Breakfast Food

I have recently made some food for Miss K. Bacon and eggs for breakfast. A stack of pancakes.
Now I am working on some lunch food.

Gift Bags

I am not sure where I originally got the idea for making fabric gift bags. I did find a website that sells them as well as a few others. I decided that the thing that makes the bags cute is the fabric. One of the reason I decided to make them is finding wrapping paper here is very difficult. The other reason is I got tired of wrapping gifts and then unwrapping and throwing the paper away.

I started by just using some fabric that I had around the house. Some of these prints are leftover fabric from my work days. The star fabric actually has "sample" stamped in big letters on the inside. I did buy ribbon to coordinate which is not a problem because I got to the notions market. Which is one of my favourite places to go. Here are some pictures. I made some Christmas bags as well. I found the "Merry Christmas" fabric on the $10 (local dollars) a meter table. That is like hitting the $1 a yard at Wal-Mart.

Here is a bag in action. She knew what to do. She untied it and dug in.
I love the gift bags and have found some more fun fabric on the $10 a meter table so I am going to make some more.

Maybe it is time

to start potty training in a real way. I found Miss K putting baby on the potty. The funny thing is to get Miss K to go we make some sounds and she was making those sounds for baby. I did find the incentive -- M&M's. Now we just need to work on this. I really don't know if she has the incentive of "big girl pants" or a desire to get out of diapers. I have a desire to get her out of diapers.

Correcting my Problems

I broke the first rule and the most important rule of buying clothing on the street. I didn't check the seams, zippers, buttons, snaps, etc. Rather what happened is I saw a pair of Osh Kosh overalls in Miss K's size and I grabbed then.

Later I discovered that the snaps didn't work. That is probably why there were on the street for sale. I tried to fix it by sewing snaps in there but the snaps didn't hold. They became a pair of overalls that she couldn't wear.

I decided to try something. I cut the legs off just above the snaps.And then I made a nice full, a bit too full, of a ruffle out of some fabric that I had. It was actually a fat quarter. I made a jumper for her. I feel better that I was able to make something that she will wear and something that she actually needs.
Ignore the head it always seems to be tilted in pictures. She doesn't go around with her head titled but does that just for pictures. Oh, ignore the tights as well. I wasn't going to take those off when she tried it on.

Happy Valentine's Day

I enjoy making cards, most of them are very basic compared to many of the things that I see but I have fun being creative and it does save money. I decided that I wanted to include pictures just so I remember the cards and maybe over time I will see trends or improvements in my card making.

Well, the card that you see here is not mine but Miss K's. She did "sign" her name inside.

Pray, pray

Miss K's pronunciation is not that clear - that is background information. The setting was her highchair and the leftover blueberries from breakfast while the noodles were cooking. I do usually pray with her before her meal so she is used to that. She was saying something which I could not understand but she kept repeating it then she grabbed my hand and held it just like we do at pray time. I got the message -- she wanted to pray for her blueberries.

Later, I served her the noodles and again we prayed for the noodles.

I keep telling myself that I am not always sure what is getting in her head because of her delay in verbal skills we know what all is in there but lunchtime was a reminder of what is going in and what she understands.

I am encouraged to keep putting information in her and know that someday it will come out.

Cognitive Evaluation

We had a heart check-up and then a PT evaluation last week. The PT wanted to do a cognitive evaluation as well. We were able to fit that into our schedule.

Her developmental age is 2 years 3 months. She is weak on logic, concepts, memory and thinking is weak.

1. Teach "same" and "different". Compare objects - Is it the same? Which one is different?

2. Match correct color and shape at the same time, not just one. Give her a lot of choices to choose from. Blue triangles, red circles, etc.

3. Let her match a lot of different shapes in a row; don't just do one and then quit.

4. Arrange something with blocks; let her copy the exact same construct with her blocks. This will teach spatial reasoning.

5. Memorize different combinations of numbers, for memory practice. Don't just say one number at a time. Like telephone numbers: "57134", say it.

6. Put several objects in front of her. Remove one and hide it. Aske her, "which one did I take away?" This will help her memory. Needs practice to pay attention to what is happening.

7. Show her a flashcard with one object. Then show her a flash card with a lot of objects, including the one she just saw. Ask her to find it.

8. Show her two objects that have logical relationship (i.e. hate and head, show and shock, etc.) Ask her to match them.

9. Draw lines between matching pictures.

10. Draw lines to trace a pathway through a a maze on paper. Help the dog to find the bone, etc.

11. Show different size drawings. Which is big? Which is small? Which is long? Which is short?

12. Don't always make the right answer the last one you ask. "Are you a girl or a boy? "

13. Give her several objects. Say, "give me one." or "give me two."

14. Teach concept in front of, behind, in back of, etc.

15. Don't just teach body parts, teach function. What do you hear with? What do you eat with?

K has some 4 year old skills, but still lacks 3 year old skills.

Wow! That is encourage and gives me a long list of things to work on. Any ideas on ways to teach these things.

