Chef Courtney

Courtney is enrolled in a cooking class through her school. I have been so impressed watching her with the other kids. One week, they were all taking a turn stirring the dough. When it came to Courtney, I worried that she would try to lick the spoon or not want to pass it to the next kid and want to keep it. I watched on the edge of my seat refraining from saying anything to see how she would do and how the teacher would handle it. She got the bowl, stirred it a few times around with the spoon and then passed it to the girl sitting next to her! She did wonderful without having to be reminded or told anything. I really am impressed with how she listens to the instructions her teacher gives her and then really tries her best to do them. And I worried that she might let the other kids boss her around-boy was I wrong to worry about that. Even the bigger boys in the class, she is not afraid to work with or even stand up to when she needs to. Watching without getting involved has been a big lesson for me and a great opportunity for Courtney to grow.

Cut, Cut, Cut

Courtney is getting so good at cutting paper (she has not tried to cut anything else-she is usually pretty good at following those kinds of rules!). For Valentine's day I traced hearts for her to cut out and she did a great job. She has a "workbook" that has pages to practice her cutting technique. The other day I handed her one of the pages and her scissors. Then I helped Megan cut her page. When I turned back to Courtney-she had cut perfectly on all of the lines! Hooray Courtney!

If I Let Her

In the first few months of Courtney's life, one Doctor said to me that if you do EVERYTHING for children with Down Syndrome, they will let you. We have tried to be careful about this and let Courtney do as much as possible on her own. Lately she has proven to me that I still cross the line and do too much sometimes. She can put her seatbelt on all by herself. For a few times, she told me she couldn't and protested, but when I stopped doing it and made her-she proved she COULD...not only that, but she can now open the door, climb in, close the door and get her belt on-all by herself!
I always help her put on her tights and leatard for dance class (those things can be tricky, you know!). One day recently, I handed her dance bag to her and then got distracted with something else. When I came back-she had everything on and was ready to go! Ah-ha! Now, every week, she gets dressed and ready-all by herself!

Courtney goes to a dance class once a week. She has memorized a song and several dance steps that she will have to do in a show in June. This week, as the teacher asked about dance positions and dance steps, Courtney was the first in the class to answer!

Courtney-Still Amazing Me

Courtney amazes me everyday. She is so smart, funny, and cute. Lately she has soared with her reading. I bring home Level 1 books from the library (ones she's never seen before) and she can make it through them pretty easily. We have started adding spelling activities and she is getting good fast. Her speech therapist today (who she has not been seeing for very long) came out of the session very impressed with all the words Courtney is reading (I think Courtney has only showed her a small percent of what she is capable of-but as she gets more comfortable with her, it will come). She did say that she won't read it for her if it is demanded of her. You have to make a game out of it. Or catch her (like I often do) doing it on her own. I frequently find her in the morning with Froggy books (or other favorites) just totally reading them on her own. Another one of our favorites is Fancy Nancy.

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!