Another week is coming to a close and I am forever asking myself where the time goes. This week we finally have begun to see the beginnings of spring around here and on a farm, that always means adventure. Cedar has been enjoying time outside and not walking independently is not stopping him from getting into mischief and checking out everything there is to see outside.

On the homeschool front we have been attending a homeschool co-op for a few hours a week in a neighboring rural town. We discovered a wonderful little Mennonite Market that we have been frequenting and it is all the sweeter because we learned that the owner’s son who works at the store has an awful lot in common with our Cedar, this made my heart swell. I had a chance to talk to this young man’s parents and though we are culturally from very different backgrounds that extra chromosome forever binds strangers together in such a beautiful way. I now look forward to visiting this market every week.

Therapy went well this week too, Cedar practiced some more with his walker and we hope to continue seeing him progress in standing

Finally we rounded out the week with a haircut, Cedar was fond of his shaggy locks but mama said it was time for a trim.

So until next week, catch up with us on Instagram (we share daily snippets of our life there on our 24 hour story) and on our Facebook page.

Cedar and baby goats…oh my!

This week was sure eventful on our small little farm. We have Nubian goats and this was the week we started having babies. Unfortunately, one mama decided that one of her twin babies wasn’t going to make it and she rejected the baby. Well, you guessed it, we began bottle feeding and caring for a baby goat this week, in the house. So, if you are counting…that’s 6 kids, 1 dog, 2 parents, homeschooling and caring for a baby goat. WHEW!

I honestly didn’t think that the little goat was going to make it because she was cold when we found her and she was so weak she could not stand. We gave the goat some molasses to get her perked up again and then gave her strong doses of vitamin B to help before starting to bottle feed her. Another factor that I think helped with her recovery was that our Golden Retriever decided that she wanted to be a goat mama (she had a litter of pups just 6 months ago so she knows all about being a mama) and she has now taken over the majority of the goat baby companionship.

Cedar was introduced to the goat baby and this was the reaction we saw…prepare for cuteness overload.

We incorporated animal husbandry into our weekly homeschool lessons, and I think it was better than any public school field trip the kids could have taken.

Cedar had Occupational therapy and Physical therapy this week, this is our usual and our therapist did an amazing creative hack that I think any of you mamas with babes still working on 4-point crawling can appreciate. It was so simple but so brilliant, she simply used a pool noodle, you could also use a piece of cloth, to help hold Cedar’s tummy off the ground to get his arms and legs going in the correct motion for crawling. Cedar fought a little less this week and you can also see some more of his therapy as he stood unassisted for a bit (though I don’t think he realized what he did).

We have been so blessed that the outpatient facility that we use allows for co-treats. That means that when you see the two women in the video at the end, one is our physical therapist and one is our occupational therapist. These ladies work seamlessly together and while Cedar is doing tall kneeling, or sit to stand excersizes with PT, his OT is working on more fine motor skills as he grabs the balls or other toys. This kind of co treatment is a lifesaver as it allows for Cedar to have to go through less therapy and also allows mom to only have to make 1 trip for both therapies!

This week we also started working on some speech therapy. We have done this off and on since Cedar was younger but our main focus has always been physical therapy as Cedar has said a few words, mostly does well with feeding, and is learning signs. I hear Cedar using lots of appropriate babble with both vowel and consonent sounds and that coupled with the words he does have the ability to say and associate (mama, dada, ball, up, dog) are very encouraging to me that he will develop speech. Like everything else, it is VERY normal that speech development and language aquisition take longer for children with Down Syndrome.

This week we attended a speech therapy session and Cedar showed off some of his signing skills…he really likes to sign “cracker” and as you can see, this is a tactic he has started using at home when it is time for bed.

Until next week… if you want to follow us throughout the week, we post daily snippets on Instagram and Facebook be sure to follow us!

Once again it’s Saturday and time to give a weekly recap of Cedar’s life in snap shots. This week was a full one (who am I kidding, every week is)

Monday we celebrated Cedar’s brother’s 5th birthday at a local bounce park and had an amazing experience. While all of the kids and their friends were having fun, Cedar was doing his normal ball chasing in the kiddie area. What happened next was the most tender and amazing experience we have had yet when another parent at the park renewed my faith in humanity. I thought it would be a good post to share but I never in a million years expected the post to go viral. As of today the post has reached nearly 200k people on Facebook and been shared almost 2k times. If you are on facebook you have to check it out HERE or if not facebook, you can still see the story on Instagram HERE though it did not go as viral on that platform.

Cedar had physical and occupational therapy and once again fought getting into his 4 point position. This kid HATES trying to crawl in the 4 point mode, he is a full fledged bum scooter and really hates to be bothered with trying anything else. When we showed up for therapy this week I was told at the window of our outpatient therapy location that our favorite Ms. Rachel was out sick and we had a substitute, I immediately was concerned as we LOVE Ms. Rachel. I have to say, I was so pleasantly surprised. Our substitute was amazing and showed as much love to Cedar as his dear Ms. Rachel always does. I feel like the therapists at our center we attend all have a soft spot for Cedar as they all say hello to him when they walk by and seem to smile when he shows up.

Then of course there was Valentine’s Day, Cedar LOVES chocolate, but things aren’t so good when he runs out.

I may have to start calling this Cedar Sunday as it is closer to Sunday when I actually get the post up. This was a crazy busy week and most of our normal schedule was a bit off. We had a number of special services at our church as we have a missions conference complete with dinners at church multiple nights during the week and special speakers. I always enjoy this but it is a bit rough on the kids being off of their normal schedules, and Cedar is no exception, from Wednesday through Friday we changed him into jammies at church because he fell asleep in the car each night before we got home.

We did still manage to homeschool the older kids, get to occupational and physical therapy and also sneak in a field trip to a theater performance all with the local temps reaching -10 and an addition of 4 more inches of snow. I’m ready to move south!

Wednesday was therapy day and here are some clips. Cedar crawled in a 4 point stance for a 5-6 pace distance with minimal assistance which was HUGE.

He also did great in occupational therapy with putting small objects into a container. We have noticed a slight reduction in throwing behavior, something we have REALLY been working on as this boy has the arm of a professional pitcher. I was able to ascertain that though sometimes the throwing is out of boredom, often it is out of frustration. As Cedar is able to master more tasks he seems to be throwing a bit less…sometimes.

Thursday we went to a theater performance of Marcus Pfiester’s book, The Rainbow Fish. Cedar LOVED it. I try to incorporate fine arts into our homeschool and we alternate performances geared towards the little ones with performances for the older ones. This time it was my preK and early elementary kiddos attending with Cedar, it was a hit! Cedar loved clapping and signed “fish” a few times after I repeatedly showed the sign to him while watching the Rainbow Fish on stage. Interestingly most schools in our area were closed so we had the majority of the theater to ourselves and some other homeschoolers, the downside? It was -10 degrees that day.

Saturday morning Cedar and my littles had a babysitter (a super rare occasion) but after lunch we had a super mellow rest of the day to recuperate from our busy week. Cedar relaxed and watched too many Super Simple Songs on YouTube but he was quite content. Oh, and there was this funny clip from when he pulled out my pots and pans to demonstrate his drumming skills but his sister thought he needed a snack…