Randomness 31 for 21 Day 10

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In honor of 10-10-10 I'm going to share a list of 10 random facts about me.  I would love if you all would post your own lists of ranomness. 

1.  I secretly enjoy reading the Diary of  Wimpy Kid books with Rex.  They make me giggle. 

2.  I have an absurd amount of JELLO in my kitchen.    Tonight when I unpacked all the groceries filled with gluten that my mom purged from her kitchen this week after my dad was finally diagnosed with Celiacs I discovered the strange fact that we both collect jello.  Sugar, no sugar, red, blue you name it I've got your jello needs covered. 

3.  I try really hard to not want "stuff" since I know that stuff isn't what is really important.  My list of stuff that I really really want is growing though.  I would be super nice to have just a few items on it...  ya know a new kitchen,  a fence around the back yard and a really really pretty and lovely Coach purse. (Rebecca you know which one I mean)

4.  I wish I could find the motivation and perseverance to stick with an exercise and diet program.  I have some serious work to do and need to get started. 

5.  I want to go back to school but I can't decide what I want to be when I grow up. 

6.  I think I have some of the most amazing friends ever.  I gain great strength from all my mommy friends-  both in real life and in the blogs that I read. 

7.  Have dreams of a fairy flying into my house at night and cleaning everything while I sleep. 

8.  I think one of the most beautiful sounds in the world is the sounds of my boys giggling.

9.  I love creepy crime shows. 

10.  I thank God every day for giving me two beautiful boys and a great husband to raise them with. 

Candyland 31 for 21 Day 9

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We had a relaxing Saturday afternoon that included naps all around and Riley's first game of Candyland.  Well at least his first game at home.  I'm not exactly sure why we have never pulled it out before.  Riley knows all his colors even if he tries to say he doesn't know orange. The idea of trying to have him sit and concentrate on a game just doesn't always sound like a fun thing to do. I'll admit it I take the easy way out.  I save a lot of the messy headache inducing experience for Riley to do at school or with his therapists. 

 He did really well with the game.  There was squirming and growling that is to be expected with Riley but over all I'd call it a success.  I think we will do this again.  Rex was a HUGE Candy Land fan at Riley's age.  I think Rex had just as much fun as Riley did playing a big boy game with big brother. 



Step back in Time 31 for 21 Day 8

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Today I want to slip back in time to when I first started this blog.  There are a few posts that I'd like to share that I'm pretty sure I posted before anyone even knew I had a blog.  I still feel like some of my original posts have been my best.  I had so many more issues floating around in my brain in those days. 

The first is what I had originally thought I would do as a them on Fridays.  Apparently this was my first and only edition of Friendship Friday.  Who knows it may make a comeback! 

Friendship Friday 1st Edition

The second is my post from October 1 2009.  This is still one of my favorites and I hope you enjoy it as well.

Down syndrome awareness Month

Mommy Guilt 31 for 21 Day 7

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I had the fun of going out with some of the Special Moms this evening.  It is good for the soul to gather with friends to share and laugh.  I have been blessed with some amazing friendships that all started because of our common bond of extra chromosomes.  We always have a good laugh at the funny things are kids are up to and comparing how we each have lost the mother of the year award time and time again.  It really is an amazing group of moms that I call friends but we are all so hard on ourselves and our ability to deal with our kiddos.  Mommy guilt is a terrible terrible thing and I don't know a single mom that doesn't have it. 

My own mommy guilt comes in waves.  Some days it feels like its drowning me and other days I can ride the surf with it.   There is guilt because I work and can't spend enough time with the boys.  Guilt because I like to work and know that I"m a better mom because of it.  Guilt because at work I am thinking about the boys and not concentrating enough.  Guilt for over scheduling the boys activities.  Guilt because I could be doing more for them.  Seriously the list goes on and on. 

