Silly Sleeper

 No matter how I lay her down..., Weather she is awake or asleep..., Vada rolls and scoots until she gets into a position such as this one-with her legs hanging out. Im not for sure if it is a comfort thing to her or just a position where she is no longer able to easily move out of. Either way, this is commonly how I find her when I peek in at night or during naps. I think it is too cute..., just like her.

I Lied: Erupting Pt.2

Okay, so I didn't actually lie. What I said was getting a picture of Vada's new pearly white nub was not a battle worth fighting for because of her level of discomfort.

Turned out that she didn't quite mind me feeling around in her mouth.

Once I realized that I was in the clear I grabbed the camera and began trying to get a good picture. Unfortunately, what I did get isn't quite clear, but the little dot is visible enough to see there there is in fact a baby tooth peeking out.

Oh yeh, and it's not just this tooth bud that is showing. In the same area but on the opposite side there is another tooth popping through!

My Bike

I had the Retroglide for a total of two days before returning it to the store we purchased it from. It was a great bike and I like it even though I did return it. The cruiser was kind of a small glimpse into my inner personality. I liked it's look and the way the handle bars felt as I was..., well, cruising along.

The problem was that after we purchased the bike I became practical. The cruiser only had seven gears and it was a pretty heavy bike alone not to mention when hooked up with the Trailer. I rode it around our neighborhood the moment we brought it home even though it was a pretty cold day.  I realized with and with out the trailer attached, switching the gears made no difference. It wasn't getting any easier for me. I'm not saying that the cruiser is hard bike to ride, its not. It's just a different kind of bike than im used to. Not to mention I am pretty out of shape to begin with.

Justin called me Monday morning on his way home from work and said that he was going to go look at bikes for himself. This was my moment of truth. I was overwhelmed with nerves but I felt that I had to try and I told him about my concerns and asked if we could attempt to return the bike, or even exchange it. There was another bike that I found at the same store that I found the Retroglide at and I thought that it was a better purchase for me.

To make a long story a little bit shorter, we returned the Raleigh Retroglide and purchased another Raleigh, this one is a Venture 3.0. Its a great bike with twenty-one gears and a lot less weight to it. Plus, its pearl white, which is a choice color for me.

The guys at Healthy Habits were amazing. They helped Justin bring in the returning bike from his truck. They took the bike seat, the pedals and the grip handles from another bike and put them on this bike (because I thought that they looked better) and then tuned up the bike I now have. They were not rude or short because I had created more work for them to do they were a great group to do business with and I recommend them to any and everyone who are may be in the market of purchasing a bike.

We did not purchase the Burley Bee trailer because it was too expensive for our budget right now. Instead we settled on a nice option made from Instep. Yesterday, Justin put it together and we fitted the straps to Vada.

Today the weather was decent and Vada and I broke it all in. I cant imagine how I must have frustrated not only the guys at the bike shop but also Justin, but im glad that I spoke up. Without doubt this was a good choice for me.

Erupting: Vada's First Tooth

Over the past several months I have mentioned Vada and teething quite a lot. I have read, on many occasions and from many different resources that teething and Down syndrome may have its own set of rules. There are a multitude of possibilities that change and differ from one child to the next, Down syndrome aside. Typically, what I read about Down syndrome I keep in a memory vault that I have built somewhere in the back of my brain and I reference the knowledge when needed. On some occasions I use certain things as a baseline but over all I look at Vada as her own person who is not to be compared to anyone else. However, I do compare her and her sisters in very small ways. Again, these are my baselines.

With teething Jasmine and Kiliegh both cut the same teeth first, their lower incisors. Jasmine cut both her central left and right incisors with in an hour of each other. Kiliegh, I cant remember which came first but it was one of the lower central incisors as well and the second tooth followed suit with in a couple of days from the first one. Vada seemed to be pushing her lower right lateral through. I have checked that spot everyday because of its puffiness and at one time, months ago, I thought there was a little bud peeking out. However, today as I ran my finger across her bubbly wet gums I felt a hard spot somewhere else. Justin was here at the time and I asked him to run and get me a flash light. What I was feeling was hard to see but the flash light revealed what I thought, a pearly white dot surrounded by swollen pinkness. Vada's first tooth.

