Following Our Calling One Day at a Time

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

A new "game"

Claudia has made herself a new "game"...

Sorry it has been so long since I have updated. My final class of my nursing school started up last week and I have been super busy with it! 45 days and counting till graduation though!

Claudia has been doing great. Sometimes I cannot get over how smart she is. She is copying everything WE do. It used to be that she would want us to copy her but now she is watching us more closely. She scratched her head after Jason scratched his the other day and she will now point telling the dog to go to bed when I do it. She is becoming quite the sponge. Her sign language is progressing. This weekend we had a very proud moment at dinner where she pointed at what she wanted and signed "more" followed by "please." We were amazed that she put them together by herself. She also knows "mama," "all done," "help," and "I love you." When she signs "I love you" it looks like she is calling us a loser lol.

We are seeing more and more purposeful play and slightly less throwing of her toys. She is still throwing her sippy cup everywhere though. She has been eating well. She gets CRANKY if she does not get a nap in but there are still days that she does not fall asleep for her nap. Those are usually the days that we have things to do with other people too! Easter for example... ugh. She can be so grumpy, but then again, I am grumpy when I am tired too!

We have a meeting next week to discuss preschool and her therapies, hopefully she can start preschool soon and her social skills will continue to improve. She will also receive therapy while she is in preschool. Hopefully we will know more next week.

Here are some pics from Easter and more. Enjoy!

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Advocating Post

Meet Suzanna

This U*rainian beauty is already 15 years old and she desperately wants a family. Her best friend was adopted a year ago by my classmates sister. They are still in contact with her. She only has until May 7th for a family to step forward with a homestudy and application for her adoption. Since she has not been in the "system" for a year yet, she will not be eligible for adoption until September BUT the application for her adoption must be filed before May 7th. I know this sounds confusing and risky but would you put your 16 year old daughter out on the streets? In her country, when children turn 16, they are released onto the streets. Suzanna is in trade school right now but does not want to be left where she is, she wants a family. Please help find her a home.

If you know anyone that might be interested in Suzanna, please get them in contact with me. There may be financial help available!

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Bounce It Out

Today was a fun filled day with friends. Jason, Claudia and i got to meet the Braithwaite family who are adopting "Edik" from Eastern Europe, follow their blog here: http://lightingoursteps.blogspot.com/ They are such a wonderful family and would love your support in helping bring their son home. They had a lovely bake sale and a Zumbathon! It was so much fun even if we did not Zumba. While there. we met up with Natalie and Sara Keller and Natalie's mom.

This is Edik, you can donate to the Braithwaite family here: http://reecesrainbow.org/51441/sponsorbraithwaite

After the Zumbathon Natalie, her mom, Sara, Jason, Claudia and I all went to Bounce It Out. It is a place for children that has several giant inflatable toys for the kids to play on. We were not aware of all of the requirements before we went there and were sad to learn that parents cannot go on the inflatables with the children, so there was not a lot we could do with Claudia since she is still not walking. None-the-less, there was a toddler inflatable that parents could go in, so we spent most of our time in there. Claudia absolutely LOVED it! She is fearless though and not aware of how she could possibly get hurt. She threw herself from places high enough to hurt her if they were not inflatable. Hopefully she does not try this at home now. We will definitely go back there when she is older, and when it is less crowded. Sadly, I did not get any pictures of the girls together as they did not get to play much together. Here are some pics and a video from today:

Fuzzy but I had to add this one in here, part of a series. Here Claudia notices her Daddy through the mesh...

Claudia climbing to go see her Daddy...

Claudia reaching for her Daddy!

VIDEO :)

On a side note if anyone has any suggestions on how to get Claudia to stop pulling other children's hair, please let me know, it is very frustrating. She does not do it to be mean, but as soon as she sees a child's hair, boy or girl, she grabs a hold of it.

We adore Claudia and she is learning things at a very rapid rate right now, we are excited for her progress!

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Happy World Down syndrome Awareness Day 2013!

Down syndrome is not a curse, it is a true blessing. Children with Down syndrome bring great joy to their families and friends.

Whenever we take Claudia somewhere, to friends houses or to her various appointments everyone loves her. People are amazed at her abilities. She may only be functioning at the level of a 12-15 month old in many categories. but she is one smart cookie!

Yesterday Claudia had her evaluation for the school district. She qualifies for many services and will benefit greatly from them. We look forward to getting her therapies started.The therapists were amazed yesterday that Claudia could put her socks on all by herself. She has come such a long way since we met her on January 11th! I am excited to see how fast she progresses with therapy.

The last few weeks have been such a blessing for me as I have not had school. I have been able to stay at home and bond more with Claudia. I am seeing progress made every day. Claudia actually likes to walk to people now and will initiate it. It used to be that she did not like nay exercise at all, she would only walk if we made her and even then it did not last long. Now every time I try to take a picture of her standing up, she walks to me lol. She is learning how to play by herself for short periods of time without any negative stimulating behaviors. This is nice as it allows me to get small things done around the house without worrying about her in her room for a little while. She still loves her elephant that blows balls from his nose. She still throws everything and in ways it is getting worse as she won't hold her sippy cup without throwing it as soon as she takes a drink... but she is learning to play ith her toys a little more. For example, here is a video, taken today of her first time actually interacting with this toy in an appropriate manner by herself. Go Claudia go!!!

Claudia is a HAM! She is always making me laugh. I love her so much! I really don't want to go back to school next week. But I will graduate in less than 2 months!!!