Logan and Aubrey's Gymnastics Class

Logan and Aubrey also finished up another semester at The Little Gym a couple of weeks ago. It has been amazing to see how Logan has changed over the past 20 weeks. He is so comfortable with the routine in class and follows along perfectly from one activity to the next. He loves it so much that I wish we could go everyday!

Logan gets geared up for class with a song and some bell shaking!

Logan and especially Aubrey, LOVED their teacher!! She was fantastic!

Check out this little show-off!! He decided he would stand on the beam all by himself! Look at that flexibility! And if you can't see...he has a huge smile on his face. That little sinker always knows when he is doing something extra fantastic!

It took Logan and Aubrey a while to feel comfortable with the parachute, but now, they are naturals! Shaking it, going under and walking while holding on are all easy for them now. They both are awesome at following directions.
Logan now can climb up on just about anything at the gym!

I'm so proud of how far they both came this past semester!

Logan-New Pictures

I convinced Logan to sit for me for a little while yesterday and I got some really cute pictures of him! He started off wanting to run away, but then I gave him something to sit on and we starting making silly noises at each other.

Logan has been pointing a lot lately. He points and says "whats sat?"
He also likes to point at lights and say "lights". To Logan's speech therapist, here's proof that he is correctly making the "L" sound!! He really over dramatizes it, but it makes for perfect practice! :)

Happy 5th Birthday Devin!!!

Devin,

I love you so much! I don't know how I would get through the day without your silly jokes, caring words and creative ideas. I can still clearly remember the moment I saw you for the very first time and can't believe how quickly you have grown! We have had so many great moments together and I can't wait to have many more special moments in the years to come!

Love,

Mom

Silly Logie!

Logan LOVES to play with my sunglasses. When we saw these particular glasses, we knew we had to get them for him!! He has so much fun with them and they look darn cute on him too!

Love this photographer!!

If I have never shared this site before, I meant to. I could stare at her photographs forever! Check out Conny Wenk's work and the beautiful people she photographs!! (hint: they have a little extra )

I want to be an electrician!

Last week, Devin had "I want to be day" at school. Lately, he has made it very clear that he wants to be an electrician. Ever since we had some work done at our home and he had the chance to shadow our electrician, Devin has been very fascinated by electricity and how it all works. Over the holidays, he pretended to wire his bedroom by stringing lights all over his room and making them all turn on and off together. It's so cute, but we have had to have many serious talks about how dangerous electricity is.

Anyway, he did wire a switch to bring to school to show his class. I also made him promise he would only use batteries to practice his electrician skills!

I told Devin that Logan has Down syndrome

Tonight, I told Devin that Logan has Down syndrome. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing. I had came across a children's book that I thought would be helpful for Logan's classmates some day when they had questions about Logan. The book came in the mail today and when I opened it I decided I would read it to Devin before I put him to bed for the night. I knew if I thought about it too much I would talk myself out of it and put it off for a while.

So, I told Devin I would read him the new book and we walked to his room and sat down. As soon as I showed Devin the cover and read the title, he immediately pointed to the cover and said, "that looks like Logan!". At that moment I suddenly had a sinking feeling and felt a little nervous. I was thinking, "should I do this now, tonight"? "Is it too soon to bring it up?" "Is Devin too young to understand."

I read the title of the book and Devin got excited about figuring out the secret. As I read, he looked at the pictures and responded to the questions like "I like school, how about you?"

When I was done, I just said, "Logan has Down syndrome just like Ben." Devin immediately said, "do I have Down syndrome too?". He asked in an excited voice, like he wanted me to say "yes you do."

Then Devin asked "why?" and then I panicked a little. I said that some children are born with it and some are not. I mentioned the names of some of Logan's friends who have DS and I told him that each of them has it, but their brother's and sister's do not. Then, Devin asked, "do girls have it too?" He assumed that just boys have it because the story was about a boy and many of Logan's friends are boys. But, I reminded him of the girls we know who have DS.