I found the below picture from this site. I have highlighted the area of where I think Vada's first tooth is. It has erupted in a very unlikely "first" spot (at least in my experience). As you can see, if that is in fact where her first tooth is then it would be way ahead of schedule. So, I am guessing that her first tooth is actually her right lateral incisor instead, which is in front of her canine.

I attempted to take a picture of that little white spot peeking out but it was a battle not worth fighting for. She is uncomfortable and i'm sure in some of pain as well, so I am not going to make it worse for my satisfaction of having a picture. Time will tell and then I will too. For now, I know that my baby girl is in fact teething and officially has her first tooth.

Junior Achivement-BizTown Monday

Today Jasmine had a field trip to our local Junior Achievement building where she (and all of the other fifth graders from her school) would be doing a simulation of what its like to have a job, pay bills and run a city. A City known as Biz Town. Jasmine has been extremely excited about this trip. Its all that she has talked about over the last several weeks.

We have known about the field trip for quite a while now. When the papers first started coming home with the information and volunteer requests I figured that it was something I could easily do. I had a couple of months and I assumed that Vada would be eating solids by the time the trip actually came around. Turns out I was wrong. She isn't eating solids and she is not drinking from bottle, sippy or regular cup so being a volunteer was going to be a difficult thing to do. To top things off I had missed the four hours of volunteer training. Needless to say, I was very, very nervous.

This morning, before I left I really wanted to come up with some sort of excuse as to why I could not go, but nothing would be justifiable. The thought of letting Jasmine down was making me feel incredibly guilty so I threw my worries aside and I went. Luckily, Justin was home and he was so easy going and understanding about the whole situation. Justin and I had decided that I would nurse Vada before he dropped me off at the JA building and then when she needed to nurse he would call my cell and bring her to me. I would then take my break, nurse her, then return back to Biz Town. It was more than we had planned for, but it would work.

 It turned out that he did end up bringing Vada, but it was so busy that Vada didn't want to nurse. I ended up talking with Jasmine's teacher and explained the situation to her. I asked if she was okay with Justin and Vada hanging around, just in case. Again, luckily, she was sweet as sugar and had no problems with them joining in. In fact, she gave Justin Biz Town cash that he used to help other businesses pay off their loans.

 Jasmine worked in the cafe where she served drinks and popcorn, cleaned and managed the money. She also had two paychecks that she deposited into her own Biz Town savings account. 

My store was the Variety Store which I helped three kids run. There was a CEO, CFO and a sales manager. My group sold items to pay off their business loan. For awhile it was a little sketchy and I was concerned that the loan would not be paid on time, but they really stepped up to the plate and not only paid off the loan on time, they made a profit!

 Biz Town was such a fun thing to do and experience. Each and every child had a place. They had a job and a purpose. Like in the adult "real world" they learned about responsibility. While it was all fun and games today, it was also a small glimpse into the future for them. What an amazing adventure they will all have.

I am so glad that I have such a supportive husband and such a great baby. I am grateful that Jasmine's teacher and the people who run JA Biz Town were understanding to our situation and allowed us to all be there. If it weren't for everyone's compassion I would not have been able to do this and I would always have the guilt of not following through on something that I had told Jasmine that I would do. I have missed so many school functions over the last two school years and I am thrilled that this was not one of them!

Spring Break

It's hard to think that the girls will be heading back to school tomorrow morning. Spring break came and went in the blink of an eye.

Our family did not do a whole lot during this break. We didn't go anywhere exotic or experience anything new.

However, everything that we did do, we did together and together is the best way to be!

We took a couple of trips to our neighborhood park when the weather permitted us to do so. In my opinion it was actually only warm two of the nine days of  Spring Break. On those days we tried to take advantage by actually being outdoors.

