Canadian Down Syndrome Awareness Week: Running Update

The days have been getting cooler & chilly breezes have been blowing across the prairies warning us that the winter will soon take hold.  K has been insisting, regardless of the weather, that we run outside these last few weeks.  Unfortunately we've had enough snow fall in the last week that we are likely stuck inside on the treadmill for most of the next 5 or 6 months.

It has been great to take advantage of the warm weather while it was here though & somehow in the last few weeks I've seen such a huge change in K's running.  Her stamina seems so much better - she runs the whole time & rarely seems to need a break.  Tomorrow we'll run on the treadmill & I'm curious to see how her times have changed. I think some of it is just an endurance that she's built during the summer but I wonder if our new running "path" is part of the change.  We have usually just run on the county road that runs by our farm but lately K wants to run in the fields. This means up hills, down hills, avoiding gopher holes, sloughs & livestock, & usually with a pet or two tagging along, but it sure helps build strength & agility!

I am going to miss our runs in the field but in the meantime, "Hello treadmill" with K's favorite, loud, rocking country tunes cranked up!

 

Brachiation Ladder Tutorial

This is the unedited version of this post. I have promised it to a few people though so I wanted to get it up right away. I am going to be busy & not able to get on the computer much for the next week so I thoughts I'd just post it as it is & try to read over it again later.  It's almost midnight & I'm falling asleep at the keyboard so there's probably a few typos too :)  If you have any questions or anything doesn't make sense please message or email me & I'll try to fix it or explain better.

I've been wanting to build K a brachiation ladder for quite a while. I even bought the dowel & hardware last fall but kept putting of building it because with the directions in Glenn Doman's Physically Superb book you need to drill holes & without a drill press it is hard to line them up just right...............at least for a carpenter with my experience ;) . I'm sure I would have ended up having to drill out the holes to get the dowels to go through & of course they wouldn't have been as snug.


Through the summer we have a old set of monkey bars in our yard but as fall closed in this year I again thought about ways to make a brachiation ladder. Being able to use them indoors makes a huge difference here in Canada where we have fairly long & cold winters. I posted the question on the Unlimited Potential (UP) group as well as the Down Syndrome Action Plan group. I got a great response from both groups & on the UP forum there were even a bunch of pictures posted. Check it out here.


None of the ideas seemed exactly right for what I wanted to do but they did get me thinking & I came up with a plan to make a brachiation ladder that was a little simpler to make.

This tutorial is for a ladder that is mounted directly to a wall or across a narrow room.  The plus side is that you don't need to build the end supports but the negative is that it's not as easily adjustable.

note:  I was concerned that because our ladder was going to be up against the wall that it would need to be a little wider.  As it turns out that really wasn't a problem.  This tutorial is to make a little wider ladder but you could always make the end boards & dowel a little shorter to make the ladder a little more narrow.  Basically you can just build it to what suits you & your child.
 

First of all - this brachiation ladder is meant to be installed across a narrow room, hallway or any space that isn't too long.  Before you get started you need to measure the length of your space to make sure you buy long enough boards.


Supplies

Tools - drill, hand sander, saw, tape measure, level, an extension cord will be handy

Materials -

Two long - 2X6's - This type of brachiation ladder is meant to be fitted into the wall or across a narrow room  so you will need to measure your space & buy the appropriate length boards

Two 23"  -  2X6's -  I explained about K's physical program & K batted her beautiful eyes at the nice lumber yard guy & he walked over to his scrap pile, found a large 2X6 & cut it into 3 large chunks - way more than we needed!

tip - many hardware stores will cut the boards for you after purchase. Measure carefully though as you want it to fit very snugly into the space you are putting it in.

1" dowel -for the length of ladder I was making I needed 3 lengths of 1" dowel.  Again, this may vary depending on the length of your ladder space & which lengths are available at your hardware store.

3/4 " hole straps - don't buy 1" ones like I originally did as they are too big & don't hold the dowel tight enough - even these were a little large (as you'll see as you get a little farther in the tutorial) you may even be able to buy 1/2 " ones but check first to see if the dowel fits through.

