December Babblings

A belated Merry Christmas, dear blog readers!  Happy new year, too!

Baby Bunny and I both got two and a half weeks off from school/work!  We've been home, playing with lots of new toys, watching too much TV, eating lots of yummies, and sleeping a lot!

We've acquired a lot of new toys.  Many were gifts from friends and relatives.  Some were "new to Bun Bun".  Lately, she is really into puzzles and blocks.  婆婆 found an old train set in her garage she had forgotten about.  Now, it's under the Christmas tree and entertaining Bun Bun as it goes round and round.  The girl has way too many toys.  One project over Christmas break was to put some of them away, then cycle them out again.

Bun Bun is still obsessed with Curious George.  She requests him on TV every chance she gets.  Lately, she's been introduced to Noddy and the Toyland.  She loves Noddy, but her loyalty is still with George.

With both of us on vacation, 婆婆 is also on vacation.  This means she's at home cooking up all sorts of yummies.  Today, we got 包子 (steamed buns) and 芋頭糕 (taro cake)!  Yum-O!  Looks like we'll be signing up for a membership at the local YMCA this year!


Since September, we've had to wake up at the crack of dawn to catch the school bus and get to work.  It's been such a treat to sleep in, at least until 8am!

Bun Bun has been babbling lots more than ever before.  She's making some sounds that seem to have meaning (to her) and sometimes mimicking something she hears.  She's been making the "guy" sound.  Her vocal vocabulary now includes "Hi", "Aye" (for bye), and "O... oh".  The other day, when we were visiting Grandparents, she very clearly said, "Pop-pop" to address her Grandfather!  And, I think I heard her approximate, "Again!"  We hope for great progress this coming year with her speech.

Physically, she has made a lot of progress.  She's starting to run!  At school, she's been riding and peddling a tricycle, jumping, and kicking balls.  I signed her up for more swimming in January and February.  These will all help her build up core strength.

Excited Baby Bunny running the train around the Christmas tree!

November Ramblings

For me, the fall semester marches on.  As always, work has been very busy, but not stressful.  I am very much looking forward to Thanksgiving break, in 2.5 weeks.  After break, it's just another 6 days of classes before the week of final exams.  I sense some of my students burning out already.  Some have given up, most likely because they know they haven't been doing well, so why bother.  A good number are still very much in the game and have been working as hard as possible.  I applaud them and cheer them on to the end.

Christmas break is always welcoming.  This year is no different.  I am looking forward to seeing Bun Bun's excitement grow with the lights, sounds, and smells.  No doubt, the kids and teachers in her class will be excited.

This Halloween, she did get a little more into it.  Well, at least I kind of had her dress up (as a Pink Poodle) and took her trick-or-treating to just a couple of neighbor's homes.  She doesn't eat candy, neither does Daddy, so guess who has been consuming more chocolates than usual?

Overall, Bun Bun has been doing well in school.  She continues to receive all of her therapy while she's at school - occupation, physical, speech therapies, and special instruction.  She's been gaining a little more core strength day by day.  She seems more comfortable climbing up and down stairs, alternating legs.  Lately, she's learning how to jump.  It's another one of those physical activities that I take for granted.  Speech continues to be her biggest challenge.  She is able to articulate, "Hi!" and approximates "Uh-oh", "Bye" and the Chinese "Aye-ya!"  Of course, she continues to sign.

Someone's post on Facebook said something to the effect of Down Syndrome is a journey I never expected to take, but I sure like my tour guide.  There is a lot of truth in that.  I personally think I have the cutest and sweetest tour guide.  Do I wish she doesn't have DS?  Sometimes, only because I think about her future and all sorts of the challenges she will face.  I am comforted to believe that she will be OK.  We do all we are able now, take it one day at a time, and overcome one hurdle at a time.  For now, I will cuddle and kiss her every chance I get.

Bun Bun, the Pink Poodle.  Halloween costume made by 婆婆!

Bun Bun's Chinese outfit, purchased in San Francisco 2 years ago.  This was her "dress up" outfit for school, the day before Halloween.  It fit pretty well here, but I'm sure she'll quickly outgrow it.

Dancing Bunny

Baby Bunny doing some fancy moves this morning while we waited for the school bus!

Bun Bun at School

It is almost the middle of September, about time for a Bun Bun update.

Baby Bunny missed the first three days of pre-school that started at the end of August.  The night before her first day, she spiked a fever and was very much out of commission for at least the first half of the week.  With it being a short 3-day week followed by a long Labor Day weekend, she was definitely well rested for her official start of school.

Bun Bun has been attending a pre-school with typical kids ranging from ages 3 to 5.  I am not sure how many, if any, other special needs kids there are in her class.  There are 20 all together.  She is one of the youngest.  According to her really nice teacher, Bun Bun is the smallest by size.  In fact, her classmates call her "Baby".