I would love to hear what other moms do to harness this guilt and use its power for good instead of evil.  What do you do to keep your self in the moment and not feel guilt over the past or worry about the future? This is a goal of mine that I'm trying really hard to work on and would love to hear from all the moms that I know read this and never leave comments.  Here is your chance to delurk yourselves and help me along this journey.  I want to hear from those of you who comment often to so don't think you are off the hook. 

Signs 31 for 21 Day 6

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OK I'll admit I have a evil streak that runs deep at times.  I received an email from Rachel at Signing Times today that made me giggle out loud.

 Riley is a HUGE HUGE HUGE  fan of Signing Times!   We were lucky and my husband's family gave Riley a huge set of DVD's and CD's so while we have watch them a lot we had a bit of a selection to keep us from going crazy watching them over and over.  Riley uses a lot of signs! Not as many now as he did a year a go but still a fair amount.  He is replacing his signs with words just as we knew he would as he developed more words.  Riley is adding words to his vocabulary daily.  Daily he amazes us with new words and new sounds that he is adding to complete words that he has been approximating.  I truly believe that Signing Times has been a large part of his development along with speech therapist Marie and tons of hard work from Riley!

 To my critics  that doubt that Sign language is great tool in language development I got a good giggle at your expense tonight as I was reminded yet again how amazing the Signing Times video series is!




The email newsletter had an article about about how Sign language can help children with Down syndrome develop language.
The use of ASL can open up the world of communication for children who have Down syndrome. There are three major ways that signs help these children develop language skills:


Signing makes communication possible – or easier



Some children with Down Syndrome may never learn to speak or to speak clearly. Signing gives them a way to express their needs, interests and preferences. For verbal children with articulation difficulties, signs make it easier for them to clarify spoken words.
 Signing capitalizes on learning strengths



Children with Down syndrome are visual learners. Since sign language is a very visual form of communication, it naturally capitalizes on this learning strength.

Signing allows more time for processing


Children with Down syndrome often need more time to process verbal information. With signs, you can actually pause the hand shape and hold it in front of the child, or repeat the motion to give a child extra time needed to process the message.
 
They have also developed a guide that you can find here Signing Time Down syndrome guide

Moves! 31 for 21 Day 5

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Some days you just have to dance!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Community 31 for 21 Day 4

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It feels like it has taken me longer than most but we have finally found our community.  We have found our little niche in the world and are getting more and more comfy every day.  We have made a few stops in neighborhoods we like but I think we have finally found a place to stay for the long haul. 

Technically I've been an adult for a long time but I've never really felt like a real grown up.  During college I played grown up.  I had a job and an apartment even brought home a husband.  It really never felt like we were real grown ups though.  Even after having kids it always felt like we were going thru the motions.  I mean we had grown up jobs and bills but it never felt like we really belonged any where. 

After Riley was born with Down syndrome we had the Guild School.  That was where we belonged at that moment but it wasn't long term.  Riley and I made a presentation for the Guild School at All Saints this morning and while this topic has been on my mind lately it all made sense as we were visiting today.  When Riley was born and we were scared and still learning about Down syndrome the Guild School was our life jacket.  We were bobbing around not sure exactly which direction to swim and the services we received for Riley and the support our family received were amazing.  At times Riley's therapists  were more my therapists that Riley's.  I am proud to call these women friends now and even though its been almost a full year since Riley graduated they are still part of our lives.  This is a neighborhood that we needed to visit but not a place to settle. 

Over the three years that Riley received services through the Guild School we were moving though our lives and it was during that time that Rex started kindergarten at All Saints Catholic School.  Little did we know that this decision would really help us find our community.  Rex started kindergarten and while I'm catholic I wasn't totally committed to a Catholic education.  I knew it was less expensive to pay tuition for an all day kindergarten program than to go to half day public school and find child care for the afternoon.  How silly is that!  So Rex went off to kindergarten and had an amazing year.  He started the year in tears because he was so nervous but as the year progressed he quickly made friends and fell in love with his teacher Mrs Theilman.  Justin and I didn't invest much time at school.  We weren't so sure he would attend 1st grade there and didn't put out a lot of effort to make friends with the other parents.  I had decided that if Rex was going to go to Catholic school I'd better do my part and make sure he made it to church every week too.  So off we went every Sunday to mass.  Each week,  we would go and I'd wrestle with Riley and silently plea that he'd be quiet and not draw too much attention us.  The year passed we continued to go through the motions and while we talked a good game we didn't put much out much effort in making this our world. 

