Friends for a Week

Most fifteen year old girls have a circle of friends.  I'll admit the first image I see is a girl sitting sideways in an armchair twirling a phone cord while talking for hours, but that is dating myself...it's all texting now.  Mom's dropping kids off at the movie theater with admonishments to be safe and have fun.  Going out for ice cream and checking out the teen boys.

Amelia, she does not have any friends.  At least not that call her up and say "Hey, wanna go to the movies?"  She has dance class friends, and maybe some day that will evolve into get togethers, but not yet.  She does have a respite person who takes her out twice a month, but she doesn't know its her job to be her friend.  (Don't get me wrong, she is absolutely wonderful with Amelia.)

Thankfully, Amelia is blissfully unaware of what her social scene is supposed to be like, by today's standards.  She and Sunny are great sisters, she and Leif do a lot together every day.

She does go to Sunday School, where she is accepted by the adults and tolerated by her peers.  (At least I think she's tolerated, I've yet to see any of them interact with her.)  We have tried a home school co-op but they were not accepted by their peers and so I pulled them out...maybe I should have stuck it out but it is very hard to see other Christian children staring at my kids and edging away from them while the Mom's are blissfully unaware because they are chatting up a storm and I've been told to stay with my kids as a condition of attendance.  (Long sentence, sorry.)  I have also flat out been told "no" my kids are not a good fit.

It's okay though, because Amelia is a very happy girl.  She runs 5K races and soaks up the cheering when she crosses the finish line.  She adores Miss Lu at the library, and the cashiers at Big Y happily let her help with the bagging.  We frequent Old Sturbridge Village where everyone is very welcoming. Our community is very good to Amelia.

Last week, Amelia was given the experience of a lifetime.  She had a BFF for a week.  We went on a Joni and Friends Retreat, and Amelia was given an STM (short term missionary) for our time there.  Abbey chose be Amelia's friend.  She wasn't paid, in fact she paid her own way to be there.

Amelia and Abby went to campfire and sang songs, they learned the basics of archery, they spent every day with other teens doing what teenagers do.  Amelia cried each night when we parted ways for the evening.  She absolutely loved having a friend.

Kimberly and Dante each had their own STM , too.  It was a good week all around.

If you are part of a special needs family, look for a local Joni and Friends for a retreat, or other activities.  It is an amazing, loving, caring ministry.

Amelia might not have any friends to text, but that's okay right now, because she is happy, and she was truly blessed last week, and that's enough to carry her through until next time.

God is good.

I am a Runner

A few years ago, when my son joined the Navy and had to do basic training, I decided to take up running myself.  I started on the treadmill, and just wanted to be in better shape.  I followed a Couch to 5K plan, to give me some focus.  

Dante has always loved going for long walks, and sometimes they turned into runs, and someone suggested we run a 5k with Team Hoyt.  Last September Jamie and I did run a 5k; he pushed Dante while I pushed Kimberly.  We really enjoyed it and looked forward to more running with them.

All of my running was either done in the field next to my house, or on the treadmill...but this past February I got the idea to invite Amelia to run with me, and to train together for a 5k.  I don't remember why, maybe I thought she would enjoy it, or probably I just didn't want to run alone around town, and she was an excuse to not have to push myself to a faster pace, or maybe I just knew it would give her and I some quality time together and give her a huge confidence boost.

So we ran, and Amelia absolutely loves it!  She is completely willing to push herself harder, to go the distance and keep running even when she would rather walk.

 Amelia pushed me, too.  I would often arrive home from shopping to find her sitting on the couch in her running clothes, with sneakers on. I didn't always want to run, but she kept me going.  She and I developed a pep talk for when she grew tired,  "I am strong, I am smart, I am a runner!!"

Amelia's coordination improved, and her confidence soared.   Our first 5k was April 30th, and she loved the crowd, the excitement, and the cheering as she crossed the finish line.  This sealed the commitment, Amelia was definitely a runner now.

Since April 30th, Amelia and I have run four more races together, two with Kimberly, Dante, and Dad, two without Kimberly and Dante.

Amelia was given some new running clothes, and we continued to run through town togehter.

Now and then Sunny would put on her sneakers and Amelia's clothes, so I took her for a run to see if she would like to start training with us.  Sunny clearly wanted to be a part of whatever was going on, but without the running involved.  (We've since discovered that she very much likes to paint her nails, something Amelia has no interest in.)

Amelia came in Third Place in her age category at the race we ran in June!  Every single night she insists on using her 5k glass at dinner; she is so proud!

We made her a corkboard wall to display all of her running bibs, and she intends to fill it.

 Our most recent race is my personal favorite, because we were able to run through Old Sturbridge Village, a place we love to visit often.  Parts of the run were like a time warp, with nothing modern in sight.

 (In this photo, Amelia was excited to catch sight of Dad up around the bend, in front of the brick bank.  He was a tad faster than us.)

And so we run.  And Amelia, who has no idea that her diagnosis of Down Syndrome is supposed to hold her back, continues to get faster, get stronger, and get smarter.  