We worked on same and different today. The work sheets out of a workbook where not getting. I pulled out the Memory cards and tried to work with those. We also tried to play a simple Memory with 4 cards -- "where is the ice cream?".

Please give me any and every idea that you might have.

Week in Review 11/30

This week's Memory Verse is F:

"For the wages of sin is death."

The book that we are using has short passages for 3 year olds and so we are doing that and then later we will go through and add the rest of the verse.

Colours - I got tired of the 4 colours (3 primary colours plus green) so I added orange. We made orange water and then spent some time matching orange things. She can't say orange but she can read it and put the orange things on that card.

Reading - We have been working with sight words but being able to read individual words is not reading so we made some sentences. Okay, my ESL teacher background comes out -- "Put the subject down, here is the verb, now the object." K drinks milk. and then we change the object K drinks water or we change the subject Daddy drinks milk. We don't bother with momma drinks milk because that is not true. When we started reading drinks K couldn't say the word but now she has something that sounds like drinks. This encourages me to keep going and to teach her new words.

Concepts - we have been working on big and small as well as circle - still need some work but that is okay.

Letters - we are continuing to review these since that is what we are to be doing in the lesson plans.

Montessori learning - I really like the practical life and sensory learning of Montessori. I have collected and made some things over the past few years. My favourite book is a very easy one to read Teaching Montessori in the Home The Preschool Years. We decided to add a few of those activities into our week. This week we worked on pouring rice. We still need to practice a bit more. It is a good activity because it requires careful movement in the pouring - we are learning to pour and not dump.

I don't think I have any pictures from this week. I will have to make sure that next week I get some pictures to include.

Not missing much

Yesterday daddy found Miss K's big ball and said "next time we will have to take this ball to the playground." Miss K replied, "way, way" and ran to get her Crocs which is what she usually wears to the playground.

She seems to have a radar that tells her if there is a playground within 50 feet. Yesterday walking through a park she said "way, way" and today following our weekly fellowship she saw the playground.

She knows that Maxim's sells Cheese breadsticks. Okay, she has not figured that there is more than one Maxim's in town. We won't tell her that. As we walk past the one that she does know she will whine which is she is not delayed in, and I will give her a $10 coin and she will pay for the breadsticks and then carry them to the train.

Books and more books

Kelly at Where There's a Will just hosted Get Caught Reading featuring DS children reading.

I had to pick just two pictures which was very hard.







As you can see books are a big part of Miss K's life. She loves them and so do we. We have shelves and shelves of books.

Lunch to Go

Our Sundays are packed and time for lunch just doesn't exist unless you consider grabbing something at McD's lunch. K doesn't quite handle a sandwich so I took a lesson from the Japanese and tried to create a little Bento type lunch for her. It is also nice because she can hold the box and sit in the stroller and eat it.

What's Happening

I know I have not posted much recently. I have been busy with various things around the house. I will try to catch up on a few things that I have done.

I did make another batch of ketchup last night. This time I made a double recipe and put a bit less vinegar in it and also less sugar.

I made some pear butter last week in the crockpot. I found cheap pears at the grocery store. They were cheap because they were bruised. It was so easy to make them in the crockpot. I bought some more pears and peaches because I realized that is cheaper than buying Smucker's Simply Fruit.

I made hummus the other week. That is so easy with the food processor. We use that for dip with our veggies.

One of our favorite fun meals is quesadillas. My recipe includes a cooked potato grated as well as cheese. I did make my own tortillas. They were good and a bit better than the store ones. I don't yet have the feel for rolling them out. I guess I need more practice.
I love the salsa that I made to go with them. It is yummy but only lasts about 24 hours and it doesn't taste as good.
I also made a pizza for Miss K. I found the idea on this website http://www.toddlertoddler.com/archivedactivities.htm and bartered for some felt. I had bought some felt while we were home but didn't buy white. So I bartered necklaces from the Jade Market for felt. It is easy to go to the Jade Market and difficult to go to Spotlight where I know they will have felt.

Wordless Wendesday

The girls were having fun that afternoon. Miss K is going to grow up hearing, Oh, K, your hair.

Red, White & Blue Ribbon

I had some ribbon that I bought at the fabric market area. I decided to try to make a hairbow for Miss K. I had found a wonderful website giving all directions for all kinds of bows. I kinda followed the directions and kinda did what I wanted to do. I found the perfect size barretts for her thin hair and didn't have wire except for my beading wire so I grabbed some quilting thread and used that to stitch it up a bit where you can't see.

I think it looks cute and it does stay in her hair. She loved it and didn't want to take it out at bedtime but did and then wanted me to wear it.

Finished

I always enjoy when I get a project finished. I made a quilt for Miss K's baby. Since our napkins, towels or whatever she could find have been used as blankets I decided it was time to make a quilt for her. This is truly a patchwork quilt. I had started years ago when a fun activity was to go through my mom's scrap box making a patchwork quilt. Well, that quilt never was finished and actually since I started that I learned quite a bit about quilting like you need straight lines and seams and the pieces should be uniform. I decided to cut that quilt apart and make K's baby's quilt.I did most of the quilting while we were traveling in the States. I finished the binding last week. Hopefully baby will like it.

