All about Maddie

She is doing so many new thins since my blog-slacking that I don't even know where to begin! So I'll start with her biggest strength so far which seems to be...are you ready for this??....SPEECH! Never in my wildest dreams the day I hear the Dr tell us she was nearly deaf, would I imagine hearing her talk to us. She is, and its remarkable. She also knows about 75 signs, all her animals, colors, random toys, family members, and a new exciting one is potty! We are currently working on the alphabet, numbers shapes and counting. At the beginning of the summer I started working on using flash cards that have not only the word and photo, but the sign on the back of the card to help me remember too :) She LOVES her flash cards. They are from baby bumble bee and came highly recommended by one of our moms who's daughter is reading and is only about a year older than Maddie. Oh and she also has Down Syndrome! Maddie also does several animal sounds, her favorites are elephant, horse, dog, cow,and duck. :)
Here is a list of the words she is saying, some I may even be forgetting at the moment.
Mama
Dada
Grandpa
Lola (my sisters dog)
Baby
Hat
All done
Blap (nap)
Cat
Fish
Hi
Bye bye
Elmo
Book
Up
Down
Potty (sooo excited about this one)
Eat
Drink
Apple
Bath
Pop
No (sounds more like Oh and she even shakes her head)
Open
Pool

I truly attribute the fact her speech is blossoming to the fact that she knows so many signs, even when I cant understand what word she is trying to say, if she uses the sign with it, there is no question. Today in fact she TOLD me she had potty!! She was signing potty and saying poopy (pp) and sure enough, she had a dirty diaper! I started showing her that sign and saying potty/poopy every time we change her. Our upcoming goal is to get her a potty and begin the potty training process. I have been waiting for her to walk more frequently than crawl.

Chad and I attended a 12 week, 3 hour every Monday night class called the Hannen Program to learn how to better communicate with her, I would say we definitely got a lot out of it because I really had no experience with early childhood education and this class showed me how to effectively help her learn and communicate with a child who's communication might not be typical.

Since she turned two in April she has been doing so much better with keeping her hearing aids on!! Hooray! She will even bring them over to me and gesture to put them on her. I do think she is very aware of how much they help her hear.

She knows many body parts:
Head
Hair
Hand
Ear
Eyes
Nose
Mouth
Hand
Legs
Feet
She will point to each part if you ask her or show her the flash card with a picture of it.

She mimics almost everything we do, which is hilarious.
She will "brush her teeth"
Comb her hair
Kiss on command (she will even come up to Chad or I just to give us a kiss and it HAS to be on the lips :)
Hug
Tell us "no" and "all done"
Wave hello and bye bye
Blow kisses (she does this randomly to me several times a day)
"talk on her phone"
Pretend to text on our iphones
Pick up the remote and point it toward the TV (probably the funniest thing she does)
Hold and rock her baby
Dunk her water basketball
Sit in her chair or table when asked (she always asks "up" to get on the couch and says "down" wen she gets down
Ask us to "open" things
Put her toys in or out/clean up
Says "mama" and "dada" when she sees us both in photos and in rea life
Ask for a drink or to eat
Bring me something she knows she is not supposed to have
Dance to music (she loves her music therapy class!!)
Most recently tell me when she did potty "poopy"


Her favorite songs (which she will prompt you to sing by gesturing the actions)
If you're happy and you know it
Itsy bitsy Spider and after that song will immediately ask for
Wheels on the bus.

Her favorite book is Brown Bear Brown Bear. She knows what animal comes next and she loves to mimic the animal sounds. I credit this book to the beginning of her love for animals. She will ask you to read it by bringing it over and putting it in your hands then signing or saying "book or open" if you don't respond quick enough she will then proceed to lovingly whack you with it until you start reading it :)

She is not so great with her puzzles or matching yet. We work on those things and she will quickly tell me "all done" or throw the pieces and refuse to try, so we stop and try again later. I know she will get it soon :) She can self feed with a spoon and will use a fork if I am sitting right there to supervise, she likes to take a few bites with it and then just hold it and use her other hand to pick up and feed herself if she thinks we aren't looking, sneaky little girl!

She stood up from the middle of the floor and took her first steps the night before Chad's birthday. Even though for the last month now she can stand up and take anywhere from 10 to 15 steps, her main mode of travel is still hands and knees crawling and man oh man is she fast! She can crawl quicker than some toddlers can run! We started seeing an additional PT during the summer and she has worked wonders for Maddie,she would barely weight bare, refused to walk with a walk toy and couldn't even stand up unassisted back in June. I think she has progressed so much in the last 3 months. Her new therapist Ms. Sue discovered she has a head tilt, and that she now hates being upside down, spun around in circles, on her back, swinging and slides. Her vestibular system seems to be very weak which is why her balance and walking are not great yet. Again, I am confident she will be running around with all her buddies soon enough! I have yet to meet a older child with DS who isn't walking :)

I am so incredibly proud of my Maddie, she s so bright. I beam with pride when I see her learn and accomplish her goals. She amazes me everyday by how smart she is, I know she is not doing nearly as many things as a typical two and 1/2 year old but she can communicate, understand and play with her peers just fine :) I fall more in love with her everyday, her loving and sweet disposition are just an added bonus!


Here is a link to the video I made of the last year 12/09 to August of this year to promote her step up walk, showing all she has been up to :)
www.vimeo.com/14369023