Dream Shard Blog: The Scintillating Adventures of Our Household

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Sun
25
Dec '11

Merry Christmas

Fri
23
Dec '11

Games, Music, and Oranges

Wes likes it when I do criss-cross applesauce on him. The words go like this:

“Criss, cross, applesauce
Spider crawling up your back.
Tight squeeze (I squeeze the back of his neck),
Cool breeze (I blow on the back of his neck),
Now you’ve got the shiverees!”

He’s picked up how to do it, and here he is practicing on Dad and Carissa.

Wes loves the theme music from the TV show The Office. I’ve been watching reruns streaming on Netflix lately, and every time he hears the closing credits he’ll come running. He likes to conduct the music.

Last night I was putting gifts together that included clementine oranges (those cute mini oranges that are easy to peel). Wes and Carissa zoned right in on them, thinking they were things to throw like a ball.

But I showed Wes how he can eat it, too. He ate all of this one, plus half of Carissa’s.

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Party Party

Our friends invited us over for a night of games and crepes. We played minute-to-win-it type games.

The first one: stacking cups as fast as you can with one hand behind your back.

This is Brittanie stacking cups, and Wes looking on (far left). He was the biggest clapper for everyone who participated. He will always be a terrific cheerleader.

John gave it a shot…

But guess who took home the prize! Moi! In a quick 23 seconds I won a full single-serving dish set: 2 plates, bowl, and cup.

The party hosts were nice to give each kid a turn trying the games.

Wes and Carissa liked to find alternative uses for the cups.

Here’s Wes and his soul mate Abby trying the game where you tie a tissue box with a ball in it around your waist and you have to jump/dance around until the ball falls out. They LOVED this one.

Afterward someone opened a mini stomp rocket launcher and let Wes play with it.

The party was for adults, but Wes obviously thought it was a party meant just for him!

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Happenings

Carissa tried painting…the paper, the table, anything she could reach. Notice the pigtails–her first time.

When it’s time to put on Wes’s pants or diaper, he gets silly and folds himself up like this so I have to work harder to get the job done. People with Down syndrome are very flexible.

Wes likes to read books, or at least to look at them. I found him at our bookshelf with a giant old picture Bible.

We had our family picture taken at a church activity. It was the end of the night and Wes and Carissa were ready for bed.

Sat
17
Dec '11

Play Time

They love daddy’s measuring tape.

A few nights ago Wes was watching some home video I had shot of him and Carissa. In the video Carissa is holding a carrot that I’m using to make dinner and I’m telling her that it’s a carrot.

Suddenly Wes jumped up from the couch, shouting, “Carrot! Carroooottt!” and ran into the kitchen.

I dug out the giant leftover carrot from the fridge drawer and gave it to him.

Then he ran back to the couch, finished watching the video, and ate half the carrot.

I was kind of amazed. He doesn’t often (read: EVER) request raw vegetables. Just shows the power of suggestion in what you watch on TV.

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Clean Time