The days that weren't so warm I was inside with Vada. Jasmine and Kiliegh on the other hand were super troopers and refused to let a little cool breeze stop them from playing outside. I personally thought those moments deserved some hot cocoa.

On one of our trips to the grocery store we were able to find some really delicious strawberries. Which made it feel kind of like Spring was close. Kiliegh ended up made us desert one with them.

She even plated the deserts! Plating is something that Justin has taught the girls. He too, plates foods. I personally just try to keep my food from touching. Yes, I am one of those people.

I cant wait until the Farmer's Market comes around again. I am so excited for really good/fresh  fruits and vegetables. Well, as good as you can get from this area.

Jasmine had her hair cut this week. (Kiliegh's was last week.) Originally, Jazzy wanted a shoulder length "do". The picture was a girl who had many layers - an "emo" style of cut. Jasmine has thick, wavy, beautiful hair that she is not overly interested in "doing" so this particular cut that she had originally choose would have been a nightmare, mainly because unless she straightened or curled it everyday, it would have not looked like she wanted. I'm glad that she changed her mind, although I think she still wants a bigger change. I love her hair. Love it! However, I understand wanting a change. I so want to cut my hair off. I want it short, short, short... again, right now i'm too scared to do anything. I am however thinking of growing my bangs out again. I think that I like my hair the way it was more so than I like it now, with the bangs. Jasmine's hair cut was very subtle, but it turned out lovely and brought a healthy shine back into her locks.

Little Miss Vada is doing so well. She is growing and interacting more and more everyday. She smiles a lot and gets excited about all sorts of things. Another mother that I know had made a comment on not taking a smile for granted and I replied with how we have to work for Vada's. That work is a lot less now than compared to just a couple of weeks ago. She even giggles some. What it takes to make her laugh can not be described as merely work however,  but that's okay. Baby steps.

I realized this week, just how big Vada is getting. She dominates her boppy now! She's lost 6 ounces since the last weigh in, making her weigh around 18lbs-6oz.s. Her loosing weight is not necessarily a bad thing. She gained a lot of weight from being on ACTH and having Cushings. Currently she is maintaining a stable weight "baseline". She shows no signs of struggling in any way, so we are not concerned with the lose.

I still have to measure her length. I may be completely wrong, but I swear she is much longer than she was just a couple of weeks ago when she received her vaccination. Every time I think to do it the timing is wrong. Take this moment for an example. Eventually I will get to it and then I will give a length update on her. 

She had a feeding therapist come this week to evaluate her eating situation, which besides nursing is non-existent. This chick gums all sorts of foods and she will even open her mouth and act as if she is planning on eating but she typically spits everything out. So now we are working on her finding her inner mouth and it's boundaries. Gagging is a good thing in Vada's situation, it teaches her just how far things can go in her mouth before something happens. So,with the advice of the therapist we are now giving her whole carrots that she can gum and play with. It seems to help relieve some of the discomfort that she is in from teething. Plus, she seems to like the taste of it too. Sometimes I dip it in yogurt for flavor.

So that was a little taste of our past week. It was nice and over all relaxing. The girls are going back to school and to their typical routines and I will too. It's amazing how behind on my normal daily things that I get when they are home all day. I will have to find a good balance for this summer. For now, ill just get caught up and then figure out the rest when the time comes.

My Retroglide

Today my sweet, sweet husband woke me up with an excitement in his whole being that is commonly only seen in a child on Christmas morning. He has been researching all kinds of bikes on line and this morning he was excited to see what we could find locally. We packed up the car at nine, went to five stores and by noon we had found my bike.

It's the Raleigh Retroglide 7.

It turns out that the Raleigh I had posted on a previous post was not only a males bike but a new model that has not yet been released and there was no release date given.

Justin and I came into Healthy Habits and after looking around and not finding what we were looking I showed some pictures of the bikes that I was interested in. The owner disappeared into his storage and came back only minutes later with three very cool and very retro-like bikes. Mine, this Retroglide, was one of them.

