Thrive in 2025!

 It's 2025!  Let's Thrive!

This year I want to capture each day as Evey grows into a toddler/preschooler. She is learning so much each day. I want to make sure I remember everything she has learned, so that I do not get discouraged in her growth!

Since August, Evey has learned how to pick up food, transition to sitting on her own and learned how to take a bath in the big bath tub (thanks to big brother Ty)! There were moments of frustration because I felt like she had stalled in her physical development. Her old OT gave me hope when she told me over the summer that Evey's cognition is there, it's just her physical development that needs LOTS of work and patience. 

Evey loves to mimic everything we do. She is a fast learner! Over Christmas break we taught her to raise her hands in the "I don't know" pose or the "Where's daddy/mommy/Ty/ Laney/Jonah?" pose and now she does it whenever we say those phrases! She has also learned to sign please, more and eat. She can find her head when we say, " Where is your head?" She really is a smart girl and we tell her that every day! 

She has learned how to scoot around in 360s to get where she wants to go. She will also reach out and slide on her tummy then transition to sitting to get what she wants. We are trying to get her on her knees more into the crawling position when she begins to reach forward so that she can get use to those positions. 

The thing about babies with down syndrome is that they have major low muscle tone. This means that it takes them 2-3 times longer than typical babies to learn how to get into any position. What comes easy for typical babies at 6 months, might not happen for babies with tri21 until 18 months- 2 years. We haven't had to put up baby gates yet which is a blessing because I am not ready for her to start climbing stairs. Talk about anxiety! 

I would love to see her crawl! Many times babies with down syndrome skip crawling and go straight to walking because they have learned to use their arms to pull up on furniture. There are many benefits for Evey to learn to crawl and the most important benefit is being able to write when she enters kindergarten. I want her to build those muscles so that she will be able to hold a pencil by the time she enters elementary school. 

It might take Evey longer to crawl but from what I have learned from her learning how to transition to sitting is that she wants to do it the correct way- the way she is taught. Everything that she has learned is from how she has been taught. She's made me a better teacher to the kinders that I teach this year because I think about how they need to learn the skills so that they can retain them and be able to repeat it for me the next day. For me, it's not how much I can teach them in a year, but how much progress they can make in a year on the MOST important skills they need to be successful in school and in life.

I have no doubt that Evey will keep teaching me and spreading joy to all that meet her. Each day I will write and add pictures of her thriving- the good and the bad! 

Meanwhile, enjoy some pictures of her from over the break!  








Be like a bee-hardworking, wise and delicate!



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