Memory Like an Elephant

Courtney has a GREAT memory. She can hear a song once, then go months without hearing it, hear it again and sing along to almost all the words. She frequently reminds me of details of things that happened in movies, or while we were out somewhere that I have to really think about before I can remember what she is talking about. I thought of this today because as I left for the grocery store she reminded me to get sourdough bread (one of her favorites). We hadn't talked about that in probably a day or two! It is really amazing.

I Want to Make Pumpkin Pie

Courtney and I were shopping in the grocery store when she told me she wanted to make pumpkin pie. I decided that sounded like fun (and it sounded yummy!) so we bought a can of pumpkin and headed home.
She did a great job. She read the recipe, found all the ingredients, scooped, measured, poured, and mixed with the mixer. It was fun to see her read the names of the spices and then hunt through the spice drawer to find the right one. She stuck with it until they went into the oven and was patient while they cooked and cooled. I will admit I cracked the eggs (she's not quite ready for that), and she licked one teaspoon after we used it-but that ended up being a great learning lesson. After we talked about it we put it in the sink and got a new one.

That night we all enjoyed the fruits (or I guess, vegetable) of her labor!

Bears On Wheels

I have read this book to Courtney maybe 3-4 times her whole 6 1/2 years of life. Tonight she picked it for her bedtime book. I asked her to read it to Megan and I. She read the entire book (she needed help with the word "none" which then we were able to discuss its definition and by the end of the book she was reading and understanding it on her own, and the word Twenty). She was amazing! I didn't even know she could read so many of her number words (one, two, three, etc). She was very proud of herself. Always exceeding my expectations that girl!

Courtney loves to ride her horses. One day we brought treats and when she was done riding we got to feed all of the horses=but this one got the most since she is the one she rode that day. Her name is Rhabana. The volunteer helping her is Susanna. Courtney loves to sing her the "Oh Susanna" song, which luckily, she thinks is super cute!

Things she has learned to do this session of riding are:
Give her horse instructions with confidence: She was a little shy about this last time, but this time she tells that horse what to do in a strong, confident voice. She tells her "Walk On" to go, "Whoa" to stop, "Trot" to trot, "Step" to step over poles, and I think she says "Right" and "Left" when she uses the reins to turn her.
2-point: She can rest her hands near the horse's mane (she rides in a saddle now) and then she stands in her stir-ups and then trots. This takes a lot of core muscle strength and balance.
Reining: She uses the reins now every time she rides. When she is instructed to, she can turn the horse left or right. She is working on remembering to put her elbows in.
Looking: She is working on looking where she wants the horse to go. This helps her focus on what she is doing and it helps the horse feel comfortable with what is going on.

She sits up so straight while she is on her horse-she is really looking quite comfortable on the horse. She always wants to put her horse and saddle away when she is done riding and she always loves to say hello to all the horses in the arena stalls. I can't wait until we will be able to do another session of lessons.

Kind Sister

Courtney is such a kind sister to Megan. They play so well together and have such a great time with each other. The other day, Megan wanted to have more macaroni and cheese (we were eating lunch). I explained that she had to eat her peach slice before she could have more. She whined and complained and begged and told me she didn't want to for about 10 minutes. I stood firm. As I got busy with other things, I watched out of the corner of my eye as Megan took the peach slice over to Courtney and asked her if she would eat it. Courtney said sure and ate the peach slice for her. Courtney had been watching and is always distraught when Megan is distraught (she has a very tender heart). I was impressed that she looked at me when Megan asked her to eat the peach and waited for my nod of approval before she ate it. I told her that she was a kind sister to do that for Megan. (And then I gave Megan more macaroni and cheese!)

Court of Honor-for Dad

Yesterday evening we went to a Court of Honor to support Courtney's Dad. He is the Scout Master in our ward and works hard to ensure that the young men in our ward have a good scout program. I was so proud of Courtney at the meeting. She sat by her grandma for the half hour presentation and payed attention so well. She watched the boys, clapped for them and even stood for the pledge to the flag. I am so grateful that I can take my little girl (who is becoming quite a young lady) to an event like this and have her behave and enjoy watching her dad.

Great Expectations

Every day Courtney gets up, gets dressed, eats her breakfast and gets her hair combed. Beyond those of most six year olds she is expected to and does several more things:
1. Takes a handful of vitamin supplements. These are about 11 pills that she is able to swallow two at a time in applesauce. She does this not only every morning, but also every afternoon (about 10 pills) and every evening (2 pills).
2. Has her glasses cleaned and then put on. She also has to have them cleaned several times a day.
3. She has a medical ID bracelet that she has to have put on.
4. She has ankle braces that she puts on after her socks and before her shoes.

I was thinking this morning as I helped her eat her pills (we call them "yummies") that she is expected to do quite a bit more in a morning than other six year olds that I know. I am so proud of her for doing these extra things every morning. They are things that we know will help her have the best day possible and we are glad that she lives up to such great expectation.

Really Reasoning

This morning Courtney said 2 funny, and yet very reasonable things to Arron this morning. It is fun to see how smart she is getting and how she is able to apply reasoning to her everyday life.
1. She woke up on her own, put her shoes and coat on (with her pajamas!) and went outside to help Arron mow the lawn. She got her little toy mower and started helping. Arron's mower bumped into hers and she said, "Don't mow me, I'm not grass growing!"
2. She saw the ladder to the attic down and asked Arron what it was. He told her it was to to attack. She asked if she can climb up. He told her no, it's too high-to which she said, "but I climb up to my bed (she has a ladder that goes up to her top bunk) every night." He thought that was a good point, but explained that it was still too high and that she can not climb up this ladder.
So smart, this little girl!

