Q: How do you hold a toddler's attention for more than 30 minutes?

A: Sensory tubs!

These are so much fun, Maddie played and played and played yesterday.  This is our new Halloween tub.

She especially liked the little skeletons.  They feel squishy and are stretchy.

She was really good about keeping the beans in the tub and not putting anything in her mouth.  We'll have to do this again.  Now, the ironic this is I have to find a time when we will have a 30 minute span of nothing else to do!!

Too much Sesame Street?

See my little monster friend? Maddie watches Sesame Street every day, and I think it's rubbing off on me. Now instead of seeing a piece of wood with a couple of screws I see cute little monsters.

Designer Genes

I was so happy the other day to find this pair of designer jeans at a consignment store (for super cheap!) But then I was thinking about my baby's designer genes. Some of you may not know that although she has Down Syndrome, she still only has 46 chromosomes! CRAZY, RIGHT? Turns out I only have 45 chromosomes. Both of our 14th chromosomes hitched a ride with the 13th chromosome leaving us with an extra long 13th chromosome and only one 14th chromosome. How amazing is God? Thanks God for our designer genes and the super great deal on these designer jeans too!!

Awww, My Baby Shares!

Shot of the Day

Yesterday we went to the library for storytime. Maddie squealed with delight as soon as we crossed the threshold of the library entrance...know why? BUBBLES! At the end of storytime, they always blow bubbles and it's Maddie's favorite thing. I got this picture with shutter priority setting at 1/80. A faster shutter speed would have helped with clarity, but then I may not have captured the blur in the background, so this is the shot and I'm sticking to it!

We're Montessor-ting

I've been trying to implement some Montessori principles in our daily preschool time. We may not be perfect but we've made progress! See that little mat Maddie is sitting on? She's sitting on it! That was a big accomplishment, believe it or not. This was a game of sorting gourds by color. She finds them more tasty than colorful right now, but we're making progress and she loves preshool time. It's the one thing that motivates her to clean up!

Finger paints!

Yesterday Maddie got her hands dirty in the finger paints! The idea was to swirl around the red and yellow paints until the pumpkin is orange, but as you can see...we have a mostly red pumpkin. Hey, it's the process not the product right? The important thing to remember here is - she loved that ooey gooey goodness smooshed between her fingers!