When Kennedy was born I had no idea what was ahead. I had no idea what life would be like in 2 weeks, 2 months or 2 years. I quickly found out, that life was pretty typical. And the older she gets, the more similarities I see. She is sweet and adorable and so much fun! She is also in the midst of the terrible twos! She can throw a tantrum like any other two year old - complete with foot stomping. She's also an amazing big sister. She loves to give her brother kisses, and always comes running when he's upset. She thinks it's so funny to tickle his feet and his belly.
Her communication skills are growing by leaps and bounds. She's picking up new signs and words daily! She is copying everything we do. In fact, this week she attempted to stir the food (on the real stove) and took a plastic cup out of the pantry and tried to get ice/water from the fridge. She loves to climb on the furniture. And she has mastered opening doors. She climbs the steps at the playground and goes down the slide. She loves music, dancing and dogs. She asks us daily for a dog. We still haven't given in.
She amazes me more and more every day, and I could not be more proud of her. I love seeing her learn new things and the look on her face when she accomplishes a task.
Here's some quick photos of our last trip to Washington D.C. I have some adorable photos on my phone, but I seem to be having technical issues. You can also get a sneak peek of her dancing, her enthusiasm for a dog and her quacking, which she started completely on her own after watching the ducks one afternoon.
I was thrilled when Kennedy started walking. She walked relatively early for a child with Down syndrome. I couldn't have been any more proud when those one or two baby steps transformed into her being an independent walker. But what about talking? Communication has been a tough one. And admittedly I spent a lot of time worrying. What if she never talked? And yes, sometimes it felt that way with crawling and then walking. But how many times have you seen someone with Ds that doesn't know how to walk? Yeah, me neither. But the reality is, some individuals with Down syndrome are not able to talk. I'm not sure that I ever admitted to anyone just how real this fear of mine was. I tried to focus more and more on signing, and while she used a few signs, they were far and few between and overall she just didn't show much interest in using them. She spoke a few words, but seeing how much other 2 year olds were talking was sometimes hard.
Until last month. Shortly after she turned two. In true Kennedy fashion, she decided she was ready. She randomly started generating words and signs. Some that we have barely worked on. Over the past few weeks she has continued to add more and more signs and words to her vocabulary. This weekend she put three signs together and asked to eat more crackers. We took an impromptu trip to Virginia to see some family, who happen to have two golden retrievers. As soon as she saw them she pointed, yelled dog, and then signed it. Over and over and over. She asked to be put down. But then the dogs rushed to play, knocking her over and licking her face. She was no longer a fan of the dogs. However she has been talking about them repeatedly since Saturday. Using both the sign and word. I may need to invest in a soft, snugly puppy that barks and plays. And runs on batteries, because I don't have that kind of time when it comes to taking care of animals.
It's an amazing feeling to see her signing things not just for her basic needs, but about things that she sees and things that excite her. Although we aren't having true conversations, I feel like we are able to communicate so much more these days.
So, the hard work is paying off. I am so proud of Kennedy and how hard she is working at speaking and signing. And I feel a sense of accomplishment. These are all things I've taught her. We haven't had any sort of consistent speech therapy since we left Florida. Last week was our first real session with the therapist in North Carolina. I feel like she will be a great fit for us and provide a lot of guidance. We're facing a lot of tough decisions regarding Kennedy's future and education, as she prepares to age out of the early intervention program at age 3. Her recent accomplishments and progress have me feeling more confident about our decisions. But that's another topic, for another day.
Here are a few photos from our Passover and Easter celebrations.
I'm a bad bad blogger. March 6 was Spread the Word to End the Word Awareness Day. For those of you who have been following my blog, know how strongly I feel about the r-word. Yet, I didn't manage to find time to blog about it. I did manage to flood Facebook with facts, photos and articles about why it's so inappropriate to use it. I fought a few arguments as well. Arguments I shouldn't have to have, about why I find it so offensive. And why the word should be eliminated, even when used "appropriately" and replaced with terms like intellectual disability. On the plus side, I'm happy to say that I haven't seen the r-word pop up on my Facebook newsfeed in a long time, so I consider that a step in the right direction. Or everyone that uses it got annoyed with me and hid or deleted me.