Every morning, we get up at the crack of dawn to get ready.  The school bus picks her up at 7:20am and round up 4 other kids to make it to school by 8:30.  Yes, it's a very long ride.  If we drove ourselves, it would only take about 20 minutes.  Unfortunately, Bun Bun is the first to be picked up in the bus route.  Since she's also the last for drop off, she's on the bus for over an hour on the way home.  Bun Bun has gotten used to the routine, somewhat, and she is able to sleep on the bus a little bit.  She now gets to bed before 8pm!

Earlier this week, her teacher emailed some updates.  Apparently, Bun Bun is doing pretty well and adjusting nicely.  She participates in all of activities like circle time and sits nicely with other kids at the table for work and meals.  Because she still struggles with core strength, keeping up with her peers has been a challenge.  She will walk in tow with the other but gets distracted by people because she feels she has to wave and say hello to them.  Yep.  That's Bun Bun.

Today, they were playing dress up.  Her teacher took a picture...

Here are a couple of pictures of us waiting for the school bus with her backpack.  The first picture was taken seconds before she fell over from the weight of the pack.  She needed some TLC to soothe over the boo boo.

School

It's been a busy August.  Now, it's back to school for me, and Bun Bun starts a new pre-school.  More updates later...

Here's a video of Bun Bun having fun at Tot Lot!

Dimple

When I was little, I wanted dimples.  My best friend had two of them on either side of her cheeks, and I thought they were the best things ever!

You can only imagine how tickled I was when I saw that little dimple that appears right by the edge of Bun Bun's lips when she smiles.  I think that one little dimple is even better than having two cheek dimples.  Of course, 婆婆 has two and says that Bun Bun got one of hers.

I love how that dimpled smile greets me in the morning and one of last things I see at night.

This is an old picture, but a good one that shows Bun Bun's dimple.

All wet!

What's the fascination with water for little kids?

It was an absolutely beautiful day yesterday in southeastern PA.  Bun Bun and I took the afternoon off and headed out to Longwood Gardens.  They have a couple of Children's Gardens - one outdoor and one indoor.  The one indoor has tons of water fountains.  Some just shoots out water.  One makes blub-blub-blub bubbles every 10 seconds or so.  One just shoots down like rain.  I guess it's a good thing to have to cool kids off on a hot day.  (Don't think it's a good idea in the colder winter days.)  Since I had an extra change of clothing for Bun Bun, I figured I would just let her go at it and have some fun.  It didn't take her long to be completely soaked.  The poor child had to be dragged away kicking and screaming.

Playing with the water fountains in the Indoor Children's Garden at Longwood Gardens

Third Birthday Extravaganza!

We've had a blast of a weekend celebrating Bun Bun's third birthday!  It started on Sunday with cake, presents, and a baby pool!  Bun Bun got the best presents (EVER!) from Pop-pop - a bag of potato chips and a box of tissues.  If you know Bun Bun well enough, you'd know that she LOVES salty snacks (just like her daddy) and wanting to pull out all the tissues from a tissue box (Mama would never approve!).

On Monday, we went down to the beach.  Bun Bun had a blast standing by the shore watching and waiting for the waves to wash over her toes.  She let out shrills of excitement with each splash.  There was even a little girl (probably 5 or 6) that joined us in the fun.

A week before Bun Bun's birthday, I was reminiscing the events three years ago:  the swollen ankles, July 4th party at a friend's house, Tuesday morning prayer meeting, the high blood pressure at the doctor's office, preeclampsia, and meeting Baby Bunny for the first time.  You can read those old blog posts:  10 Weeks, Part 1 and Part 2.  Today, I encountered a blog post by John Simmons on how to deliver the Down Syndrome diagnosis to the newborn's parents.  I thought it was one of best pieces ever written.  We have already encountered some of the things Mr. Simmons wrote about and will look forward to many of the rest.

Happy third birthday to my favorite Bun Bun!  I'm looking forward to another year being amazed by little you!

New to Bun Bun

We've acquired some toys for Bun Bun from yard sales.  She now has a little play house and a sand/water table.  The girl loves to be outside.  Thankfully, there hasn't been too many mosquitoes, and we're close to the house to avoid deer ticks in the wooded areas of the back yard.

Bun Bun turns 3 next Monday!  That's hard to believe!  For the rest of the summer, she will continue to go to preschool two days a week.  Come September, she will be attending another preschool 5 days a week, from 8:30 to 2.  It'll tire her out in the beginning but I think it'll ultimately be good for her.  She will even ride a yellow school bus!

Miss Smarty Pants tested herself into a regular preschool.  Even though she will still need speech, occupation, and physical therapy, she is "age-appropriate" for cognitive skills.  She is able to match pictures (e.g. card with a bear to picture of a bear in a book), correctly point to various objects, self-correct, and problem-solve.  She is amazing!  Recently, I found her correctly answering this electronic toy she has.  It would partially show an animal and ask for identification by the first letter.  Even if she has memorized all 26 animals, it is still very impressive.

Bun Bun checks out her little house.

Looks bigger inside

Pretend ice cream and cones

Sand and water table

Bun Bun explores coneflowers.

That's good reads!

Asian tulips at Longwood Gardens

Lunch with Mama at Longwood Gardens

Baby Bunny and Daddy Selfie!