Fun and more fun

I like things nice and neat. I colour in the lines. I have a 3 year old who enjoys having fun and often that fun involves something dirty. I am learning that it is good for her to do those things. I try to tell myself that it is therapy. I can convince my husband to buy just about anything if I say "it is for therapy." Now if I could just get the Circut for therapy I would be happy. I will ponder that one but I need to get back to the topic of having fun 3 year old style.

She had fun finger painting. That was a mess. I didn't have any nice washable finger paints. I can't find them in the stores here. I found a recipe online and tried that. I think we still have finger paint on the highchair. She had fun.

We tried the cooked spaghetti art. I think it must work better on construction paper than on some of my scrapbook paper. We picked up noodles off the floor for a few days as they fell off the picture.
If any notices, she does have other clothing. I think that outfit had gotten stained and so we wear that all the time around the house.

I am trying to put aside myself and do thinks that I know my daughter will enjoy and hey, it is therapy. I did stock up on art supplies when we were home. We now have washable finger paint. We tried it this morning and it was great.

What does this say?

A few years ago at Christmas I said "I don't want any toys that require batteries or make noise." That came from all the toys that we had received that had batteries and made noise and drove momma nuts. Everyone followed that request except one sister-in-law. She tried to say that she was giving K an educational toy but it required batteries and made noise. I do still talk to her.

Well, for the past year and a half K has had her Leap Frog Refrigerator magnets. She has played with them some. I am obsessive in the sense that we have to keep all the letters together so they stay in a basket on top of the refrigerator. They are on the refrigerator just the top and not the door. K knows where they are kept and she will ask for them. We have a rule that she plays with them on her blanket.

The other day as she was playing I was listening to her repeat the sound with the letter and she did a great job with some of the sounds. I then showed her the M and asked what does it say and she replied /m/. I showed her the P and she said /p/. I think she has also learned the D sound as well.

For the post part I really don't think that many toys of today that claim to have educational value really do but this one I will say has some educational value.

Now I am beginning to think about that master's thesis that I edited where the discussion was teaching letter sounds before letter names. I might just have to research that a bit more.

I tried to get a short video clip of her saying her letter sounds but she saw the camera and decided not to perform.

This is a picture of her working on her numbers. That picture was taken a few months ago. It is August and we do not wear sweatshirts either in the house or outside of the house. Not when the temperature and humidity are both in the 90's.

Party Success

Miss K's party was a success. We had a few games. We played "pin the bow on Hello Kitty" and then drop the Hello Kitty clothespins in the jar. I was suprised how much even the older kids enjoyed that game. We played pass Hello Kitty and the twist was the person that has just given Hello Kitty to the next person got a treat. Okay, being fair and even, everyone got a treat. The party favor bags were fun. I had gathered all kinds of things before we came at various places around the city. I found little containers at the Japan Dollar Store, stickers at the stationary store, tissues and candy at the grocery store and a few other things. I even made a special gift bag for my 9 day old niece -- just a container and a washcloth.

It was a fun party and we have a year till we do it again.

My baby turned 3 today

Three years ago she entered our lives at just 6 pounds 1 ounce. We didn't know what all was ahead of us. We just had our first child. Three days later she had her first surgery to correct her stomach. We thought that was all and that she was fine and then learned about her heart. At two weeks she had her heart surgery.

When I filled out the order form for first child, I admit, I didn't check the box marked "Down Syndrome". God gave us what he knew we needed. We needed Miss K with Down Syndrome. We needed to love her, push her, encourage her, laugh with her, praise her, train her, teach her, hug her, tickle her, kiss her and all those other wonderful things you do with babies. We were able to sit and watch how God has shown us that he cares for her and us. It began with the hospital bill, then the PT, the free exam at University of Washington, then the EI center, and the list is more than we can recall.

I have a dear friend whose Chinese name is Kai-lene. I loved the sound and so we began to look for English names and liked what we picked. The English meaning isn't that great boomerang but we had a direct translation into Chinese and we liked that meaning -- victorious and beautiful. The middle name is one that my husband liked. We had two spellings and different meaning based on the spelling. We had planned to spell it one way but then last might sitting in the hosptial room as we were filling out the paper work we looked and realized if we spelled it the other way each name would have a letter that went below the line -- g, y, and another y. Only and engineer would engineer a name.

Today she speaks some words, she is a great eater, she walks, she laughs, she climbs out of her Pack 'N Play. She says "bye" when she doesn't want you around in a very independent way. She loves her baby. She is not delayed in whining or in stubbornness.

She is a joy and a blessing to our family.

This was a few weeks ago but shows her independent spirit.

She's back

This is a cousin funny. My one nephew, B, was filling my other nephew, M, in on what had happened while M was on vacation.

"She's back. That girl, she's back." B said. "She walks and is bigger."

He was referring to Miss K and not to me. I do walk but I don't think I am bigger.