Then that was it...he seemed satisfied with it and asked me if I would read him another book. I kind of wanted to continue our conversation, but I knew he wouldn't understand much more than that. The book did a great job of describing how Ben is different, but also how he is more like other children. It described how Ben needs extra help with his speech and I was able to tell Devin that that is why Logan has therapy. I knew that Devin wondered why he didn't have therapy too like Logan, and now he knows.

I do think that I will read Devin the book a few more times to see if there is anything else he would like to know. I also plan to donate at least one copy to our school library and Logan's future classrooms.

I would love to hear how others told their children about their sibling with DS. How did you do it? How did it go? Did I do the right thing? Is there anything I should watch out for now with Devin?

My Picassos

I think Logan and Aubrey really enjoy their time home with me weekday mornings while Devin is at school. Even though they do fight over nukies and strollers, the rest of the time they get along great. I caught them the other day having a little giggle time together. They were both pounding their hands on the ground and laughing at each other. It was SO funny to watch them. I grabbed the video camera, but was too late.

Here, they are writing on the chalkboard, which they could not do if Devin was home because has to have it to himself of course.

Aubrey is 15 Months!

Aubrey turned 15 months at the beginning of this month! If you were wondering where her montage was when she turned 1 year, I did make one, but I can't access it on my computer so it's taking a while to finish it on Dale's computer. So, it is still coming, I promise!

Aubrey is still my "little monster". I mean that in the best way possible....it's just that she still makes a lot of monster noises and her smile is still so mischievous! She is definitely one-of-a-kind! Lately, her speech has been coming so fast! She was signing little, but now she can say just about everything that she needs to. Her words are SO cute! I especially love "drink", "mama" (of course), "nukie", "papa", "devin", "cheese", "cookie","cracker", "all done" and "hot". But nothing beats her "uh-oh!"...at least I get a little warning when something bad has happened. I can hear her across the house say "uh-oh" and I know she spilled, dropped or did something else she wasn't supposed to!!

The only way I can get a picture is if I put her on a high chair she can't get down from...I'm so mean! Here are few of the many faces of Aubrey...

Little House

The kid's little house, or "school" as Devin insists to call it, is almost done! It turned out really cute thanks to my Dad. He designed it and did all the work. Devin can't wait to "teach" Logan and Aubrey in his school. He has big plans for a chalkboard, book shelf, table and chairs, milk/snack cooler and much more! He is very serious about his school. So, if you see him, make sure that you call it a "school", it's not a playhouse!!!

Devin and Gymnastics

Devin continues to add new skills in his gymnastics class at the Little Gym. Today was the last day of the fall/winter semester, so he invited his Grandpa to watch him for show week. Next, week he will start with a new class and an older group. I can't wait to see what he can do when he is challenged in the new class. Right now he does an awesome cart wheel and can do some really great pull overs on the bars. He is also very comfortable on the beam and floor stuff. It also helps that he is so fearless!

Here he is flipping over the bar all by himself!
Getting a little help from his instructor. Nice form!

He has a mean front support! He is so strong! Congrats on another semester well done!

IFSP and Transition Meeting

Logan had his IFSP yesterday and I can't believe that he is almost done with Birth-to-3. It's really sad to think that he is growing up so fast and the program has had such a positive impact on his development. I feel like his therapists genuinely care about him and I fear that I may feel very alone after he turns three. He will transition to our local school district and a representative attended the meeting, but I don't think the support with be the same. I am feeling that Dale and I will now have to step up and take charge of what happens from this point on, instead of a program taking care of us. Even though I am nervous about the change, I do feel ready to advocate for him and I am thankful for our strong support system of families going through exactly what we are going through.

I also am not ready to let him go...he's still my baby. At only about 30 inches tall, he is the size of most 18 month olds. I just want to keep him home with me! He's just way too little to go off to school!!

An escape to warmer weather...

Shortly after Christmas, Dale and I took off to warmer weather. We traveled to Phoenix for some golfing and the Packer game. We had a great time with friends and it was a great way to start off the new year and recharge before getting back to our routine at home and with the kids.