Mattie is READING!

Every accomplishment, minor or major deserves fair recognition.  And just like any mom, or "stage mom", any accomplishment made by my child warrants an utmost amount of praise!  Yes, I do admit I am kind of a stage mother.  Every deed silly, wise, smart, even naughty is funny and good.  All moms feel that all their children are at one-point champions.

Allow me to once more to dwell and bask in pride at Mattie's latest milestone.  To be honest, this is the one that urged me to write again (I hate writing!) as I simply felt that Mattie deserves all the praise he can get as this milestone is simply JUST AMAZING!  I want to shout it out to the world and tell everyone of his awesome accomplishment!

Let the video below speak for itself.  It will take 15 minutes of your time but I hope that you'll indulge me in watching it.  

P.S.  Please excuse mommy and teacher's "prideful" remarks.

Yes, Mattie is READING (sight reading to be exact)!  Yes, he just turned THREE years old.  No, I did not make any clues, codes, or marks in the cards that would help him guess or match the pictures correctly.  He was simply just reading the words (although not verbally) and matching the right pictures with the right words.  He was having a hard time with the fine motor part of connecting the puzzle pieces together, but almost perfected the reading part of matching the pictures with the words (30 words in all).  Also note that he was able to sit down, focus, and finish his task for fifteen straight minutes. Isn't that A-M-A-Z-I-N-G?  Mattie has special needs.  He has Down's syndrome, and just for that, this accomplishment tops the charts! (Click here to learn more about Down's syndrome).

A good friend once reminded me of God's love and goodness when she saw how Mattie was thriving and how he was developing and catching up with all his milestones.  She said: "God is good, isn't He?  He is our "Great Enabler". He gave us the strength, the wisdom, and the grace we need to be the parents we've always wanted to be for our children."  I did not pay much attention to her words at that time since I was still in the process of recovering from the bitterness of having a disabled child.

Another year has passed and now I am indeed amazed by how much Mattie has developed.  Yes there were hard times, times when we had to juggle one therapy after another, times when we had to assess the right balance between enough stimulation and over stimulation, and times when we felt like giving up since achieving the next milestone was just taking SO LONG, and seemed so IMPOSSIBLE. But, truly God is my Enabler!  He did carry me, Chris and Mattie thru. He showed us the way in which we could help Mattie be the way he is now.  He led us, provided for us, and gave us wisdom in giving what Mattie needs in ALL ASPECTS. He led us to the right therapists, to the right doctors, he provided for us financially, and even allowed me to become a full time mom to attend to Mattie's needs.  We indeed have an awesome God!  In Philippians 4:13, Paul says: “ I can do all things thru Christ who gives me strength.”  Yes, I claim this now; “I can do all things thru Christ who gives me strength!”

Mattie still has Down syndrome.  His disability will forever be there, it is part of him.  It is not like a disease or a virus that he could be healed from.  He will always strive and work extra hard to reach the next milestone, and may always lag behind versus typically developing children.  In John 9:2-7 Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him”

God did not take Mattie’s disability away.  In fact, God blessed Mattie, and my family with this disability to see His faithfulness, His provision, and His supremacy.  Because of Mattie, we rely on God day-by-day, moment-to-moment, and are forced to keep and strengthen our faith in Him.  Because of Mattie’s disability, Chris and I have come to know God in a real and loving way.  God has never failed us ever since.  God is good all the time; all the time God is good.  Truly the works of God are displayed in Mattie’s disability. 

I remember the first few days I was allowed to take a shower after my delivery.  The memory is so vivid since as you know, in the Chinese culture, mothers who have just given birth cannot take a bath for a month for risks of getting body pains or head trauma.  (I took a bath after 2 weeks … in secret, so you should know that taking a bath was a real luxury!)  There was a quiet voice in my head singing “This little light of mine, I gonna let it shine”.  I know now why that song was playing in my head.  Mattie’s light will definitely shine for Jesus. 

To God be the glory.

Mattie's Mom

The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven

"See that you do not look down on one of of these little ones.  

For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven."  