It's so fun! We slapped a nice wired basket on it and it was perfect for me. The only thing I need now is to find a trailer to attatch to it so Miss V can ride along with me.

Getting Ready to Ride

Last Summer Jasmine took over my bike. Her's had a flat tire not once but twice with in a weeks span and was already a bit too small for her. Since I was unable to ride mine with Vada, I just let her have it.

This year, however, I want to ride! So, I told Justin that I wanted a bike. I told him what I wanted and he began to research different brands and similar styles to what I had originally said, a beach cruiser.

Since I will need to be toting Vada with me it needs to be a bike with multiple speeds. We have been told by some bike experts that anything below a 7 speed just wont do. Another thing that was brought to our attention is that the bike seats are not a safe choice. Babies tend to fall asleep with the motion and then "flop" all over. Plus, if I were to ever fall over or get hit Vada would be the one who would take the majority of the impact. Can you imagine? I can't, it makes me sick. The safest thing I suppose would to just not ride a bike with a baby, period, but then you cant live your life fully sheltered either.

We have narrowed the bike choices down to these five. The first and second are in the run and I am having the hardest time choosing! Justin made sure that these would do for what I plan on doing with them... casual riding with some extra "luggage" and then he showed them to me, along with about a hundred others!

The Raleigh Retroglide 7 in Steel and Green

The Trek Pure Low Step in Cream Yellow

The Giant in Suede Black

The Giant in Pearl White (the same as above, just in a different color)

The Schwinn Midmoor in white

Again, the first two are my favorites and I am really leaning towards the first one. Yes, I will also have a basket on the front. How could I not?

We have been searching for trailers that would attach to the bike for Vada.  I want the trailer to look good with the bike as well as be the safest choice for Vada. So far, this is my favorite one... only  it's pretty expensive. Too expensive and I want to find one that's more affordable without cheapening it up and risking safety or it's comfortableness. 

The Burley Honey Bee Bike Trailer

Here's where you can help. I would really appreciate your input. Do you have experience with bike trailers? I personally, have never used one with Jasmine or with Kiliegh. In fact, I didn't ride with them at all.

I need a trailer that has a five point harness, for extra support in case Vada does fall asleep. We need to really protect her neck until we find out if she has atlantoaxial subluxation (AAI), which may be quite awhile until anything has been established in that regards. Plus, I really don't want her to fall asleep and not notice that she is having her own mosh session behind me. That would be bad!

Shay Day Email

I received this email recently and thought that I could possibly share it with more people by re-posting it here verse emailing it to my list. It's a touching story. If only more people were like the boys on these teams. We all could learn a lot from them and from this story.

Two Choices

What would you do?....you make the choice. Don't look for a punch line, there isn't one. Read it anyway. My question is: Would you have made the same choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its

dedicated staff, he offered a question:

'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection.

Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do.

Where is the natural order of things in my son?'

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.'

Then he told the following story:

Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?' I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, 'We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.'

Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart. The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.

In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again..

Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

At this juncture, do the others let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the

plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact.

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.

The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay.

As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over.

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.

Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates.

Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first!

Run to first!'

Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base.

He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!'

Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.

By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball. The smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.

He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.

Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay'

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, 'Run to third!

Shay, run to third!'

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home! Run home!'

Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team

'That day', said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, 'the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world'.

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day !

AND NOW A LITTLE FOOT NOTE TO THIS STORY:

We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people hesitate.

The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.

If you're thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you're probably sorting out the people in your address book who aren't the 'appropriate' ones to receive this type of message Well, the person who sent you this believes that we all can make a difference.

We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the 'natural order of things.'

So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice:

Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.

You now have two choices:

1. Delete

2. Forward

May your day, be a Shay Day.

{3.21}

Today is not only March 21 it is also World Down Syndrome Awareness Day.

