As of yesterday, Claudia has been home for 5 months and we have known her for over 6 months! A half a year, ALREADY! Oh my, where does the time go? Claudia has come such a long way. We are so proud of her. She amazes us everyday.
Claudia is SMART! She may not be able to verbalize things or move around great but she picks up on things so quickly. Just yesterday I gave her a pair of cheap children's sunglasses that she could play with (so maybe she would stop taking our glasses from out faces) after she had played with them for a while she brought them to me and used my shirt to wipe the lenses clean. We do this all the time after she gets finger smudges all over ours! She will even pretend like she wants a hug or kiss so that when we get close to her she can take our glasses. Haha!
Every Sunday at Church, Claudia takes us right to her room and asks for help to get in. A couple of weeks ago we were there pretty early so Jason was walking around the children's area with Claudia letting her lead the way. She took him to where they do story time, went and grabbed a piece of carpet, sat it on the floor and wanted Jason to sit on it so that she could sit in his lap. She then pointed towards the stage. Too cute!
We were having some mildew problems in our bedroom so Jason had to take the walls down and re-drywall half of the bedroom (I love how handy he is). When it was close to being finished I took Claudia in to check it out. The closet doors were leaning against the wall; she pointed to them and then pointed towards the closet. I tell you, she does not miss a thing!
Claudia is walking very well now, she can go quite a way by herself. She still falls occasionally and has a very wide stance when she walks and her feet turn out. We are watching to see if it will normalize or if we should get some type or orthotic or AFO.
Today is the first day of the second week of summer school for Claudia. According to her teacher, she has been loving it! She has also been very cuddly with her teachers giving lots of hugs and blowing kisses. They must think she is a different girl than the one that started school in April.
Claudia turns 4 next week. It is so hard to believe. She is still so tiny! She is now wearing 24 month clothes. She has grown about an inch and maybe gained a pound. We hope that with good nutrition she will continue to grow but she will always be small. She has genetics at work against her when it comes to her height! She is in the 5-10% for height on the Down syndrome curve. Seeing her next to typical children her age makes me realize how small she really is. Most children her age are at least a head taller than she is.
I have spent the last month or so preparing for my NCLEX exam, that is the nursing boards. I took my test last Wednesday and found out that I passed on Friday. The test shut down at the minimum number of questions (75). The way the test works is that if after 75 question it is unsure if you will statistically pass or fail, it will continue asking you questions, up to 265 until it decides if you have passed or failed. It is a really smart test! So now i can proudly call myself an RN! I had an interview on Friday with a follow up tomorrow and I am expecting a few calls this week and will hopefully get a couple more interviews.
And now for what you really want to see, pictures of Claudia!
Claudia's hair was so long and uneven that I decided it was time for a cut. I did not want to take her somewhere to have it done because I did not want to pay for a bad haircut and did not think she would cooperate very well. I decided to attempt it myself. Anyone that knows me well, should know that this is a big deal for me, I can barely cut a straight line on paper! I sat Claudia at the table with some crackers and she did very well, I don't think I did too bad a job either!
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| Before |
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| After |
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| This is how excited Claudia gets when she goes for a ride. (Don't worry, I was not driving when I took the picture) |
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| So excited to go to school. |
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| Look at that genuine smile! |
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| Bed head! |
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| Bed bead #2! |
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| Here are the sun glasses after i put them on her. |
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| She decided they fit better upside down! |
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Lots of balls + Pack and Play = Instant ball pit
Thanks Heidi for the idea! |
This past Saturday we wnet to JC Penny with a Groupon and had family portraits done. We were VERY impressed with the quality of them and can't wait to get them back later this week to share!