Sandpaper - I bought a few kinds - some courser & some finer grit

twenty four - 3.5" screws -  12 for putting the ladder together & about another dozen to secure it to the wall.

approximately forty eight - 1.5" screws



I just noticed that our newly adopted little dog & one of K's best buddies is in this picture.  Isn't she cute?

The first thing that I did, which I don't have a picture of is to sand all of the boards excluding the dowel, first using the coarser sandpaper, then the finer grit.

Pre drill 3 holes on each of both long 2X6's.

Cut the shorter boards to 23 " & use the 3.5 " screws to fasten them to the longer boards using the predrilled holes.

measure the dowel & cut to 23"

Re sand the spot that your daughter drew on because she was being a carpenter & had to write some fancy symbols on the wood -  normally I leave this kind of artwork but not this time :)

next you will need the hole straps.............................I mean clampy thingies (my brother told me to use that word in my tutorial as that's how I described them to him when telling him my plans for building the ladder).

This is what makes this method so much simpler than a traditional brachiation ladder.

Now here's where things get really technical ;)    for those of you that don't already know, we live on a farm.  Anything that can't be fixed with duct tape, binder twine or crazy glue can probably be fixed by bashing it with a hammer :)

The clampy thingies were still a little to loose so I bashed them with a hammer to make them a little flatter. 

 

Mark the sides of the ladder frame every 10" (or whatever width you decide you want).

After bashing the clamps with the hammer use the clampy thingies them to attach the dowels to the 2X6 frame with the 1.5" screws. Make sure they fit very snugly.  You don't want the dowel twisting as your child is brachiating. If they are a little loose then you need to bash the clampy thingies a little harder. 

 

I seem to have misplaced my copy of Glenn Doman`s Physically Superb book (I can`t seem to find it at the Gentle Revolution bookstore so this is a link to it on Amazon) recently so I didn't use their measurements. I did go by the measurements on another blog but since K is used to her monkey bars that have a very wide spacing & because she's growing & I want it to last longer I made about 10" apart with each end being slightly shorter to make the dowels all fit on the length of our board.  This seems to work very well for her.

 Continue to mount the dowel along the full length of the brachiation ladder.

At that point the main frame is done & it can be mounted to the wall of whatever room you want it in. If you have a stud finder this makes the job of screwing the ladder to a secure place on the wall a lot easier.  K's Daddy & 2 big sisters helped with this which made the job go much more smoothly.

K loves her new brachiation ladder!  We've had it up for about a week & she plays on it often including a before bed but after story session. She is never the first up in our house but she is often up as soon as she hears someone stirring which is usually around 6:45 on a school morning. Today at around 6:15 my husband & I heard some movement from in her room.  Several minutes later the light flipped on - yes she had woken up early & was brachiating in the dark before turning on the light! 

So far we've been mostly just letting K play on it & most of my pics look something like this:

"Look Mom! I'm hanging upside down!" 

Here is a link to another tutorial which is still modified but is closer to the Doman model

Guess What I Did Today?????

Brachiation ladder tutorial to follow!

This is my version of a Doman brachiation ladder & took a couple of hours total.  It only cost about $ for all of the materials. We mounted it directly to the wall which means that it doesn't take up as much space, was quicker to build & cost less. That's K's loft bed that you see to one side of the ladder.  It is pushed up against the wall now so she does loose about a foot & a half of bedroom space but even in her fairly small room it's not too bad for space.

The only downside I've found so far is that literally 30 seconds after I put K to bed tonight I heard her get out of bed to use it...........................but who can blame her?  Your own set of monkey bars in your bedroom is pretty hard to resist!

I took pictures as I built it so I'll post a tutorial soon.

Kayaking

KJ, my 10 year old, bought herself a kayak on the weekend.  We have a shallow but long 13 acres of water about a 2 minute walk from the house so this little kayak is perfect for zipping along out there.  The girls had a wonderful time & K spent so much time out there yesterday, even paddling herself at times so we are heading back to the store tomorrow to pick her up a kayak too!

Our trusty guardian llama had to come check out the situation.

The horses were curious too & soon joined the llama in checking out the kayak.

We checked out some wildflowers on our walk out there.

& the birds along the water's edge

It was such a beautiful day after the 7 months of snowy winter that we've experienced!

I am so Proud of this Kid!

