In honor of World Down Syndrome Day (3/21), bloggers have gotten together to provide a glimpse into the lives of their loved ones with Down syndrome. It’s a blog hop, so if you’d like to read more, please check out the other participating blogs! (links at the bottom of the post)
On school days, Rowenna is up bright and early. Hubby opens her bedroom door and Clover kitty runs right in to serve as “kitty alarm clock” – head butts and purrs until Rowenna finally sits up in bed. She gets up and comes to see me for a hug before heading downstairs for breakfast.
She watches an episode of Signing Time while she eats breakfast. When she’s done, I tell her we’re going to school and she gathers up her coat and hat and waits for me by the door, smiling ear to ear. Once her coat is on, she starts to sign “school” until I get her in the car and she’s sure we are on our way.
When she first catches sight of her school building, she starts to bounce and sway in her car seat, signing school and sometimes humming happily. She confidently strides to her teacher or speech therapist and walks into the building with a smile over her shoulder at me.
After school, I’m treated to a stream-of-consciousness chatter as we drive home. I know she is telling me about her day, and while I don’t always understand the chatter, I can always understand the intent. Usually it’s been a good day.
We have lunch (here we have a tuna sandwich and green beans happily shared with Clover), read a few books, and it’s down for nap.
After nap it is play, play, play until dinner. She usually does a lot of water exploration in the bathroom sink – brushing her teeth as well as filling and drinking from a small cup. Sometimes she uses a spoon to carefully bring water from the faucet to her mouth for small sips.
She also enjoys a lot of big movement – kicking, throwing, pushing, jumping, and more recently playing with a rainbow ribbon, watching it intently as she makes it swirl around. Speech practice comes in as she sits in front of the mirror and practices vocalizations, either on her own or with hubby or I. We make an effort to incorporate all skills practice into natural play and helping around the house.
We eat dinner as a family, then it’s a bit more play time, bath, and a snuggle with hubby before she goes to bed for the night.
All in all, her days are jam packed with chatter, movement, and joy. I have no idea where she gets the energy to plow on from wake up til bed time, but somehow she finds a way to be always moving, always looking, always figuring things out. She keeps me on my toes and I wouldn’t have it any other way. (Especially now that baby sister is no longer being toted around in my big, pregnant belly and I can actually keep up with my busy girl.)
It’s a pretty typical life, but it’s a great life. Happy World Down Syndrome Day!
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