You may have noticed I've been a bit of a blog slacker lately. Truth is, I love blogging, but I am a HUGE procrastinator. HUGE. I have posts rolling around in my head that I've been meaning to write for months. One comes to mind from November...If I don't write them right away it just doesn't happen. Which brings me to a side note regarding email. If you send me an email and don't hear back from me in a day or so, it's unlikely you will get a response. More than likely the email has been buried by new email and I've forgotten about it. But I digress...
To help me get back in the swing of blogging regularly, I'm going to give a 30 day challenge a try. I didn't quite make it through the 31 for 21, but I came close. So here is the list for the next 30 days, borrowed from Shelley.
Day 0: The 30 Day Challenge Explanation and Description
Day 1: Meaning behind your blog name
Day 2: Take a photo of a random part of your day and tell us about it
Day 3: Photos from your wedding
Day 4: A weird hobby or collection
Day 5: A song that means a lot to you
Day 6: A random picture that makes you happy
Day 7: Favorite books
Day 8: A place you've traveled to
Day 9: Your favorite quote
Day 10: Something you're afraid of
Day 11: TV shows that your currently addicted to
Day 12: Something you don't leave the house without
Day 13: A photo that makes you laugh
Day 14: A website you love to visit
Day 15: Share a Bible verse
Day 16: Describe your dream house
Day 17: What’s in your purse?
Day 18: Photos from around your town
Day 19: Something you miss
Day 20: Nicknames
Day 21: Favorite Movies
Day 22: Share the oldest photo that’s saved on your computer
Day 23: Something you fear
Day 24: A photo of somewhere beautiful
Day 25: 3 things you hope to accomplish by the end of the year
Day 26: Something that stresses you out
Day 27: Your favorite poem
Day 28: A photo of the inside of your car
Day 29: 5 things you are thankful for
Day 30: a picture from today
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Will you Tweet for Reece's Rainbow?
We really haven't fallen off the face of the earth...just have been very busy. We spent the weekend at the farm, and that means the only internet access was on my phone. Phone service can be spotty, so that means I was pretty much offline for the weekend. That's not a bad thing, but it does mean I come home to a reader over flowing with blog posts!
I don't use Twitter much. Blogging and Facebook take up plenty of my time as it is. But, for Reece's Rainbow I will make an exception.
Patricia Heaton (the actress from Everybody Loves Raymond) has tweeted an amazing offer for RR and all it takes is you clicking the follow button.
Are you following @ReecesRainbow on Twitter? @PatriciaHeaton is donating $1 for every Reece's Rainbow follower up to $10K! Help kids find families! PLEASE SHARE and follow on Twitter!
I don't use Twitter much. Blogging and Facebook take up plenty of my time as it is. But, for Reece's Rainbow I will make an exception.
Patricia Heaton (the actress from Everybody Loves Raymond) has tweeted an amazing offer for RR and all it takes is you clicking the follow button.
Are you following @ReecesRainbow on Twitter? @PatriciaHeaton is donating $1 for every Reece's Rainbow follower up to $10K! Help kids find families! PLEASE SHARE and follow on Twitter!
Monday, March 21, 2011
World Down Syndrome Day
Today, March 21, is World Down Syndrome Day. Down syndrome occurs when an individual has three, rather than two, copies of the 21st chromosome. It is also known as Trisomy 21.
Today is a day to celebrate everyone with Down syndrome.
Forty five countries around the world partnered with Down Syndrome International to create this video for World Down Syndrome Day!
Enjoy all the beautiful smiles!
Friday, March 18, 2011
Messy
Some nights a big mess at dinner time makes me crazy. I will try to clean up Claire after every couple of bites just to keep the final clean up to a minimum. Last night Claire wasn't interested in eating unless she was feeding herself. So we just went with it, mess and all!
And even though Claire is good at self feeding last night wasn't her best showing. Way more of the food ended up on her or on the floor. Oh well, we'll just consider this meal fine motor practice.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Celebrating without Qualifying
Yesterday was our monthly trip to Denver for appointments. Claire had PT in the morning and audiology in the afternoon. Her hearing test went well, and there were no major concerns, just a bit of fluid in one year, and we will follow up with an ENT.