K's skiing has come so far this year.

K skied a long green run in the mountains today.  So long bunny hill!  K rode the chairlift up to mid mountain today! I did use a harness but  honestly it was for my benefit, not hers.  Remember this post? I have however quit using the harness on the bunny hill......................even when she goes on the bumps at one hill we've been to recently.

  This video is from yesterday skiing around some cones at our local ski hill.   

"Watch Me Ski Mom!"

K has been on skis for a few years now. The first year we just let her have fun gliding down & getting her balance. Last year we started teaching her to turn & stop as well as how to get on & off a rope tow & magic carpet.   She has had a few lessons this year & is coming along well with her skiing.  We plan to let her follow in her big sisters footsteps next year & will register her in our local Nancy Greene ski league program. It is a learn to skis program which does include ski racing but the main emphasis is learning to ski & having fun. She will be taking lessons twice a week & start her ski racing career which she is very excited about. She is already anxious to move on from the rope tow & head up the big hill!  Patience my child,  first we have to solidify your snow plow stops & turns:)

Riding the magic carpet at another ski hill while her sisters raced last weekend.

Riding the rope tow

Coming off the magic carpet & skiing down - but not listening to her Mom when told to make stop. K thinks its fun to just go straight down without stopping lately but is learning to do a pretty good pizza (or chocolate pie) stop when she decides to listen:)

& here's that elusive pizza stop in this next video.  For some reason K thought it was funny to put her hands on her boots while stopping. Maybe because that's how her ski instructor taught her to snowplow? Anyways,  my phone battery died shortly after I took this video so I couldn't get a better one but you can see her nice little snow plow stop.

For those of you who read my last post on skiing, you may have noticed that K is now skiing without a harness.  We are still cautious because of her AAI concerns but are trying to give her a little freedom while still being careful.


Has anyone else got a ski bunny?

First Ski Day of the Season!

K tried out her new skis a couple of weeks ago.  This was supposed to be the year that she skied without a harness but after her AAI X-ray came back on the questionable side, I decided that I wanted to more control for at least a little longer. K is just starting to be able to turn & stop so once she is able to ski in control I'll finally untie the apron strings take off her harness & let her ski totally independently.

K only skied for a couple of hours but did well & seems to be remembering all she learned last year. Our hill is opening this weekend so we're excited to go again!With 3 older girls who ski race competitively the local ski hill will be our second home for the next few months.  K will be moving up from just having mom as her instructor & will be taking regular lessons so I'm anticipating big improvements in her skiing ability this year.

31 for 21 - Just one of the Moms

I wrote this blog post back in July when K took swimmimg lessons but never got around to posting it.  I actually wrote a post on K's current swimming lessons a week or so ago and posted it here in case you're interested in reading it.


I've been writing this post in my head since Monday morning when K started swimming lessons. I've written it & rewritten it several times in my head as the events of the week have progressed. It started out as a much different story & although there were times this week when I was very frustrated, the week improved dramatically & I have to say that I am content with the final version that I am able to write.................... & very proud of my little girl!

Last year K passed her preschool swim lessons last year so on Monday morning K started swimming lessons in Level One.   She was in a group with 8 other kids. One little boy is a few months younger (but a lot taller) than her & the rest of the class ranged between 6 & 8 years.  The lessons took place in an outdoor pool.  Unfortunately, K can't stand up even in the shallow end because it is still too deep. There are 2 separate swimming lessons each day.  The first was in the shallow end & the second was in the deep end with life jackets on.

 Within about 10 minutes of the class starting, K pulled herself up on the edge of the pool & took off from the instructor.  With 8 other kids to worry about the instructor couldn't very well be running after K all the time.The pool is fenced off so I ended up leaving the spectator area where all the other moms were to watch from the edge of the pool so that I could return K to the pool when needed.  K wasn't upset about going back in & paid attention for a few minutes but then would get out & run away again.