I like how the numbers of today's event coincide with the numbers used to identify and describe Trisomy21. I think it's kind of clever.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with what Down syndrome is here is a brief breakdown. Trisomy21 is the most common form out of the three types (Four, if you consider the duplication of a portion to be its own separate type- I personally am not 100% for sure on how that's looked at.) and it is identified by having three of the twenty first chromosomes. A person who does not have Down syndrome only has only two. After T21 there's Translocation and then the least common type of Down syndrome is Mosaicism.

Below is a photo that I took of Vada's Karyotypes. Her's is a bit deceiving because to the untrained eye it looks as if she has only two of the twenty-first chromosome.

However, Miss Vada has Translocation Down syndrome. Approximately 3 to 4% of babies who are born having Down syndrome have this type. Translocation differs in the chromosomal structure when compared to T21. Typically, with Translocation, a piece of the twenty first chromosome breaks off and then attaches itself to another chromosome, often the fourteenth chromosome.

Vada's Translocation "layout" is a bit more unique in the sense that her extra piece did not attach to its more commonly known spot. Instead it flopped on over to the top of her second twenty first chromosome.  Do you see how there are two "lines? The first one has one "dot". The second line has two "dots". That second "dot", the one on the top, well, that's V's third-twenty-first. (The picture is a bit blurry, I took it with the camera on my cell phone and then I enlarged it, but you can still see what I am referring to.)

All of this, the stuff up above, it's only a diagnosis. It's not who our daughter is. It's just something that she has. She was made in God's image and he did a fantastic job, I feel sorry for those who cant see that. Everyday, I thank God for Vada as well as the rest of my family. I have heard from many that God gives these "special" children to "special" families. Each time that I hear this, I think to my self two things..., All children are special and then I wonder why he picks some of the most evil of families to give these "special" children to? It is a question I will have to wait for the answer to, one that I will try to remember when my time finally comes to meet our Lord. Until then, I will just thank him for giving Vada to us and not to a family who wouldn't love her.

Today, for National Down Syndrome Awareness Day, I want to share two videos with you, but first you should scroll to the bottom of the blog page and pause the music that I have automatically playing.

This beautifully crafted video was done by the International Down Syndrome Coalition for Life. I love their motto "Advocating in the womb and in the room!" This particular video was done to help promote today's efforts in spreading awareness about Down syndrome. I am proud to say that Miss Vada appears in it three times-thanks IDSC! You'll see her at 55 seconds, 1 minute and 33 seconds and then again at 2 minutes and 22 seconds.



Before Vada came into my world, I knew very little about Down syndrome. I have very little recognition of seeing anyone who had Down syndrome, including through pictures. Please, watch this video, open up your mind and change the way you see beauty. This video was created to make a difference, let it do just that.

This next video was done by a mother of a young girl who also happens to have Down syndrome. It too is a beautiful video. With this video you are given the opportunity to give your vote. While raising awareness is not a  popularity contest (and never should be), this mother undoubtedly deserves her video to be recognized. Please give her your vote.

Seven Stitches and A New Way of Thinking

My husband, Justin, called me tonight on his way home from work. It is a fairly common thing for him to do and it is a call that I look forward to each and every time.

We exchanged our "Hello's" and "How are you's" as usual and then he told me how he was escorted to the Emergency room  from work, in a ambulance, today. I waited for the punch line, but it never came.

It took me a second to snap out of the shock that his words had momentarily placed me in. Once I could conjure up a breath of air (apparently I have a tendency to hold my breath when I am upset), I began trying to figure out what today's date was. My thought process had brought me to the conclusion that he must be joking. Was it that close to April Fools Day to "justify" a joke like this? No, it was still a couple off weeks off... but surly, if he were telling the truth he would have called me when the accident had happened..., Right?

After assuring me that he was in fact telling me the truth Justin then began to explain why he hadn't called me.  Basically, he thought that I would bring Vada to the hospital with me if I couldn't find someone to come sit with her while I went. He didn't want to have her exposed to sicknesses when it was something that we could prevent. I understood his explanation. He was probably correct, I more than likely would have brought Vada with me -if I needed to- to be with him. At this point I was mad. I was mad that he never called. I was mad that he took my choice and opportunity to be with him away and in a very child like manner, I hung up on him.

