Oh Playgroup, We Love You!

For a LONG time Sophie was working primarily on gross motor skills. So much so that some of her other areas of development had to take a back seat while she learned to walk. Watching her today, you would never know how hard she had to work to get here. Her stride is confident, balanced, strong, centered, purposeful, and her gait is nice and tight. Now that her attention is diverted elsewhere, we are seeing an EXPLOSION of new skills. I cannot begin to keep up with my beautiful girl.

even at home, one of her favorite activities is the play kitchen and food

So, to be short, in her incredibly wonderful playgroup today she spoke TWO new words, water and splash. She said this while playing at a water table. In the table were 3 sets of animals; a momma duck and 3 baby ducks, a momma pig and 3 baby pigs, and a momma whale/fish and 3 babies. It's not unusual for Sophie to dislike it when she gets her hands or clothes wet (even if it is just water). Not today. She was soaked and loving it. Not only did she bust out with 2 new words, but she spent 20 minutes matching the correct babies with their mammas. When the piglets were with the mamma duck (oh, and she was quacking and oinking too) she would fix them. Matching! Her DT Judy will be so proud!

can't get her to eat real pizza, but share pretend pizza with a friend and she's on it!

Last week, she surprised me by washing her own hands before snack time. Today I got it on camera. Watch in amazement as my baby girl shows us what she can do. To those who have no experience with special needs, you need to know that this is a BIG deal. She knows what she is supposed to do, where, and how. She can't get the soap on her own, but when asked, she looks to where it is. Later, during music time, listen for her pretend snore while bear has gone to sleep.

Priceless!

on a side note, I do try and label my posts so that they can be searched. I have recently noticed that rarely does a post get labeled with "disability," or "down syndrome" without also being labelled "happiness."

Developmental Playgroup is Back

This month, after 6 weeks off, Sophie's developmental playgroup started back up again. We love DSC and Sophie gets as much out of this group as her individual therapies. Helena usually hangs at home with Mark, but since he was busy this morning being honored by the university for excellence in teaching (yes, I'm proud), baby sis came along.

We have one returning group leader, Mary and a new group leader, Deana this year. We knew Deana already as she filled in a few times last year. They are both wonderful. We've got just 2 returning friends and a bunch of new ones. Group is just as much for the parents as the kids and making new connections is good. Also with us this year is our new friend Miss H, who also has Down syndrome.

To continue the recent theme, Sophie blew me away again. She did lots of walking today. I managed to capture on video the elusive phone conversation that she's stubbornly refused to do in front of any of her therapists. The room was noisy, so listen closely as Soph says 'hello' into the phone.

During art time she used actual paint vs. food (pudding) without trying to munch the roller (a 1st). She actually painted, chattered and laughed the whole time. She did a few hand movements that go with our snack time song, 'fishy in the water' (another 1st)

She cheered as we arrived and was sad to leave. Such a big girl.

Stop the Press!

This morning we met with two of our new wonderful Respite workers. While they were here, Sophie decided it was time to take her first assisted steps!!!!!!!!!!! This was a long time coming folks. Here she is walking with Miss A. while her mommy filmed and tried not to bawl my head off.

Here's the superstar at playgroup yesterday.

Playgroup

Developmental Playgroup has been a wonderful thing for Sophie. It incorporates all of her therapies, plus has the added benefit of social interaction with other kids. She has really done well in playgroup.

During art time a couple of weeks ago when Sophie was using the dotters, she busted out with "dot, dot, dot." Mark was able come to group last week and he caught her saying "dot, dot, dot" again!

Inclusive Schools Week

Inclusive Schools Week (Dec. 1-5) is an annual event sponsored by the Inclusive Schools Network (ISN) at Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), which is held each year during the first week in December. Since its inception in 2001, Inclusive Schools Week has celebrated the progress that schools have made in providing a supportive and quality education to an increasingly diverse student population, including students who are marginalized due to disability, gender, socio-economic status, cultural heritage, language preference and other factors.