The 2nd thing K was doing was acting very helpless.  The girl who has jumped off the side of the pool & bobbed up to the surface with a grin since she was barely 2 years old was waiting for the instructor to hold her hand & gently help her pop into the water without letting her head go below the surface. K is very comfortable in the water,  Here is some photographic evidence of her swimming in case you are interested - she looks so little & cute here!   When she was supposed to be jumping into the pool K would wait until the instructor held out her hand & gently helped her jump in without even getting her head wet.  When the kids were supposed to do a front float, the instructor helped her again & didn't let her head go into the water. K wasn't the only kid that she was being careful with but it was understandable with the kids who were nervous about the water - K is  not.

My little fish wouldn't even put her head in the water when asked to!   She passed the previous level with flying colors & only a week before her old instructor insisted she was very prepared for level one.

I was a little surprised at K`s behavior & tried to figure out why it was going so badly.  When she took swimming lessons in a different indoor pool back in October she behaved so much better & rarely needed a reminder to behave or stay with the group. K has always had a mind of her own but lately has been testing the limits even more. My husband & I try to be firm about the rules however K knows that she can get away with a lot with people who don't know her so perhaps this was the problem.

Next I wondered if it was just a lack of maturity but then again, she did so much better 8 months earlier.

I was sure from the start that part of the problem was that there were 8 other kids in K's group.  By the time the instructor worked with each of the kids, K had stopped paying attention - some of the other kids were finding it a little too long to wait too. 

I think the fact that K could  not touch the bottom & had to hold onto the edge of the pool for most of the lesson was a factor too.  I am very proud of her for being able to do this for a full 40 minute lesson.

I have to be honest here & say that it bothered me to have to sit  inside the pool area & not be out with the other moms in the spectator area for a couple of reasons.   First - because I know K can behave better than she was.  2nd - Some of the moms know her but many do not.  I don`t often feel like people are judging K but when she is behaving badly but I know they sometimes think that it is because she has Trisomy 21.  Any other kid  could behave badly & they wouldn't bat an eye but with her they blame her extra chromosome or assume she doesn't understand.

Day 3 - I finally had a breakthrough.  I realized that the life jackets they were using for the deep water session were quite different than K`s usual floaty & probably much more awkward for K`s short arms.    Although K has been to this pool in previous years I realized that she was still a little nervous about not being able to touch the bottom.  It has been 11 months since she has been to this pool & the one we swim in all winter is a zero entry pool. I couldn't do much about the pool depth of course but I did talk to the instructor on Wednesday morning about allowing K to use her usual floaty.  Thankfully, she agreed that this was a good idea.

Suddenly, I had a new child.  No more getting out of the pool & running away & she had much more confidence in everything she was doing.  Most importantly, she starting paying attention & responding much better. I think the floaty made a big difference but I think the biggest problem was just the unfamiliar pool. By  Wednesday K was getting used to the pool.

Within 10 minutes, I realized I was no longer needed & went back to find a seat in the spectators areas.  It was good to be back & it was good to see K behaving appropriately like I knew she could.

K continued to improve dramatically during the next few days & by the end of the lessons she was one of the better swimmers in the group.  She passed all the areas except for the back float but again I think this is still just an issue with the pool depth as she does it at home.  I think she is nervous about jumping backwards of  the edge of the pool & worried that the instructor won`t catch her.

Next summer I plan to let K swim in the pool a few times before she starts swimming lessons. I'm confident that it will help her swimming lessons to go a lot smoother.

Just for fun I've added a short clip from our pool this afternoon.  I missed the first part of the dive (K doesn't jump anymore, she dives), but I think its kind of cute how she swims with her head underwater for a moment before she comes up for air.

31 for 21 - More Light at the End of the Tunnel

It's 1:26 am - a rare night out with my husband & a few other couples. Technically I've missed today's 31 for 21 post but even though it's really late, I want to quickly share today's events. Oh my, I'm tearing up again! I'm so proud of K.   She started swimming lessons again today. I was holding my breath a little as she got started because she had a bit of a rough start with her lessons this summer & although we had figured it out & resolved the problem I still had some nagging worries. I know I shouldn't but I did...............K aced it today. I could not have asked for a better behaved little girl & although she was only about chest high to the rest of the kids in her class who all happened to be 1 or 2 years older, she fit right in skill wise. According to her instructor, "She did great!"

The light at the end of the tunnel is looking more beautiful every day!

Riding on the Beach

This summer we went on many short trips with our new holiday trailer.  Here is K riding her Strider bike during our trip to the beach.

