Happy World Down Syndrome Day!!!

Ella is holding a bottle of Saline nose drops as she was a little stuffy this morning when she woke up. You will notice in one of the pictures that she is trying to get the cap off. I will have you know that my little genius somehow unscrewed the top off of a big tub of Aquaphor last night (we use it nightly on her face to keep it from being chapped) and had a handful of it before I could get it from her!!! What a fun greasy mess that was, complete with a temper tantrum when I took it away from her!!!

So, today is World Down Syndrome Day, here is the explanation....

"Down Syndrome International (DSI) has officially earmarked 21 March as World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD). The date was chosen to signify the uniqueness of Down syndrome in the triplication (trisomy) of the 21st chromosome and is used synonymously with Down syndrome." http://www.worlddownsyndromeday.org/

Today was Ella's second day at the Guild School. It's pretty overwhelming, more so for me than her it seems. She is by far the youngest in her class and therefore the lowest functioning. All of the other kids (so far) can walk and have several words, they have various disabilities though some are not evident to me, maybe premature? Her teachers assure me that there is a little boy with Down syndrome in her class who is more on her level, but he has been sick. I am the only parent that stays in the class the whole time and it is just strange. I feel like I'm playing with a doll sometimes, for example they did a little Easter Egg hunt today in the gym (ya know hidden in plain site) how do you tell an 18 month old to go find eggs? I know this is all good for her though. The PT and OT are already pretty challenging for her but she does well. Speech is another story. She just does not seem to like Speech Therapy. I am so proud though, she did the "more" sign several times today, (she started sign language on Wednesday.) She is a very smart girl!! The teachers/therapists keep commenting on how non-baby like she is, they say she seems really mature for her age as compared to others in the school her age. They like that she really concentrates on things and has a long attention span. I guess it's better to be the lower functioning kid in class and have others to look up to and copy than the other way around. I do really like the school, it's going to be great for her!!!