Last year, our local Down Syndrome Network participated in National Inclusive Schools Week by donating books about Down syndrome to local schools. Since Alexander is in preschool this year, we were able to participate. Yesterday he donated "Hi I'm Ben...and I've Got a Secret" to his preschool's library.

As a bonus, here are a few shots from Sophie's playgroup yesterday.

This mat was not only colorful, but had many different textures as well.

Girls will be girls...

All About Sophie

On Sunday Sophie laid on my chest from noon-4, alternating crying and sleeping as she cut 3 new teeth. She's starting to try and stand for short amounts of time and does quite well with help. She's a champion at the yoga position downward dog (still trying to catch this one on film) and she can hold it for 10 seconds.

Before the cold, wet weather came to town we enjoyed one last day at the park.

In PT she continues to make strides in strength and balance. Her PT would like to see her crawl more, but she prefers her signature sidewinder move.

PT was full of bench sitting (on PT's leg) and standing with support, over and over.

After her first day with pig tails, her hair stood straight up once the rubber bands came out.

In DT (and every day as she really has fun), Sophie is learning how to feed her baby dolls from bottles and spoon/fork feeding them. Sometimes Bubba helps out.

At her weekly developmental playgroup, Sophie enjoys knocking down blocks faster than they can be built up.

The water mat is one of her favorite toys,

she loves banging the drum with the feather duster,

but nothing beats the ball pit. The staff have really been working me to get her one for Christmas.

In ST we have made a few photo albums of her favorite toys and people. Books have become favorites of Soph's.

Yet no therapy or playgroup beats time spent with her best guy, Daddy.

Developmental Playgroup

Last week Sophie started a playgroup at our local Developmental Services Center. This is a very wonderful playgroup and already I can tell the staff are very caring and knowledgeable people. Developmental Playgroup is for little ones with some sort of developmental need, though Sophie is the only child with Down syndrome in the group. Her peers are 1-2 years old. Sophie was the only newbie in a small group of 3 kids. A few kids will be starting in October and a few more called in sick so it will be bigger soon. That day with only 3 kids and 2 staff plus an intern, we were one-to-one. There are waiting lists for this playgroup and I can see why.

During playgroup I 'play' right along side of Sophie for an hour and a half, once each week while Alexander is in preschool. It is written into her IFSP and is at no extra cost to us. Each playgroup follows the same pattern. First up is free play among the many fun activities set out in the room. Sophie took a little warming up to each activity, but after a few moments, seemed to enjoy each thing she did. Her favorite was sitting in the ball pit. At first when Ms. H. scooped more balls on her she would kick and push them away. Soon, she was having, well, a ball and didn't want to get out.

Then we do the "clean up" song while laundry baskets are passed out to collect toys. The purpose isn't really to get the little ones to clean the room, but to gain experience being helpers and engage in an activity that signals transition to the next activity.

Next was an art project. The little ones put on smocks and sat in tiny chairs around the little table covered in paper. The older kids had paint rollers and blobs of of different colored paint right on the paper in front of them to roll and mix. Sophie had a large zip lock baggie with red paint on one side and blue paint on the other. They taped the baggie down on the table and Soph squished the baggie. She mixed the colors together making purple. She loved it. I was amazed as I never would have thought of that. Frankly, seeing my little girl in a smock like a big girl at the table was an experience - for me.

Then, it was time to wash hands for snack time. The kids got goldfish crackers and Cheerios with sippys of juice. They got experience scooping out the snacks and taking turns. There were more songs and talk about what happened during play time. Last was Circle Time on little rugs. The time was filled with jingle bells, singing, music, and a parachute. We said our good byes until next time.

I can see that this playgroup is going to be AMAZING for Soph. She is a very social girl, but has limited interaction with kids who aren't her brother. She had a great time and so did I. The staff know what they are doing and are lovely. They are so good at gently but firmly encouraging Sophie to try new things. I can already see that I have a lot to learn about my daughter and her capabilities. This playgroup is just the thing to show us both what she can do.