Learning to Dive

K took swimming lessons last week & I am working on a post about it but in the meantime, here is a quick video of her new "diving" skills.

 

Batter Up, Up, Up, & Away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was one of those days when I know we have made (mostly) the right choices for K.  Her neurodevelopmental program, supplements as well as the stimulation of a busy family are helping K to reach her full potential.

K started T-ball today.

Her aim was pretty good in batting practice.

Catching was probably the hardest the hardest skill for her.  She caught some of the balls, although with a group of 3 & 4 year olds, you can imagine how many balls hit the ground & flew in all directions!

They had a running base practice & she did well at that too, tagging every base as she went by & remembering which was 1st, 2nd, 3rd & home & stopping on whichever base she was told to.

The only point in the whole entire practice that I think someone may have picked her out of the group was when she & 2 other little girls ran across the length of 2 ball diamonds & she was about 20 feet behind by the time the arrived at the other side of the field.

The things that stood out in my mind though?  My once shy little girl never once needed her mom & didn't even look for me. In a whole new group of people, K was so confidant & self assured out there!   She went with the group to every station to practice each new skill.  She listened to the instructions so well & never got distracted even once.  If I didn't know better, I would never have guessed this was her first practice.

All of the hard work that K & our family has done for the last few years is paying off & I was so proud as I watched my independent little girl tonight!

................&  in case you are curious, no, I did not mention on the sign up forms that she has trisomy 21.  It is likely that some of the organizers knew because we live in such a small community, but I didn't feel it was relevant & the sign up sheet only asked about medical things & she does not have any medical concerns that would affect her playing T-ball. I am sure that at least one of the coaches had no idea & the one that did has known her since she was born.

Tonight, I am going to bed content.  Yes, we still have work to do, but today was another wonderful reminder that we are on the right path.

Great Article on the Benefits of 4 Point Crawling

Edited to fix the link -  Thanks for letting me know Liz:)!

I found this article today & thought I would pass it along.  It has some really good points about the benefits of a 4 point crawl.

Baby Crawling: How Important It Really Ishttp://icpa4kids.org/Wellness-Articles/baby-crawling-how-important-it-really-is/All-Pages.html

Essential Equipment for Swimming

 

We have tried a number of different swim floatation devices with our 4 girls over the years, but the one that K is wearing in this picture is my favorite.

This is the swim floaty that K has been using for the past couple of years. I like the fact that it has an actual rubber inner tube inside it, making it very strong.  You can never be too careful around the water, but I feel fairly safe with this one.   

This is the original suit that my older girls used, but I found that the bottom of the suit pulled up & became very uncomfortable, especially under a regular swimsuit.  It was much better with a wetsuit, but I find that the red one without any bottom part stays on just as well as this one, with the added bonus of being comfortable. 

I got both of these suits as hand me downs, so I'm not sure where you can buy them, but for the purposes of searching, the brand names are Swim Ways & I Learn to Swim 123.

When my 3rd daughter was 2, she spent the summer sitting on the ladder of our backyard pool & watching her older sisters swim & only on the very hottest days did she venture into the pool.  She spent most of the following summer the same way.  It was until the summer she was 4, someone gave us some hand me downs that included a little wetsuit. We tried it on her the first time we used the pool the next season & to our surprise, it kept her so warm that she spent the whole afternoon in the pool!  Over the next two months, she spent more time in the pool than she had in her entire life!  From then on I have made sure that my girls have a wetsuit to wear in the pool.  As they have gotten older, they have chosen to wear only regular swimsuits in the public pool, but on chillier days, even my older girls will occasionally don a wetsuit to brave our cool Canadian summer weather in our own pool.

K has had a wetsuit from the time she was a baby & has rarely gotten cold.  Last summer during swim lessons, most of the kids would be blue & shivering by the time the lessons ended & she was still raring to go.  It is amazing to me the difference it makes to their comfort in the water.

Diving into the water......................K doesn't jump in anymore - she dives.  

From my angle, it looks a lot more like a belly flop, but she insists that she is diving:)!