Well it was time to make a decision on where to send Rex for 1st grade and we again decided to send him to All Saints.  He'd had such a successful kindergarten year and he was so shy in new situations we didn't want to move him just to move him and we knew the next year would bring changes and decisions as Riley graduated from the Guild School and moved into the public school system for preschool.  Rex was in the same class with many of his buddies and the new school year brought a social calendar of birthday parties that I couldn't believe.  We have been every where from a back yard BBQ to Jump and Bounce  and a Disco party.  I slowly started to be more and more brave and tried to meet some of the other moms at these parties.  Well I hit the jackpot at one of these parties and met Amy, Colin's mom.  Colin is in the 2nd grade with Rex and has CP.  Possibly I knew who she was from all those Sundays sitting in the back of the church.  While Colin is a pretty cute kid with an incredible smile he is the #2 son in a family of 4.  He possibly has 2 of the cutest little sisters ever and the little girls with the matching outfits and the cute hair bows are who I noticed as I sat in the back and wrestled with Riley each week.   Amy and I struck up a friendship and now when we go to church we have friends that understand  busy kids, second grade boys and special needs kids.  As it turns out when you get to be friends with one family at church you suddenly makes lots of friends at church.  Its amazing when you stay for coffee and donuts after mass that you actually meet some of the people that you see week after week. 

The last year rolled by super fast and we were again making decisions about school.  Do we keep Rex in Catholic school? Do we keep Riley at the school he started in November or do we move him to a class that has typical peers for  him to learn from?  Well we opted to keep both boys right where they were since they were both thriving.  Being part of the St Peters and All Saints Community did offer up some new options for us this fall that I don't believe we would have had available to us had we not made this church and school our home base.  Well remember how I had met Amy all those months ago well it turns out that she is a teacher and she was offered the position as a 3 year old preschool teacher at All Saints.  We were visiting one night and she was talking about how when Colin was younger he went to preschool at All Saints in the morning and then in the afternoon he went to the public school preschool where he received the services that he needed.  HMM that got the wheels moving and so I decided to email the principal and see if that would be an option for Riley.  There was a wait list for the preschool but if there was an opening Riley could attend. Just a few days before school started I got the call that a spot opened up for Riley and the more I thought about it the more I knew this would be a great place for Riley to be.  Amy was totally open to having Riley in her class and giving it a try.  When I put Riley on the wait list I may have failed to mention that he wasn't potty trained.  Well that presented a little hiccup but after agreeing to have our babysitter stay at school with Riley and take care of any potty issues and help out as needed Riley had a spot.  As it turns out Riley is only with Amy part of the day but the teacher he does have, Miss Janna,  has a back ground in special ed.  Riley is blessed to spend Tuesday and Thursday morning with Miss Jana and Miss Amy.  Does it get better than having a special needs mom and a special education teacher for preschool in the morning before heading off to special education preschool in the afternoon to work with your speech, OT and PT and another amazing teacher. 

So this morning as Riley and I visited All Saints its a very safe and comfortable place for our family.  Riley still wrestles with me every Sunday but he also sings a long to the hymns and has made friends with most of the Gramma's there.  Rex is having huge success at school.  He is surrounded by friends, scouts and teachers that love and care for him.  A few years ago he would barely talk to an adult that he didn't know and just yesterday he cruised through the neighborhood with his scout friends and sold popcorn like a champ.  He was chatting up the popcorn like he'd been a brave chatty little boy all his life. 

I love that our family has found a community that allows my boys to feel safe and secure enough  to go out in the world and know they have a community of people that love and care for them standing behind them.