brush your teeth little lion

Last week, I heard Kira messing around in the bathroom. Here's what I found:

She's telling me to "top Mommy."

Lots of teeth brushing going on around here. Largely inspired by the "Brush your teeth, little lion" song from Jojo's Circus. Kira's teeth, her baby's teeth, buh-buh's teeth - dang sparkly teeth around here, let me tell you.

"Teeth, Mommy...brush Mommy...Baby? Baby? teeth?...Mommy, baby teeth"

(And yes, those are winter jammies "customized" for summertime.)

OT visit

Kira saw her OT today. We had to skip last month's visit because Kira was sick, so we'll see L twice this month. We didn't receive paperwork; I wanted to get this down before I forget. This will seem kind of random, sorry!

-Work on tasks that require stabilizing with one hand and performing the task with the other - zippers, pouring from a pitcher into a cup, stringing beads, etc. Start working on zippers, buttons, velcro by dressing big dolls with Jackson and Kira's clothes.

-Serving herself during mealtime. We always plate at the stove, so I guess I should start having some things on the table. Jackson could probably use help with this one as well!

-When she's stacking, Kira likes to push down on the block, almost like she's making sure it's stuck on there. Use tasks like putting coins in a piggybank to work on gently releasing.

The visit went really well. L had these stacking cups and she worked with both kids with them forever. L (and the other therapists, too) are always great about including Jackson during therapy, but this time she was really working with Jackson on skills, too. It was so cool. The bottom cup was number 11, so she would ask Jackson which number was next in the countdown. He would figure out the number, find the cup, and hand it to Kira. Then we'd name the color and Kira would stack it. Once they were all stacked, L had the kids take turns kicking it over. The next round, L would ask Jackson what color went next in the sequence.

They worked with the peg board and she was giving me lots of ideas on using the pegboard with both kids. L knows that I'm considering homeschooling and I love that she really takes the time to teach me and Jackson, in addition to Kira. I also think it makes "therapy" seem more like a fun playtime for all of us, and not like we're trying to "fix what's broken" in Kira.

She also had Kira sort the stacking cups by color - two colors at a time. She only put the wrong colors together once! I was really impressed, because we've been working on color identification, but not sorting by color. She also pointed to and said "cheek" - I didn't even know she knew that word or body part! I really think Kira's best teachers are herself and Jackson. She knows things that I know I didn't teach her.

I'm going to be so sad when ECI is over for Kira. (Although I won't miss the getting ready for visits part.) We've been blessed with wonderful therapists who really get how our family operates. I'm so thankful.

ECI - occupational therapy visit

Kira saw her occupational therapist, Laurie, today. We started with Laurie when Kira was 2 months old and have always seen her once a month. When Kira was small, Laurie and Chris, Kira's physical therapist, both focused on many of the same things - head control, trunk control, etc. We saw each of them once a month - so that meant that Kira was seen roughly every two weeks. It was a nice fit for us. We now see Chris quarterly.

Today's report:

What's New/Progress: Put on shorts yesterday, beginning 2 word phrases, puts trash in trash can independently.

Goals/Outcomes Addressed:

1. taking on/taking off simple clothing with minimum assistance


2. open/close zippers with assistance


3. string beads (3)


4. imitates drawing a circle and horizontal line

Routines (summary, observation, assessment, plan): Shirt off if loose, completing a dressing activity if Mom starts. Beginning to pretend play with baby dolls, showing empathy to brother. Working on opening ziploc bags and using zippers - pulls ribbon on zipper pull if hands are placed, opens and removes toy or food, etc.

Recommendations: continue strategies

I think it was a good visit. Last month, Laurie recommended tying a small piece of ribbon in a loop to the zipper pull of a small change purse. Kira can hook her finger through the loop to open and close the zipper, until she builds up enough hand strength to grasp the pull itself. She's doing pretty well with this task. We have to place her hands in the correct spot, but she's doing a good job with the pulling.

The switching hands concept is also something we are working on with the stringing beads. Kira understands to put the wooden needle in the hole and pushes it all the way through. We're working on the next steps of switching the bead to the other hand , then grasping the needle and pulling it the rest of the way through, and finally, pulling the bead on down the thread.

"Showing empathy to brother" - On this one, I have to say how lucky Jackson is to have Kira for a sister. He'll get upset with me and go storming off mad and crying. Kira will go to him and pat his back. She'll say "urt?" (hurt) or "ad?" (sad). She'll give him great big hugs and try to cheer him up. Every now and then, he'll be sitting in time-out because of something he's done to her. And she'll be sitting right there next him, consoling him. All is forgiven in about 2 seconds.

The trash can mention is one of those things that I appreciate Kira doing, that I never took the time to notice when Jackson started doing it. I realized the other day that she's gone from throwing random things into the trash can to actually throwing trash in it. I think one of the positive things of parenting a child with Ds is getting to appreciate those small accomplishments and to recognize how those seemingly tiny things add up to really big deal things, like the hope for independent, successful living later on.

Laurie also mentioned a really cool idea that she saw at a daycare the other day. We're past the baby food stage, but maybe someone else can use this tip. At the daycare, they were using this type of baby food container:

to make blocks with. They would glue little toys inside and then glue the lids on. What a great, thrifty idea for see-through blocks! All I ever thought to do with those was to re-use them for cheerios, etc. in the diaper bag.

ECI coordinator report

I love how Cate posts her daughter's ECI reports. It really helps me to think about other things to do with Kira. Plus, what a great way to keep up with the records. I wish I had been doing this all along.

Kira saw her Service Coordinator today. Here's the report:

What's New/Progress: Kira is starting to imitate words on request. She is saying many single words along with a sign.

Goals/Outcomes: overall developmental progress

Routines (summary, observation, assessment, plan): Kira said "eat bites" and "read books". She is starting to work on putting her pants on. Putting on her brother's pants today. She said "bye birds" after looking at birds outside.

Recommendations: Continue to encourage 2 word spoken phrases - her language progress is wonderful. See Help at Home sheets for new ideas.

Visited with mom about recent family activities.

I did not have high hopes for today's visit when it started. Kira sat on the couch all sulled up (is that just a Texas expression?). I have never seen that look on her face. Wendy (her coordinator) would try to initiate play by handing Kira things. Kira stacked each thing up away from Wendy, as far as she could get away from her. I swear she was hiding her books and toys so that Wendy wouldn't touch them.

Amazingly she cheered up - the rest of the visit was wonderful! She is just starting to speak around other people. Until now, she would only talk to Derek, Jackson, and I. She would NEVER repeat things when I asked her to, around anybody else. Well, today, she was a little showgirl. I about fell out of my chair when she repeated "bye birds." She's never said those two words together, and she has never repeated something a non-family member said.

She's been trying to put pants on recently. She can get one leg in. Well today, she got a pair of brother's shorts and sat right down and put both legs in. She was on our ottoman, so I stood her up and she reached down and pulled up the front of the shorts. Little toot was showing off!

Wendy gave us a stack of activity sheet type things that discuss the various developmental milestones she'll be tested on when she turns 3. I'm excited to go through them. I'll post anything that looks interesting.