..............and a swimming update from today.....................K swam 2 weeks ago, on Friday & again today.   The difference in the 3 times is huge!  She is still only swimming a short distance at a time, but is swimming further each time & was really using her arms a lot better today. She is so determined & just keep practicing again & again & is even practising floating on her back a lot which, for the longest time, she was very scared of.

My Swimmer is Back!

Last summer, K was doing wonderfully with swimming.  She had just gotten to the point that she could swim about 10 feet or so & even go under the water & retrieve some diving rings before coming up for air. Then the days quickly started to get shorter & our outside pool had to be retired for the winter.  During the first month or so of fall, we were so busy with back to school stuff & sports, that we didn't get her to our local public pool to keep up her skills, then when we finally did, we discovered that the pool was closed for fall cleaning & renovations.  All in all, she probably didn't swim for about 2.5 months.  Just like one of my older girls, this was too long of a break for a just starting out swimmer, & by the time we got her back in the pool later in the fall, she had regressed a little & while still comfortable in the water, she was no longer swimming independently.  My goal was to get her in the pool at least a couple of times a month during the winter so that she was at least comfortable in the pool, then work on swimming again once our pool is set up again in May.  K had other ideas & in the past couple of months has really been improving.  We have been staying at hotels a couple of times per month for ski races, & we always make sure we stay where there has been a pool. Each time, she swims 2 or 3 times, plus a couple of times per month at the local pool, & that has been enough practice to swim a short distance independently again today!  It was only about 8 feet, but she is excited & wanting to practice more.  We live in a rural area with lots of water around, so I will be so relieved once she is able to swim a couple of lengths of the pool independently.

Houston.....................We Have Steering!

After preschool the other day, K enjoyed riding it up & down the hall at the school.  The music in the background is being played by the Jr. High class who were playing basketball in the gym, but K enjoyed that too!

K's Crawling Track Needs a New Home!

If you live in Canada, & are interested in a crawling track for your baby, K's has been sitting in my garage gathering dust for a few years now. It is time it moves on & helps another baby become mobile. If you are interested, you can see a picture of it in my post on Learning to Crawl

I am giving this away for free, but I would love to hear an update on how it works for your baby, & I would appreciate it being given to another baby with Down syndrome or special needs when you no longer needs it.

If you are interested, you can contact me at jtkkmom@mail.com

Canadian Down Syndrome Awareness Week - Let it snow......................

 Today was the ski swap & ski race program registration at our local ski hill. We had ski equipment spread all over this morning making sure that everything fit before my husband & the older girls left for the swap.   Of course K saw all of this & insisted that she go skiing.  We had just enough snow fall on Thursday that she was able to ski down a hill in the back yard.

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I think the new goggles are a little too big!

Crashing at the bottom of our big backyard hill!

 

K lasted about a dozen runs before she decided she should play in the tiny bit of snow we have. Aren't her skis just the cutest little ones you've ever seen?

Canadian Down Syndrome AwarenessWeek: Lose The Training Wheels

A couple of days ago, I did a post on Stryder Bikes
I had a comment asking what was unique about them. I explained in the comments, but it got me thinking about the Lose The Training Wheels program, which I have heard wonderful things about.  According to their website, 80% of participants are able to balance on a bike after completing their  program.

This program holds 5 day camps all over Canada & the US.

Lose The Training Wheels

Here is a neat video on YouTube about the program.

Canadian Down Syndrome Awareness Week - Balance Bikes

We got K the cutest little pink Stryder balance bike for her birthday last year.

My girls are not big on riding bikes however, & K seems to be following in their footsteps.  She does ride her bike occasionally, but, like her sisters, is not real excited about it like some kids are.  She is learning though & I am convinced that this is a great way to get her started. 

One of my older daughters had training wheels on her bike for quite a while & rode tilted to the side.  If I had known about this type of bike then, I would have purchased one for her to avoid the bad habits she got into.  Training wheels do not help with balance &  this was my older daughter's biggest hurdle.

The other disadvantage my kids have is that we live in a rural area where they have to ride on uneven ground & gravel - this isn't the easiest way to learn, so, thanks to us bringing her tricycle in the house recently, K is the only one of my kids to learn to ride a trike. She is still learning, but has just about conquered it.  My plan is to let her practice on her trike this winter & concentrate on her Stryder bike again come spring.

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