Monday, November 26, 2007

Payton and her baby

Payton has recently started getting really interested in her baby doll. She is so cute ... she sits there and loves on her baby, kissing her and hugging her.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Another Conversation with Mason

We had sloppy joes for dinner tonight. Mason was eating a little slow and I told him to hurry up because I had a treat for him when he was done. He was still eating when I took Payton up for a bath, so we sort of forgot about his treat. After his bath, he asked me where his treat was. I told him it was downstairs waiting for him. We went downstairs and I told him to sit in his chair as I was unwrapping an ice cream sandwich ...

Mason: I fink [think] I will save my treat until morning.
Me: Are you sure?
Mason: Yes, it is 1 o'clock [it really was about 9 o'clock] and it is time for bed.
Me: Okay.

Mason then went upstairs to bed. He cracks me up. It was like he was the parent and I was the kid.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Mason Funny

Kyle takes the kids to daycare every day, and I pick them up. I called Kyle this morning before he left the house to remind him to take a check to daycare to pay tuition. He called me later to tell me about his conversation with Mason after hanging up the phone with me ...

Mason: Who was that?
Kyle: Mommy.
Mason: What did she want?
Kyle: She wanted to tell me to take a check to daycare to pay for your school.
Mason: Ohhh, pay monies for my school?
Kyle: Yeah, we have to pay money for you to go to school.

Kyle continues getting the kids stuff together so they can leave the house. In the meantime, Mason went upstairs and came back downstairs to leave for school. When they got to school, Mason held out his tightly fisted hand and said ...

Mason: Should we go give this to Ms. April?
Kyle: What is it?

Mason opened his hand to reveal 8 cents that he must have gotten from his piggy bank when he went upstairs prior to leaving the house.

Kyle: Aww, thanks buddy, but I'll pay for it this time.
Mason: Ok.

Mason put his money in his cubby and the rest is history. Kyle said it melted his heart and it melts mine too. He really is such a good kid.

(Smile)

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Momentous day for us ...

Payton has Down syndrome ... this we know. Payton has a speech delay, thanks to that extra chromosome. I feel like I have been beating my head against a brick wall in trying to get her to sign. Since she was about 10 months old or so, I have been signing "eat", "drink" and "more" with her on a fairly regular basis. Although she has not signed back to me, I know she understands what I am signing to her.

The sign for "more" is to touch the tips of your fingers together (bad explanation, I know). A lot of kids will clap as their way of signing "more" and while Payton has clapped during mealtime, I have never been able to really associate it with her saying she wants "more". Well, today I was able to associate it. I asked her verbally if she wanted more while I signed it and I kept asking her, trying to get her to sign. SHE DID IT!!! Several times, on que! OMG I kissed her about a thousand times! It is such a great feeling to have your child communicate back with you, especially when you have worked so hard to get there.

Aside from signing, Payton has some words! Here is a list of the words she says (some of them perhaps only her father and I understand) and correctly associates:

Mama
Dada
Hi (this is her favorite word right now)
Bye-bye
Doggy
Ball
All done

I think that is it (that we can interpret, at least), but it is a fabulous list if I must say so myself! Her development has been phenomonal and I'm praying that her communication continues to flourish!