Matthew 18:10

Love at First Sign

Let me share with you this video of Mattie showing off his latest milestone: Signing!  Yes, you read it correctly SIGNING – not singing, SIGNING – as in sign language.  Mattie is now 1 year and 9 months.  To date he can sign 30 words (and counting!).  He can show me the sign for the word he knows with very minimal coaching.  He gets mixed up with some signs sometimes, like signing boat instead of book, or signing pray when I say play.  He also does not get to perfect the sign for words that are harder to sign since he still lacks the precise hand movements and finger dexterity.  But all in all I think he’s doing a splendid job.  I’m just so proud of my boy!

It was one of Mattie’s ninangs (godmother) who shared with me this set of videos called Baby Signing Time.  The video teaches babies to use sign language through colorful pictures, imagery and music.  It was love at first sign for Mattie.  You could see his face light up with delight as I play the video.  He would dance to the music, imitate the signs, and shriek and smile to his favorite scenes.  He would even ask me to play the video several times a day (He would rub his hands together signaling that he wants to watch “Baby Signing Time”!).

Knowing that Mattie may be speech delayed (babies with down syndrome are most likely to be speech delayed due to their hypotonic mouth and tongue muscles), I decided to introduce Mattie to the world of signs so that we could start communicating early on – even before he learns how to talk!  Through signs I can actually confirm that Mattie knows and understands a lot of words – something I won’t be able to realize if he were not signing since he does not know how to talk yet.  Through signs he can actually specifically show me what he wants!  He signs, “eat” when he’s hungry or when he wants a snack, he signs “cracker” when he wants his favorite rice puffs, “shoes” when I put on his sandals, and “grandpa” when he sees his Lolo.  

A growing body of research suggests that signing with your baby actually provides a myriad of benefits including early language and vocabulary development, reduced frustration and tantrums, and better communications skills.  I think sign language is a very powerful communication tool.  It certainly showed me that I have one very smart and amazing son! Who knows what more words he knows?  Maybe he understands so many words already but cannot sign and verbalize them yet.  I will encourage sign language as our primary form of communication in the meantime that he’s not talking yet.  As he gets better in talking later on, then I will slowly take away the signs and just stick to talking!     

What do you think about signing? 

Mattie’s Mom

Mattie's Ball Pool

Mattie does his physical therapies at home.  One of the disadvantages of doing therapy at home is our  house may not be fully equipped with toys or facilities necessary to aid Mattie improve his motor skills as compared to the therapy centers.  As such, I constantly think of ways to use available toys, furniture and other things to create obstacles for Mattie to use - to help him discover more about his different body parts and how to move them.

I read this really great idea from a blog on parenting and down syndrome at http://billandria.blogspot.com.  The writer of the blog suggested a very cost effective way of making your own ball pool  by filling a small inflatable swimming pool with a bag of 100 plastic balls!  Good thing Mattie received a small inflatable pool as a Christmas present!  Thus, I just had to buy a pack of 100 plastic balls from Toy Kingdom and made our very own ball pool!

Ball pools are great in helping Mattie build up his gross motor skills.  His therapist was ecstatic upon seeing our very own homemade ball pool!  She says it will help Mattie with his balance, reflexes, and stability.  It will also help him improve his body transitions and coordination as he figures how to go in and out of the ball pool by himself without bumping his head or falling on the floor.

 

Ball pools also help in refining fine motor skills as Mattie grabs and throws the balls in and out of the pool.  It also promotes sensory awareness as Mattie feels the 100 plastic balls surround and touch his body.

Mattie loves his ball pool.  He dives in and out of it everyday and throws all the balls out with a naughty grin.  We don't mind picking the balls up as it scatters all around the room.  What's important for now is Mattie is having a swell time playing not realizing that he's already working out muscles!




Mattie's Mom

Crawling and Tunnels

Mattie has become one very independent crawler.  Once he mastered the art of crawling, he began to explore and go to different areas of the room, checking out toys and other interesting objects.  I remember our doctor explicitly reminding us that Mattie needs to learn and be an expert at crawling before he learns to stand and walk.  Crawling teaches Mattie to use his stomach muscles and bend his knees, and these movements will prepare him for the proper way of walking.

To challenge Mattie's crawling abilities, I try to think of ways to make him crawl on more difficult or tricky areas like under a table and over pillows - chasing after him often work too. ;p  

Last April, Mattie received this really big gift for his birthday.  He was not quite ready to play with the big toy yet and so we kept it first - for use when he's a bit older.  The box that came with the toy though we could already use! It had just the right size that could fit and hide one small toddler!  Daddy and I thought that it would be perfect for Mattie's very own tunnel. 

