Such a Little Man

Brady P. is going through some changes right now. 

He is not a toddler anymore.  He is maturing and developing in ways that continue to shock and awe me.

For one, his sleeping habits are different.  It used to be that I got him all ready for bed, we'd run and jump on his bed, he'd snuggle in, I'd give him a kiss and walk out his door, closing it behind me with a sigh of relief.

That doesn't happen anymore.  Now he is getting out of his bed around 1am nearly every night to come snuggle with me.

I was very resistant to this as first because I worked so hard to get him to the point where he would stay in his room all night, and I wasn't going back.

But he is changing, and having dreams, and he wants to feel protected.  Once I gave up the reins and let him snuggle with me until wake-up time, we both slept better and he was much more accommodating to me throughout the day.

Like, every day.  I am grateful.

In another area, he is eating a LOT.  And growing in all directions.

He is also starting to use full sentences.  "This one is big!" when he points to his ice cream cone.  "What does this say?" when he sees new words in a book he's reading.  "Let's go, guys!" when shouting for his favorite hockey team.

Each time he busts out a new sentence, I am amazed.  It's all so new to me, that it still blows my mind when I realize he will speak like an adult someday. 

I think his passion for reading has a lot to do with that.  What a gift!

He is even working on spelling words himself.  Wow.

And he wrote his letters like a champ in school today!

These are all things I've been noticing and adjusting to in our life.  But when his coordinator from the ISD came to see him yesterday, she was floored.

She looked at me with huge eyes and said, "He is just blowing me away!  We're going to have to amend his IEP because he has already achieved many of his goals for this year."

We looked through his IEP, and, sure enough, he has checked off some important goals in speech and fine motor skills.  When we set those goals in June, I thought they were pretty lofty, but he is surpassing them!

Do you know how proud that makes me?

It's so fun to hang out with him and watch him interact with other people, observe objects and processes, entertain himself and interact with me.  We definitely have a beautiful relationship that just took a new turn for the better as I watch him understand more about his surroundings and I let him take the lead.

He has opinions and preferences, and when I follow him around, I learn a lot myself.

Our children are definitely our teachers.

One thing that hasn't changed is his compassion for people.  If he sees you crying, you will get a hug.  If you hurt yourself, he will kiss it.  If you are sick, he will tell you to be happy.

It's nice to have a little angel around.

Leaps and Bounds

Tuesday I walked into the schoolhouse to pick up wee man, and the teacher started gushing to me about how awesome Brady P. did writing and spelling that day.

"What happened over the weekend?"  Miss Jill asked.  "I mean, it's like leaps and bounds from Friday to Monday."

I didn't even know what to say.  I was just so proud.

His afternoon aid stood there smiling.  A big, blushing grin.

His morning aid sent me a picture of his work earlier in the day.

Lili's name!

His special ed coordinator was blown away too.

"He wrote all the students' names," Miss Jill continued.  "A couple times. And he even wrote mine and came up to me all proud to say 'look what I did!'"

I know he's doing awesome.  I do his homework with him.  I read books with him.  I watch him progress. 

But to see other people beam at the accomplishments of my son fills me not just with pride, but with gratitude.  I am so grateful that he is a student in that school.  Not just because he's progressing, but because everybody notices.  Everybody is impressed.  And everybody is so proud of him.

The fact that little Brady P. shows significant progress in the areas he is so far behind in because of his extra chromosome, really touches the people that work with him.  Because they genuinely care about him.

His progress is their heart hard at work.

It's like a sprinkling of magic pixie dust blew through the schoolhouse and tickled everybody to the bone that day.  It's one of those moments where you can take a step back and say, "Wow.  We're really making a difference here."

And it means so much.  To everyone involved.

So, thank you to everyone involved!  You know who you are.  I'm not going to embarrass you anymore than that.

Thank you for caring.  And thank you for feeling proud of your efforts through a little boy who's going to help change the world.  Because you are giving him the tools to help him change it.

Home Summer School

Brady P. receives three kinds of therapy during the school year.

Physical: Targets gross motor development.  His main goals as of now are going up a flight of stairs alternating left and right feet with no railing, jumping forward 18-20" with two feet together and balancing on one foot for 5 seconds.

Speech: Targets the development of his mouth to say sounds correctly.  His main goals now are formulating confident sounds correctly, speaking in sentence phrases and reading sight words.