In other news, we've been busy since the little miss celebrated her birthday. Her 2 year well visit went wonderful! She weighed in at 23lb 4oz and 32 inches, and although I typically dread the "developmental assessment" I found that this time wasn't so bad. I recognize that she has delays and apparently I've had a pretty realistic depiction of where she is because I didn't leave with an overwhelming feeling of how many things we should be working on. I adore our new pediatrician, who spent an unreal amount of time discussing things like nutrition and vaccines.
Unfortunately, a mere 12 hours after her "well visit" Kennedy got sick. Our first stomach bug. Which quickly made it's way through the house, and half the family. The stupid germs plagued her off and on for an entire week. Mommy and daddy learned that we can no longer call in the Grandmothers for backup, because they BOTH got incredibly sick. We spent a lot of time reading and watching TV. And keeping Kennedy from smothering Caleb with slobbery kisses. Good times. (Insert sarcastic eye roll here.)
Apparently turning two meant big things for Kennedy. I think we're finally beginning to see the shift from her focus on physical development to her communication skills. Don't get me wrong, Kennedy has never had trouble getting her point across. But her signing and speaking has definitely not been one of her strengths. However, in the past week she has picked up two new words and two new signs. She will run up to you with an iPhone, asking for music. She will ask to be put down. And although she's very capable of walking, she more often than not, asks to be picked up. Because apparently mommy needs the work out of carrying a combined 46+ pounds of kid. Her receptive language has continued to grow by leaps and bounds. We started working with a new speech therapist who I really like. Kennedy is not thrilled with her, but only because she makes her work.
And last but not least, Kennedy got to do something VERY exciting today. She was able to meet Lauren Potter, from Glee! Okay, so Kennedy didn't really understand the significance of it. And I had a horrible time getting her to sit still for a photo with her. Kennedy just wanted to run around, and she was over tired as a result of the time change. But I was incredibly excited about the opportunity. She was incredibly sweet! And Kennedy loved her iPhone. I'm pretty sure she was going to try to steal it. Unfortunately, my husband was juggling Caleb, and I was trying to snap photos. We were ALL trying to get Kennedy to cooperate, with out much success. But at least there is a photo of Kennedy with her, right? And we got her autograph.
Speaking of photos, here are a few of the latest, in random order. And a few videos of Kennedy's impressive dance skills. I would promise another blog update soon, but we're headed back to the sunshine state for some warm weather, beach time, friends, family and MICKEY MOUSE!!! So, as usual, the updates may be sparse, but I should have some great photos coming up!
Watching Signing Times with brother! So incredibly sweet.
Don't bother me mom, I'm reading.
I'm going to kiss you brother!!!!
Watch, this is how you throw a ball.
And this is how you play the piano.
MOM! Why won't he chase me???
Come on Caleb! Chase me!
Let me show you how this works Caleb.
Just brushing my teeth.
Uh, excuse me, I don't care if mom wants a picture, I want to run away!
No, I'm not going to look at the camera and smile.
I sure do love this horse, even if it doesn't go anywhere.
Giving daddy kisses. Poor sick baby.
Daddy, I'll read you a bedtime story.
Hey people!
I love this thing!
Mom fail. I dressed them both in gray stripes. And 5,000 people asked if they were twins.
My little princess doing her princess dance!
Dance Queen. She'll get every musical toy going just to dance.
Wow! What a busy weekend. I think we've felt a little guilty that Kennedy has been stuck in the house so much. Combine that with wanting to reward her for being such a wonderful big sister, we made sure that she had a blast all weekend, despite some lousy weather. So in the past 48 hours we went to Busch Gardens, an indoor play center and the park. I'm really not sure who is more exhausted.
And there's one thing I always say. There's a few ways to get Kennedy to do something.
1) Blog about how she's NOT doing it.
2) Express concern to the therapists about how she's not doing it.
3) Stop practicing it.
As I mentioned in my last post, I felt like we weren't getting anywhere with speech and communication. Kennedy has made it clear that she has a pretty good understanding of things. She can follow simple commands and recognizes objects. But we've been at a frustrating standstill with her language or signing skills. Since I blogged about my frustrations the other day, Kennedy decided to prove me wrong. She started signing eat and more this weekend. Did I mention that we had cut back on the amount of work we were doing with signing, per our speech therapists suggestion. And now she's going to start signing. That's my girl!
I also finally got a video of her walking with her push toy. I've been trying to catch this on video for awhile, but I never seem to have my phone or video camera on me at the right moment. Or when I do, she's so distracted by it, that she doesn't walk. One of these days, she's going to be walking on her own! I am voting sooner than later.