 

Crawling in and out of tunnels can make it more challenging and exciting for a baby who just learned how to crawl.  I think it amazes them that they could actually fit and go through the mysterious box.  Mattie did not want to explore it a first - he was a bit hesitant to go in the small and dark hole.  But after a few prodding from mom and dad, he went in an began crawling in and out of the tunnel!

   

Aside form enhancing Mattie's crawling abilities, concepts such as going "in" and going "out" are introduced too.  It also introduces spatial awareness as he realizes that he can actually fit in the hole.

I wonder what the box could be used as next?  Maybe when Mattie gets a bit older and starts to role play and imagine, we could use the box as an airplane, or a small tent, or a space shuttle perhaps?  Any ideas?


Mattie's Mom

I Love Crackers!

Mommy said I hate using my hands.  When Mom gives me something to hold with my fingers, I always just toss them away and make them scatter all over.  Who could blame me when my fingers are so limp and droopy.  I have a hard time using them because I cannot control them properly and they feel as if they're asleep all the time!

One day, Mom gave me crackers to eat.  Instead of feeding me directly through my mouth, she placed it in my hand and encouraged me to feed myself!  It was hard and it's still is.  I dropped the cracker so many times before I finally got to bite it! But even though it was hard, I did not seem to mind since I love eating crackers so much! 

Mom said feeding myself is one big step to independence.  Eating crackers also helps me strengthen my hand and finger muscles!  It also challenges my problem solving abilities as I figure out how to move my fingers and hold the cracker as it gets smaller and smaller every time I bite into it.  Plus, it helps me improve my oral motor skills as lick, bite, chew, crunch, and feel the different textures scattered inside and around my mouth.  

Anybody want to have a cracker? 

Yum Yum!

Mattie


Note:  Please make sure that your babies are developmentally ready to handle these types of solid food.  A lot of times children with down syndrome take a longer time in developing oral motor skills - they may have difficulty in chewing, swallowing and may have sensory issues due to low muscle tone.  Also make sure that crackers or food you give to your babies are soft and will break into very small pieces in order to avoid any danger of choking.

Playing with Tissue Paper!

Mattie at 15 months, hates using his fingers to hold, pick up, or grasp things - especially when these things are small (no matter how attractive they are).  He refuses to use his hands to feed himself, nor does he like to hold his toys and play with them for a long time.  He usually just brushes all of them away with a swaying motion or grasps them and throws them away making them all drop and scatter everywhere.  Our OT tells us not to be worried as Mattie may still be in a stage where he's fascinated with the objects dropping or falling.  Our OT calls this "object permanence" or "cause and effect" where he's learning to see what happens if he let's go of the object, or if the object will continue to be there when he lets it go.  At the same time, Mattie at this stage is still developing his grasp, especially  his pincer grasp or his ability to pick up small objects (objects like raisins or peas).  While regular kids master this skill at around 9-12 months, Mattie will master this skill a little bit later.  I guess this has a lot to do with his low muscle tone.  With low muscle tone, fine motor skills such as skills using his hands and fingers are affected.  The development of Mattie's hand and finger muscles are delayed and they need to be strengthened as well.

With an effort to help Mattie enhance his hand skills, I try to give him some activities to encourage him to use his hands and fingers.  One of the activities which I think was a huge success was playing with tissue paper and pulling them out of the box!

For some reason, Mattie has this fascination with tissue paper.  Maybe it was the tissue's texture or maybe it was the awe of pulling something out of the box! Picture yourself in your baby's eyes, won't you think that it's like magic that something can come out of a box every time to tried to pull?  And so the never ending game of pulling tissue papers out of the box!  For Mattie, it was just fun and playing but for me, it was Mattie exercising his hand skills!

 

Learning how to hold things will enable Mattie to play and discover more about his surroundings.   Being able to grasp things is also his first step on the road to feeding himself! And guess what, as an added bonus, coincidentally Mattie learned how to feed himself with a cracker after a week of this tissue pulling exercise!  (See my next post: I Love Crackers!)


Mattie's Mom