Because she is fast, she is strong, and she is smart.  She's a runner.

God is good.

Home School Day at Old Sturbridge Village

We live near an amazing "living" museum, Old Sturbridge Village.  A few times a year they have "Home School Days", with special session in the education building.

I registered the kids-- Amelia, ShanLin, and Leif-- online.  Oddly, there was no box to check for special needs or disabilities.  There was no spot to put a description of what extra help my children might need.  No opportunity for them to think differently about my kids.

 When we filed in with everyone else to join the appropriate group (Stenciling, for my kids), no one looked at them, then looked at me and said, "You'll be staying with them, right?"  Not one question or quizzical look.   No one asked for any special instructions. They didn't even have to call it inclusion.  They were simply kids in the class.

When they were done, the teacher pulled me aside and said Amelia had been an incredible help to her during the class.

Kimberly did a wonderful job of playing with the doll house, blocks, and puppets while her siblings were making note cards.

Afterwards, we had lunch and walked around a bit.  We are members at "The Village", so they have been there a lot and walk around with confidence.

After lunch we went back to the education building for another class; making and cooking pancakes over a fire.  They enjoyed their session, and Kimberly discovered a wooden cow and had even more independent fun...she has quite an imagination!

I have been trying this year to get the kids out to a lot of learning opportunities in the community...story hour, shopping, gym class at Springfield College, and other special (and affordable) home school events.  It is so nice when places, like Old Sturbridge Village, don't bat an eyelash at the quite obvious fact that 4 of the my kids have Down Syndrome and lower their expectations.

Although, it was a little embarrassing when we had breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and Kimberly finished her food, got down and tried to walk into the kitchen with her empty plate.  After all, they clear their own plates at home...

Feeling Blue

Days have been passing so quickly, and it has been three months since I took the time to post here.

Summer has come and gone, and we are well into our home school year.  Amelia has taken off with her reading skills, and I have switched to using Alpha-Phonics with her.  She has a solid basis of hundreds of sight words, and is taking well to phonics now.  Micah is also using Alpha-Phonics (the exact same book I used with Alexander and Zachary, only slightly falling apart), but he is going slower than Amelia.  It will be some time before ShanLin is able to read, and she may never get past a first grade level.

Dante is still doing amazingly well in his special school.  Unfortunately over the Summer he began displaying some more assertive tendencies (I refuse to use the word aggressive just yet), and we are working to see what is going on.  It seems to be a combination of unmet sensory needs and the excessive energy of puberty coming on.

Leif is still his amazing little self.  The other day he took something from Kimberly that she should not have, and when I thanked him he simply said, "Just doing what I have to do".

And Kimberly.  She might be the baby of the family but she makes sure she is busy and doing what everyone else does!

 The other day she helped herself to some paint.

When she could not reach the paper, she simply painted herself.

And then she cleaned it all off.

She does sit still for a few minutes here and there, with one of our pets.

Back in August while we were on vacation, I noticed her night time sleep was fitful and interrupted by gasping for breath.  After nearly three months of appointments and waiting, she had a sleep study done last night at Boston Children's Hospital.

She studied for the Study.

And Daddy reports that she was an excellent patient.  

In a week or so we will have some results and see her ENT.  In the meantime, we will be keeping just as busy and active as we always are....

God is good.

Special Olympics Summer Games 2015

June 6-7 the triplets competed in the SO Summer Games in Gymnastics.  They have spent most Saturdays this past school year out at Gymnastics Learning Center working with their team and coaches on the skills needed for competition.  They also learn skills needed for life...following directions, keeping fit, social skills with their peers, and sticking to a schedule.

Every year they love their weekend of competition!

The girls competed on Saturday.  They are at different levels, and both had a great time.  This past year was the first time that Sunny really took an interest in practices and put in a lot of effort.  The last few years she has at times been unconcerned about following directions, but something really clicked for her this year.

The last 2 years Micah has spent a night in the dorm with the team, last year Amelia did also, but this was the first year that all three stayed with the team Saturday night!  They were so excited!

Sunday morning before competition the athletes spent some down time playing duck duck goose.  Newly 13 years old, Micah seemed to choose the female coach quite frequently.  Ah, another teen boy in the house...

Micah works in spurts during practice throughout the year, but he really comes through at competition.

Another amazing weekend!

A breakdown of their scores, for my own records:

Amelia, Level 2 ages 13-14, 5 athletes:

Vault, 4th

Uneven bars, Silver

Beam, 4th (tie):

Floor, Silver (tie)

All Around, 4th.

ShanLin, Level 1 ages 12-15, 3 athletes:

Vault, Silver

Uneven bars, Bronze

Beam, Silver

Floor, Silver

All Around, Silver

Micah, Level 1 ages 12-14, 4 athletes

Floor, Gold (tie)

Pommel, Gold

Rings, Gold

Vault, Silver

Parallel Bars, Gold

High-Bar, Gold

All Around, Gold

Now we have the Summer off, but I am sure they will be excited to start practicing with the team again in the Fall.