Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Emma and Andrew Playing

For the most part Emma and Andrew play well together, but at times are still being "typical siblings". Both are learning how to share with the other and we're trying to teach Emma to be gentle and give love to her brother instead of the hitting, pushing, pulling down, kicking, and biting. The good thing is that when Emma isn't making Andrew cry, she's making him laugh by just playing and being herself.



Both of them love our indoor slide. Emma will slide down and Andrew will just giggle at her. Of course some days are better than others; there are highs and lows. Some days they'll play great, but for the most part it seems we can't leave them alone together for a second.
No telling what might happen.


Emma brings home so many creative activities from preschool and church. We get good reports of how friendly she is. (Most days) Emma is doing a good job learning to listen and follow directions. We're definitely in our independent 2's stage. Emma loves to be outside, run up and down the sidewalk out front, get the mail, learn to ride her tricycle, and play in her sand box. She also loves the white pebbles/rocks in the flower beds in front of our house. Play-doo, coloring, whistles, bubbles, music, and, of course, Signing Time, are some of her favorite inside activities.

Emma is also doing a good job drinking out of an open cup, although she still likes to "experiment", which usually means water ends up on the floor, her shirt, or both. She's also getting tall enough now where she can get water from the outside of the refrigerator. Again, usually resulting in a wet floor and shirt :-)

Never a dull moment, just good memories.




Andrew is repeating a lot more words. He is also starting to throw food on the floor from his highchair when he's done eating or when he doesn't want a certain food. He is all business when is comes to eating. The moment we put him in his highchair he expects there to food in front of him. He can sure eat some food. He's is totally on finger foods now. It seems like he flew through puree foods quickly.

Andrew's top right front tooth is getting ready to break through any day. He's also cruising pretty well now. No steps yet, but he does like to let go and just stand there. Andrew is also getting some rhythm. He'll move his head and body back and forth and clap his hands to music. So cute! Separation anxiety is definitely in full swing. Nice to feel needed, but not this much :-)



Sunday afternoon naps are so good

Monday, October 8, 2007

Buddy Walk 2007!




Emma's gotta be where the music is :-)
We'll see, maybe next year we'll get her in the talent show.


Andrew's 1st Buddy Walk
We had record numbers attend this year!



Thank you Howell Family for walking with us!




Thank you to all of you who supported our family,
as well as our local Down Syndrome Organization for Buddy Walk 2007!


Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Ladybug Emma

Thank you Opa & Oma for my new ladybug raincoat, boots, and backpack.
I even put my ladybug boots on my hands and walked up the stairs without holding onto the railing or wall.



I LOVE my new blanket too It's so soft.



Video - Emma's new ladybug backpack
She's running laps





Video - then we put the ladybug boots on





Video - then we put the ladybug raincoat on





Video - "Oh, I love my new blanket"






*Andrew - we don't have a picture of this because it caught Mommy by surprise, which made her immediately run over to where he was instead of running for the camera, but Andrew learned how to step up onto this toy learning chair yesterday. I watched him do it the whole way until he was standing on top of the chair and holding onto the back of the seat.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Andrew is getting faster

Andrew is crawling much faster and is pulling up on everything.
He's even starting to let go and stand with no hands for 5-10 seconds.
He's also started strolling across the room pushing his push toy.

New words: "Uh Oh", "All done", and he's been signing "More" by clapping his hands.

We think he might be cutting his top two teeth, but no sign of them yet.

Andrew weighed 19 lbs. 7.6 oz. at his 9 month ped appt.
After his appt. the four of us went to Qdoba to lunch and discovered that Andrew likes mexican.





Video - Crawling and Pulling to Stand Video - Saying, "Uh Oh"





Video - Pushing Push Toy

"If You're Happy And You Know It"

One of Emma's favorite songs to sing right now is,
"If You're Happy And You Know It"



"If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands..."



"If you're happy and you know it, then your face will really show it..."



"If you're happy and you know it stomp your feet..."


"If you're happy and you know it, say Amen..."



Emma's hair is getting so long that I can put it back in a single ponytail now.
Her OT assessment went very well a couple weeks ago. Some of her new goals are,
learning how to use scissors, how to twist caps off containers, and how to twist door knobs.
During her most recent OT therapy she named numerous letters of the alphabet without any help. I was so proud. She brought tears to my eyes.
Emma continues to enjoy preschool and brings home many projects she made for us to enjoy.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Andrew's on the move!

This has been a busy week for Andrew. We can now say that Andrew is officially crawling. He's gets faster and faster each day. He also started pulling to stand. I was vacuuming, turned around and saw this...

Mom's course of action...Be surprised, excited, and oh yeah, grab the camera.



Andrew also learned how to drink out of straw this week.

Video of Emma Dancing @ Prissy Polly's BBQ


Forgot to add this to the previous post on Papo's 60th birthday.