There was a thirty second period before my phone rang again. He was calling me back. As I was looking at his face in the picture that I had saved to my phone I realized what was actually bothering me. It wasn't anger that I was experiencing. It was one of my greatest fears presenting itself- loosing him.

To make more sense, I have to go back about three years ago.This was about the time when Justin started working for SSAB, his current employer. Prior to starting this job he was working as an electrician. He had been hired into SSAB,  through the electrical company as a temp. He had been hired on to do some sort of safety "like" inspections, due to an accident that had caused the death of another SSAB's worker.

Justin had been at SSAB for about a month working as a temp, before he was hired on as a full time employee and he has been there ever since. Up until today he has come home with bruises and minor scrapes, but no real injuries. Today however, he had cut open his thigh and needed to have stitches. Once he was treated and discharged from the hospital he just went back to work as if nothing had happened.

All of this information was given to me with in a minute. It was hard for me to process. I didn't know what to do or what to say. I had gone through a short list of emotions which Justin had the "pleasure" of experiencing. Eventually, I was able to take a breath and experience for myself the real feeling behind my fears. I was relieved now, that realistically, he was okay and I was grateful that nothing more had happened.

When Justin pulled into our drive way I went outside to greet him. Tears still in my eyes, I hugged him and said a silent prayer of thanks. Its moments like this one, that stops you in your tracks and makes you realize what you have and how quickly those very things can be lost.

With everything that happens in our busy lives we often forget to be grateful for the gifts that God has given to us. We often want more of something, or like me, we want to make a difference in someone else's life, so much so,  that we neglect what it is that we do have. Today, was a reminder to keep my eyes and my heart focused on my family. By being a good wife and mother,  I am in all actuality doing what I seek to do. I am making a difference in someone else's lives, theirs.

While, I am not overly thrilled that it took Justin being injured to snap me back into my place, I am grateful for the lessons that I have learned today.

Checked Off

This afternoon Jasmine plopped into the living room chair next to me. She was bored and was announcing her boredom through a huge sigh. She had brought one of her drawing pads and a Ticonderoga number two pencil - Justin's favorite kind of pencils.She began drawing in circles with no real plans of anything in particular, you could tell. Periodically she would glance down at Vada who was sitting on the living room floor, not far from us, playing quietly with her not so quiet toys. After silently watching Jasmine for a moment I got back into my weekly meal planning.

You know how there are moments when you feel as if your being watched? Well, I was having one of those moments, so I looked back up from my writing. Jasmine was staring at me with a question that clearly needed to be asked. "Mama", she said, "Can I see if Vada wants to learn how to draw?" I kind of giggle inside at her question. I have noticed that as she gets older those cute, child like moments become fewer and far between when compared to what they once were.

I know very well, that Vada is not old enough to draw, let alone hold a pencil in her tiny hand. However, I figured that if I were standing right there with the two girls that no harm would come of it.

Vada seemed to be very interested in what was happening. She allowed Jasmine to hold her own hand with the pencil and she seemed content with her big sister guiding them both together around and over the paper. It was quite a sweet experience to watch, until, we had decided that enough was enough and I began to lift Vada off of Jasmine's lap. That's when the baby attitude kicked in and Vada began to protest. In her determination to continue with what she had been doing she flailed her hands around causing a finger to slip over a side of the paper. Which created her very first paper cut and momentarily traumatized Jasmine who instantly blamed herself for the tiny red trickle that had begun to to flow from the tip of Vada's finger.

It took a second to reassure Jasmine that little cut on Vada's finger was not her fault and once she realized that everything was "okay" you could see that she had begun to relax again.I think however, that drawing with Vada can now be checked off of the sisterly "To Do List" and will be something reserved for when she is a bit older.