the first time that Maya tried to draw Mat man on her own.

Today Maya drew Mat man without any prompts. She was just standing there drawing. I was so lucky to see it. Because she usually erases everything right after she draws it. So who knows how many mat man's she has sketched before I saw that one. This is a huge milestone! What is most wonderful about it is that even though we have been working on her pre-writing skills, I was not expecting her to draw Mat Man so soon. This is so encouraging. I'm looking forward to doing more work with the Handwriting without Tears program for certain.

Meet Mat Man, on Handwriting without Tears website.
http://www.hwtears.com/gss/learning-lounge/matman/meet-mat-man

31 for 21, Day 22 - 2012

Today.  Different than other Mondays.
Maya walked from the car to school when I dropped her off.
Dada came to pick her up from school.  She held our hands and walked the whole way.
No therapies to go to today.
Maya and I, free to do whatever we want.
No where we needed to be.
We shopped.  Maya got cool new shoes and so did Mama.
We ate.  Grilled cheese sandwich and salad.
In the Disney store a new friend came home with us, Gonzo.
It was the best Monday in a long time.

My pilot.

31 for 21, Day 21 - 2012

  More about playdates.

It was good to see Maya playing with her friends. It's still parallel play, but it's getting closer to actively playing with each other. This time when T and G started playing with the doctor set. Maya sat down and also wanted to play. With a little coaching she started to check Jessie's heart with the stethoscope.

Then T brought out the Break the Ice game. One of Maya's favorites. They all helped me set it up by handing me the ice cubes. Ironically this process usually takes longer to put together than actually playing the game. When it came time to play, they did it so well. They took turns and even shared one of the mallets.

When we went outside, the kids played on the little slide and ran around the yard. We changed the level of the slide so Maya was hesitate to go up it, but she did with some help. She also enjoyed watching her friends go up and down the slide. Maya, T and Christina pretended to be airplanes, soaring through the grass. That was a precious moment.

These are the little things in life that I appreciate more than anything. From the time she started to crawl, I've tried to have Maya interact with her peer, Whether in playgroups, classes, or story time. Sometimes it feels like a struggle because the level she is at is not the same as others her age or even younger. It takes time to get her there. It's a daily challenge, something that others might not realize. Whether it's walking, jumping, how to hold a crayon, or learning how to appropriately play with her friends...it take effort. But always the reward is worth it. When I think about the way I am raising Maya, I think it's exactly the way it is supposed to be. It is hard work to bring up any child, and yes, it take a wee bit more effort to do it for someone with special needs. I don't think that it would be much different than if she didn't have Down syndrome though. We all want the same things for our children. Among love and happiness we want them to be the best person they can be. This is all of our goals in the end.

Three doctors working hard.

Break the ice.

Down the slide.

Watching her friend.

Soaring.

31 for 21, Day 18 - 2012

Play date and the pumpkin patch.

We had an awesome play date with some friends yesterday.  It's so nice to see Maya playing with her peers.  After a while we went to the pumpkin patch down the street.  It's our favorite pumpkin patch because it's quiet and free.  The kids loved it.  They actually entertained themselves really well.  This year Maya was really into the pumpkins.  Next week we are taking a field trip with the school to another pumpkin patch.   Even though Maya hates field trips, that one Maya does pretty good with.  I'm looking forward to seeing how she does this year.

Pumpkin hugger.

Three musketeers.

Going for a ride.

One for you and you, and you.

Happiness is having a pumpkin.

Dancing a jig.

Found a hat at the patch and put it on.