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Official mini-van driving, soccer mom

Today Elijah signed up to play upwards soccer.  This is a church league.  The kids all get equal playing time and are rewarded for their efforts.  The program will teach him the game, good sportsmanship, and biblical teachings.  He is so excited.  Today they had evaluations.  Basically the kids do some basic maneuvers to determine their playing ability.  They will then form equal ability teams.  I being the good mom took the camera to capture this moment in time.  Yep, you guessed it.  I forgot to take the camera out of the diaper bag until the evaluation was over.  lol.  I would forget my head some days if it was not attached!  I did have Elijah pose for a few pictures, just pretend these are motion pictures!  Here is one of him after the evaluations.  He was tired. Sarah got to enjoy the swings!  Doug got recruited to help coach.  Wow, what a day.  Elijah had to practice soccer as soon as he got home.  He is so cute talking about it.  He wanted Doug to

pretend being his coach and then he had to be the coach.

She finally figured it out!

For months, ok almost a year now, we have been trying to get Sarah to walk behind a push toy.  She has not been able to do it.  She leans too hard on it and it moves too fast and she falls.  Today we were using it in therapy to get her to walk holding just one hand.  She reached out and grabbed the toy and took off.  She walked all the way across the room and back and more.  She was so proud of herself.  She was grinning from ear to ear and giggling.  I was jumping up and down with joy.  I am so proud of her.  Now that she can do this, I think her confidence on walking will go up and she will be walking soon.  I would love her to walk before her 2nd birthday!  One more month.  She can do it!!!  Here are a few pictures I got of her walking: 

We have a climber!

I was awakened a little after 6 this morning to the weirdest sound.  I could not figure it out.  At first I thought is was Sarah shaking her bedrails trying to stand-up, but it was different.  Then I hear Sarah grunting(she does that sometimes when she is doing something hard).  Then I hear her fall and began to cry.  I rush in the room and she is lying on her back in the bed crying.  I think that she just fell trying to stand.  I comfort her and then put her back in the bed and tell her it is too early to get up(I don't do good if I get up before 7a.).  As soon as I closed the door I hear her stand up, so I peeked in.  Sarah stands up, then uses her feet to climb the rails of the bed like a monkey.  I stopped her as she put one leg over the top of the rail.  Great, now she can climb out of her bed.  I was hoping to keep her in the baby bed at least 6 more months, maybe a year.  I can not remember what we did when Elijah did this.  I know we tried several things and ended up putting him in a full bed with rails around it and then about 6 months later Jennifer gave us the car bed they had built for Tyler that he had out grown.  The sides of the car come up higher than the mattress, so he has rails.  He is still sleeping in this.  He is a roller, so I am not ready to change.  I don't think Sarah will stay in a toddler bed.  I think she will get out and crawl to the door.  Maybe, just maybe this will be like other things she does.  She will do it once or twice and then not do it again for awhile.  Oh please, let this be what happens!!!  We will see what happens at nap.  Hmm, guess I better start looking at toddler beds.  Her birthday is coming up, sounds like I will be redoing her bedroom for her birthday present!

A's Birthday Party

The kids had a great time at A's birthday party.  They were so worn out when we got home.  Sarah took 2 naps this afternoon.  They both love the inflatables and Sarah especially loves the slide.  After having fun in the inflatables we had pizza and Hello Kitty cake and ice cream.  Here are a few pictures of the fun:

Conversation with Sarah

We are working with Sarah on pacing with her speech.  This will help her to talk at a normal rate and pattern.  Here is how the conversation went.  Dashes are used to emphasize the pacing.

Me:  (pointing to myself)  mom-ma, (pointing to Sarah) Sa-rah, (pointing to her doll) ba-by. (pointing to Sarah)Who is this?

Sarah: (shakes head no)

Me: mom-ma, Sa-rah, ba-by(pointing appropriately). 

Sarah: ite(right) yeah.  Puts her hands up in the air and then claps for me.  lol

At this rate, we should have the pacing down by college!!(Yes, God willing I am planning on college for Sarah.  I will not allow the Down syndrome to define her or what she will accomplish).  Sarah has said her name a few times last week, but is refusing to say it now.  In her own time.  She is standing on her hands and feet more and more now.  She is also getting braver about walking and will "hold" onto the wall to walk now.  The kids have a birthday party at pump-it-up today for A who is 4 today!!  I will try to remember the camera and get some pictures to post. 

Please remember a precious baby today.  Emma is having open heart surgery this morning.  She was adopted from Ukraine this spring.  The surgery is very risking for this precious angel.  She also has Down syndrome.  For more info or updates, please click on her picture to the right here on my blog.  Thanks.

Who needs toys...

when you have a laundry basket!  With the millions of toys that we have, my children decide the laundry basket is more fun. 

Today we took Elijah and Sarah to play at pump-it-up.  They had a great time, but within the hour Elijah was whining that he was tired and wanted to go home.  He can be so whiny.  Sarah cried because we left.  Can not seem to make both of them happy at the same time some days.  Sarah also, while in one of the inflatables, got on her hands and feet(not knees) and then lifted both hands off the mat at the same time.  She looked at me with the biggest grin, and then did it again.  It was only for a second or two, but she did it!  Of course today is the day I forget to take my camera.  My girl is learning how to get into a standing position without pulling up!!!!  She is going to be walking soon!  I will post pictures when I am able to get them!  Have a great weekend!