Quite the Hiker

We took Courtney on her first back-packing overnight hike. We hiked to Bassi Falls in El Dorado National Forest. She carried a backpack with her water and snacks. She hiked the one mile in. She loved it. We set up camp and slept overnight. Courtney even had to use the potty in the woods and did it just fine. The next day we hiked the mile out. She did the hike all on her own and had a great time.

We also took Courtney and our family for a day trip to Yosemite. She hiked one mile in and out to Yosemite Falls. That was flat for the most part. Then after lunch we hiked the .8 rigorous hike up to the bridge on the misty trail. She hiked that up and down all by herself. It was really hard, but the idea of pizza and ice cream for dinner kept her going.

I am so proud of her for doing hard things. She is so strong and even when it gets tough, she keeps going. She loves going on hikes with her family.

Lost Tooth

Courtney lost her 2nd front top tooth. Now she has an adorable jack-o-lantern grin!

Creative and Cute

Courtney is so creative! She found gloves I had been using to clean and decided to become a duck. She waddled around the house for almost an hour being a duck. What a cutie!

Kindergarten Promotion

Courtney attended Las Floras Independent Study program this year for Kindergarten. It is a home-school program run by the Elk Grove School District. This last week, they held a promotion ceremony for the 6th Grade students and the Kindergarten students. There were 3 Kindergarten students promoting and 8 6th graders (of which only 3 showed up). It was the sweetest little ceremony. The teachers brought up one student at a time and talked about them. Then they presented them with a candy bar gram that talked all about them and things the teacher liked about them this year (I will try to get a picture of Courtney's and post it-it was really cute!). Then the students and families had snacks.
This is her teacher, Mrs. Clements. Courtney really worked well with her. We appreciated her patients with Courtney and how much she helped the transition from traditional school to home-study go good. We would meet with her every two weeks to turn in the work that we had finished and to get our assignments for the next two weeks. We will miss seeing her regularly. Courtney was able to keep up with the traditional kindergarten class work. Her biggest accomplishment this year was learning how to read. She loves to read and is now asking me how to fingerspell (ASL) everything! We are really proud of all the progress she made this school year.
Congratulations Courtney!

Letter

Today I filled out a medical form for Courtney to participate in a certain therapy. I was surprised that the form (in several places) said, "the Down Syndrome child", or similar wording.
Person First
When we state the person first, we acknowledge that they are people just like we are. They may have conditions that make them unique (just like anyone), but they are still people. The above statement SHOULD have said "the child with Down Syndrome".
Other Examples:
Good: My friend Sara who has Down Syndrome
Bad: My Down Syndrome friend, Sara
Good: The girl with Down Syndrome
Bad: The Down Syndrome girl
Good: People with Down Syndrome
Bad: Down Syndrome people
Good: My sister has Down Syndrome
Bad: My Down Syndrome sister
Good: She has a child with Down Syndrome
Bad: She has a Down Syndrome child
This goes for all people. It is offensive to talk about anyone using their disability first. Instead, think of them as people first who have a disability. I wouldn't say my paralyzed friend-instead I would say, my friend who is paralyzed.

So what did I do? I wrote a very polite letter informing the organization about how the form could be improved and I will include it with my paperwork when I turn it in.

Just something to be aware of and for you to teach your children about.

The BSA has a great merit badge that has a little book that talks about this concept. I thought that their explanation of things was very well written. It was a good resource for me.

I Found The Name!

See post below titled "All Clear"
Medical studies have demonstrated that approximately 10% of individuals with Down Syndrome have a condition of the upper spine call Atlantoaxial Subluxation.

The Weight of Words

Loves To Read

For school, Courtney was challenged to read above and beyond what is required. If she read 200 pages, she could earn a reading award that included a medal. Everytime we went to class, she could see the medal hanging on the wall. She LOVES to read and she surpassed the challenge by hundreds of pages above the 200. The school had a little assembly where they awarded the readers their medals. Check out Courtney in this video as she nears the stand (just as the video starts she is to the right of the teacher in the pink dress, she raises her hands in the cutest "ta-da" before getting her medal). She was so thrilled that her name was called and that she got to go up and receive an award.

All Clear

I took Courtney to the Neurologist today. People that have Down Syndrome are at risk for...I don't have the word right now and don't have the time to look it up...but it is a condition in their necks that puts them at risk for serious injury. When they have the condition they are often not recommended to participate in activities such as play soccer, dive into pools, ride horses (that would be devistating to her!) It is recommended that they have a neck x-ray before they are too old (I think the recommended age is 2) to determine if they have the condition or not. Courtney had the x-rays done when she was 2 and then again in the last year. Do you know how hard it is to get a scared 2 year old to lay on a table with a big machine coming down on her to lay still for an x-ray?! This time, it was much easier because I could talk to her and have her understand more and the x-ray was more clear. We went to the neurologist this time (referred from her pediatrician) just to make sure (it appeared clear, but there was a tiny spot that looked questionable and she wanted to make sure we had the experts opinion on it). He examined her, looked at the x-ray and gave her the all-clear!
He said that when in flex position (this is where the questionable part was) you can have up to 5 mm (I think it was mm) and she had not enough to even be worth noting. This is a diagnosis that will (as far as I understand it) remain for her entire life. Meaning if you don't have it, you won't get it! Hooray, one more thing to check off the list of worries!! And bonus, she can continue riding horses!

Faith

Courtney rides horses with Project R.I.D.E.  She has a therapist that teaches her whose name is Miss Kim.  Today Miss Kim reported a incident that happened with her and Courtney that touched her heart.  She was helping Courtney put her helmet on and Courtney noticed her necklace.  Courtney asked what the necklace said.  Kim told her that the necklace said "faith".  Courtney said, "Oh, like faith in the Lord Jesus Christ".  Miss Kim was somewhat astonished and very touched.