Before audiology we had PT with Pat Winders. I know I've mentioned Pat before and how much I love her. She passionate about her job and she loves the kids she works with. But my absolute favorite thing about Pat is that she celebrates Claire without adding a qualifier.
I've had people say things like "Claire is doing so well...for a baby with Down syndrome" or "she is the cutest baby with Down syndrome I've ever seen'. And while these may seem like compliments, they really aren't. It's sort of like saying someone is smart...for a girl.
But with Pat there are no qualifiers, just genuine happiness. She understands.
Claire is amazing, beautiful and smart. Period.
Before audiology we had PT with Pat Winders. I know I've mentioned Pat before and how much I love her. She passionate about her job and she loves the kids she works with. But my absolute favorite thing about Pat is that she celebrates Claire without adding a qualifier.
I've had people say things like "Claire is doing so well...for a baby with Down syndrome" or "she is the cutest baby with Down syndrome I've ever seen'. And while these may seem like compliments, they really aren't. It's sort of like saying someone is smart...for a girl.
But with Pat there are no qualifiers, just genuine happiness. She understands.
Claire is amazing, beautiful and smart. Period.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Climbing on up!
One of our assignments to work on from PT is climbing stairs. Since our house has lots of stairs, you would think this would be easy for me, but I just haven't been working on it with Claire. One of our sets of stairs is topped by a gate. The other set is usable, but leads to a tile landing filled with shoes. It requires a little rearrangement, and really isn't all that comfortable to be crawling on. So I've been slacking.
This table in our living room is one of Claire's favorite places to play. She will sit in front of it, with her legs underneath, and the surface is just the right height to play. For the last couple of days she's been standing in front of the table to reach for things on the second shelf. She is determined to chew on the stone coasters we have. And while her teeth are sharp, I'm pretty sure filing them on coasters isn't recommended.
This morning Claire was standing by the table and helping herself to the coaster on the second shelf. I moved the coaster to the top shelf, and stepped back. I expected her just to get back down on the floor since there wasn't anything left to play with.
Instead, she decided that she needed to go up! And with perfect form, she climbed on to the bottom shelf of the table and started to stand up to reach the top shelf! While I was super proud and really wanted her to be able to complete her mission, she was wearing fleece pj's. And those slippery feet and the wooden table just wasn't a combination I was comfortable with.
I guess this means we really should be working on climbing stairs, since she's obviously ready, but we also need to keep working on how to get OFF the furniture safely too.
In other exciting news, Claire can identify a nose! She doesn't seem to realize that she has a nose, but she is good at pointing them out on others.
This table in our living room is one of Claire's favorite places to play. She will sit in front of it, with her legs underneath, and the surface is just the right height to play. For the last couple of days she's been standing in front of the table to reach for things on the second shelf. She is determined to chew on the stone coasters we have. And while her teeth are sharp, I'm pretty sure filing them on coasters isn't recommended.
This morning Claire was standing by the table and helping herself to the coaster on the second shelf. I moved the coaster to the top shelf, and stepped back. I expected her just to get back down on the floor since there wasn't anything left to play with.
Instead, she decided that she needed to go up! And with perfect form, she climbed on to the bottom shelf of the table and started to stand up to reach the top shelf! While I was super proud and really wanted her to be able to complete her mission, she was wearing fleece pj's. And those slippery feet and the wooden table just wasn't a combination I was comfortable with.
I guess this means we really should be working on climbing stairs, since she's obviously ready, but we also need to keep working on how to get OFF the furniture safely too.
In other exciting news, Claire can identify a nose! She doesn't seem to realize that she has a nose, but she is good at pointing them out on others.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
03.02.11
I know today is almost over, but this campaign is important to me. I've mentioned it on this blog before, you may have had me say something in person to you. Yes, I am talking about the R-word again.
When you use the r-word, whether you 'mean it that way or not', it is a direct insult to Claire and all other people with intellectual disabilities.
I am tolerant of the word if it is used in ignorance, but once I've explained that the word is hurtful I EXPECT friends and family to remove it from their vocabulary.
I found this post today from a mom who decided to battle the r-word on twitter. While I'm not surprised about the responses she got, I am sad. So for those who have made a change in the words you choose because of Claire, THANK YOU!
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