A Week with Wade: Friday

On Friday, Wade has no school or therapy.  So it's Mommy Time all day.  Hurrah!

The activities we do reinforce his therapy goals and also introduce other skills he is ready to try.

He can work on many of his goals just by helping me around the house:  following directions, understanding prepositions, learning sequencing of events, and talking about whatever we are doing.

So Wade happily helps to empty the trash, unload the dishwasher, set the table, put away his clothes, and run all kinds of errands.

He does a pretty good job of dressing himself with a little assistance.  Buttons are still difficult.

Each day, we talk about the month, the day, and the weather (printables from Sparklebox).

 Recently Wade has become very interested in time, so I introduced the clock to him with flashcards. Issues relating to time can sometimes be difficult for children with Down syndrome.  Five minutes might be an hour or an hour might be 5 minutes.  So I decided to seize this window of opportunity and introduce time early while he is interested in it.  If talking about clocks and pointing out daily schedules helps his sense of time to develop, then that's great.  If not, we haven't lost anything by learning about something he enjoys.  At the very least, he'll be able to read the time, and that will give him a sense of accomplishment.

(Have you ever thought of what a heavenly concept it is to have no sense of time?  At the end of time when "time shall be no more" we will all attain the ability to have no sense of time.  Won't that be nice?)  

I like these printable play dough mats from Childcareland.

I've been working with him on the skill of spotting, or being able to recognize how many items there are without actually counting each item.  These printable flashcards from Teaching Math to People with Down Syndrome are ideal for this.

These puzzles are great for working on cardinality (last number counted is the total).

We've also been working on reading the numbers from 1 to 100 (chart from Sparklebox).

Wade loves using this skip counter from The Toymaker.  You insert the number strip into the counter and then move the strip up as he counts so only the current number is visible in the round circle.

Then we practice skip counting again using actual money.  He was already introduced to skip counting and counting money on More Starfall, so again I'm just building on his current interests.

Music is a great part of Wade's day.  Today he was enjoying his cd a bit too loud and I told him to turn it down.  A while later I began vacuuming in the living room where he was still singing along with the music. Pretty soon, I noticed him behind me with his hands over his ears frowning at the vacuum cleaner and saying, "Too loud!!"

It totally made my day!

A Week with Wade: Thursday

No therapy on Thursdays, so he gets to be at Bible Play School all morning.  Today is Prince and Princess Dress-Up Day.

Wade goes as Prince Charmin'.....

....with a toilet paper cape.

Prince Charmin' and Princess Sandra

But even a prince gets sleepy....

...and sometimes a prince even cries.

But all he needs is a little Mommy Magic...

....and a bit of Brother Magic....

...and he's all better again, in a princely sort of way.

And then we went out and climbed mountains....

and found Spring.

A chat with Dad....

....and a vertical sunset.....
make a royal ending to the day.

A Week with Wade: Wednesday

Wednesday's schedule is a repeat of Tuesday's with early morning therapy.....both speech and OT

Bible Play School....with Miss Sandra, another One of the Adored (are you beginning to see a pattern here?)

Naptime....

Mommy time.....tracing and writing

Brother time....piano duet--why one of the duo was shirtless remains a mystery

Laughter duet

Daddy time--best way to end the day

On these mornings of early therapy, I drop Wade off first and then take the other boys back to school.  During their longer early morning ride, the boys usually take the current book along that I'm reading to them at bedtime and Randall reads aloud to Christopher which entertains them both.

It also eliminates endless discussions/disagreements on which highway in the sky the birds use most, the possibility of another snow day--SLUG BUG!!!-- and who saw the deer first.

But this morning they forgot the book.

And then Chris made the mistake of asking how salt works to kill a slug.

Randall happily spent the rest of the way explaining all about possibilities like a sponge soaking up water, and salt water propensities, and how you shouldn't drink the ocean, and how you float on the Dead Sea because salt water is denser than humans, and how if let's say You were standing here beside a Liquid You and you both melted into a bucket, the Liquid You would be heavier than You,  and how if you catch a live fly and tear his wings off and drown him and then take him out and put salt on him, he'll live again, because Eythan said so, only we tried it one time two years ago and it didn't work, maybe we put too much salt on......(and on....and on....and on....).

And all I can say is I hope his teacher had ear plugs on the field trip today.

A Week with Wade: Tuesday

Early Tuesday morning: speech therapy with Sara, where he works on oral motor strength, speech intelligibility, using longer sentences, following 3-step commands, etc. Of course, none of this is work at all, because Wade is totally in love with Sara.

Occupational therapy with Tara, the Dearly Beloved, where he does all the fun stuff like play dough, writing, cutting with scissors, patterns and sequencing, etc. 

From therapy, Wade goes to Bible Play School for the rest of the morning, where he loves playing and learning with typical children his own age. Sometimes he gets to ride in the big bus on field trips.

He's so tired after his busy morning that he can rarely stay awake for the 15 minute ride home.

Mommy time: practicing scissors skills cutting up an old calendar

Brother time--How to make a mummy with happy eyes

Daddy time--with hair stylist Wade

Good thing he doesn't mind having his fur combed the wrong way.

A Week with Wade: Monday

Monday morning--singing, playing, writing, and reading with Miss Harper, the special ed teacher from the public school.

Wade loves Miss Harper and eagerly waits for her to come. But lately he won't open the door for her unless she rings the doorbell first. Proper protocol for everyone, you know.

Naptime

Mommy time--reinforcing his skills. Here he is picking up Dollar Store foam beads with tweezers. While learning the skill of grasping an object and releasing it, he can also work on colors and categories.

Brother time--knock the hat off your opponent

Daddy time--If you read him a story, Daddy goes to sleep quite nicely.

It's Valentine's Day.......Every Day

I love him best when he is asleep......

.....and better still when he is awake.

Boys, Boola Ball, and a Birthday (Belated)

Randall is gifted in the ability to get sick at all the wrong times--field trip to the zoo, fun night at open house, birthdays (two years!). It's becoming a family joke. So on his 12th birthday, there he was shivering with a fever. Therefore, his party was delayed until we could fit it in again.

Yep, I believe he's well now, Mom.

Celebrating Randall's birthday--at last--with friend Austin.

The Lighting Ceremony

Thar he blows!

Boola Ball---it involves a tennis ball, a bat, and rules that evolve.

Buddies at Bedtime

Bedtime Seranade by Randall, for Randall

'Nite, 'nite, Randall!