Occupational: Targets fine motor skills.  This one he just started, and his main goals are holding a pencil correctly, practicing writing his name and using his special scissors.

I've been concentrating on the first two for the first few years of his life.  He makes progress at every visit with his wonderful therapists.

Here's what I'm guilty of.  

I don't like to draw, so I never really made him color much.  I didn't do a whole lot with his writing, and I never thought of tackling cutting with scissors.

Well, now he needs to do that stuff in kindergarten in the fall.

I whined.

Nooooo!  Not the pencil!  Not scissors!  Waaaahhhh!

But nobody cares when you whine.

So I've been getting out his workbook from the school and his special scissors nearly every day after breakfast.

"Okay, Brady P," I'll say all excited-like.  "Are you ready to work in your workbook and cut with your scissors?"

"Yeah!" he'll shout like I just asked if he wanted to go get ice cream.

 

Practicing the Q!

That enthusiasm has kept me going every day.  But you want to know what else keeps me encouraged?

He is so darn good at it.

Let me back up.

Have you ever taught a child how to use scissors?  There is so much hand-eye-brain coordination going on there, you'd think you were composing a symphony.  

I'm not kidding.

We are building strength in the hand muscles, lining up the paper with the scissors, squeezing the scissors fully without pulling to rip it instead and holding the paper with the other hand.

That is just to snip little pieces of paper one time.  And we keep going back to the beginning, so he has that base of strength to work with.

Wow, wow, wow.

Just when I think I can't be any more patient, I learn it in another way.  And in an encouraging way, nonetheless because he can't see me get frustrated.  If I do, then he will.

He needs high fives for completing a cutting session.  He needs claps for finishing one strip.  He needs praise words each time he squeezes the scissors all the way to the end.

Is this boring you?

Try teaching an almost five-year-old how to use scissors.  I honestly never thought I would.  It is tedious.  It is slow.  It seems like somebody else's job.

But it is mine.  And his.  And his progress and excitement makes it all worth it.

He is doing better and better at the writing, too.  I'm not going to get into all the minute details involved in that, but it's its own song and dance.

However, if he goes to kindergarten, and his teachers are impressed at how he holds his pencil, makes marks and uses his scissors, it will be sooooo worth it.

Because he is worth it.

Back to the Blog Roots

Hey!

I feel like we've got some cool things happening here.

I might be jumping the gun (because some mornings I drink too much coffee and get excited like a puppy about new ideas and life in general), but I'm going say it anyway.  Then you can hold me to it.

Or I'll just blame the coffee.

As you well know, this blog contains a smorgasbord of ideas, experiences, events and whatnot.  Well, I'm going to try to streamline things a bit.

I'm going to reel this river back in to the "Downs by the Bay" roots.  Remember what that topic is?  

A little boy with Down syndrome grows up on the shores of Lake Superior: throwing rocks, sniffing flowers and following his curiosity.

Well, now.  We have not stuck to that theme.  It still gets a little bit "A Little Slice of da Harbor" and a little bit Copper Harbor Vitality and a little bit of my own obsessions.

So I am making a new place for all those wandering streams.  It can be found here at Copper Harbor Vitality central!

Yup!  Back to adventures and Copper Harbor, baby!  Those stories will be mostly "A Little Slice of da Harbor" with a Copper Harbor Vitality twist.  If you have been reading my words since my first blog, then, here is some tissue paper.  You might have just peed your pants!  I get it.  I might pee mine too!

If you have joined "Downs by the Bay," you are also in luck!  Because, oh man.  Guess what...

Brady P. is going to write some of these blogs!

Whaaaaat???

Brady P. can't type!

But, you know what?  He can't hide his emotions either, and I can read him like a book, so I may as well write it down.  I mean, that's what I'm here for!

Okay, Brady P. lover, now here is some tissue for you.  Cuz, well, you know.  I can tell you're excited, too!

 

Chucking rocks toward the lighthouse 

To prove that our habits have not changed during this blog, here is a recent shot from our favorite place to chuck rocks.  

Note the fisherman to the left standing on the rock.  They are out there everyday!  Catching mostly too small of fish, from what I've noticed, but there have been a few keepers!

Just like Brady P.  He's a keeper.  Wink!