This has been an amazing year for K & here are a few of the highlights:
- potty training has been a success! Actually.................almost too much of a success. Recently, I am being told to leave the bathroom because someone needs her privacy. lol!
- as many of you know, this year at age 3.5, K started being able to read simple books - not familiar books, but library books & other new books that she had never seen before. Even now, 6 months later, it amazes me to watch her do this.
- K has made the jump from signing & speaking to speaking only. She very rarely signs now & when she does it is almost always just for fun. I am so happy to see the same progression to words that we saw with my older daughter.
- her speech has really blossomed & although she still sometimes will use only 1 or 2 words ( actually often my older kids do this too..........hmmmm.....), she is using a lot more sentences now & will quickly speak in a sentence if requested to.
- K recently finished her first year of preschool where she was fully mainstreamed. Besides a little shyness & unwillingness to have mom leave for a few weeks in the new year, K did very well. She loves going to school & has been really missing it since she has been on summer holidays.
- she is doing a great job with dressing herself, & can usually do it independently, although she sometimes needs help with socks & starting the zipper on her coat. Just tonight, we had a funny getting dressed episode. Usually K goes to bed very well, but tonight, she took a while to settle down. Great Grandma is visiting, & it was just to exciting to go to sleep. Finally after about 45 minutes, it seemed very quiet & I commented to my husband that she must have finally gone to sleep. Instantly, as if that was her introduction, K appeared at the top of the stairs fully dressed. She had taken off her pajamas & found a completely new, & very cute summer outfit & put it on. It's quiet again now...........could she be asleep this time? lol
Her gross motor skills have improved a lot, especially in the last month or so since it has been warm enough to play outside. Her jumping is where I have noticed the biggest improvement lately thanks to the trampoline. She continues to be a fish in the swimming pool, & I have registered her for swimming lessons later this summer - and in case you are curious? No, I didn't mention any thing about Down syndrome.
It's so hard to put a whole year into a short post on a blog. There is so much more to my wonderful little girl. When I look back 4 years, I am certain that new mommy could never imagined just how the next 4 years would unfold. I'm so excited about to see what unfolds in the next year!
-
What a great year! I agree, as a new mommy, it would have saved me a lot of worrying had I known all the things Goldie would accomplish. Any tips on helping her learn to jump?
ReplyDeleteI think the most important thing is that we have let K use her body as much as possible. When we go out, we almost never used a stroller when she was young, & we encourage her to walk everywhere. Sometimes it is a pain because it is a lot slower to allow her to walk, but all of those steps add up to a lot more excercise.
ReplyDeleteK loves the trampoline. Jumping on the tramp as well as jumping off curbs has made a noticeable difference.