Just RK

(Update: I've included the article...for those of you that had trouble earlier.) My long-lost buddy Mary sent me a link to an interesting article. Treadmill training helps Down syndrome babies walk earlier CHICAGO (AFP) - Treadmills can help infants with Down syndrome learn how to walk months earlier than traditional therapies, a new study has found. Parents of 30 babies with Down syndrome were asked to help their children walk on the treadmills for eight minutes a day, five days a week. They sat on a bench which straddled the machine and held their babies as the treadmill belt encouraged them to take steps. This exercise helped the babies learn to walk up to four or five months earlier than traditional physical therapy alone, the study found. More intensive training helped the babies to walk even sooner, the study found. The intensity of the training for half the babies was increased gradually after the infant could take 10, 20, and 30 steps per minute. The speed of the treadmill ...

I found this posted by Tom at Narrow Ridge . If you've never checked out his blog, it is SO worth a look. He talks of many things, including adorable Ian, his son with DS, and he has a perspective on such that always impresses me and makes me think. This clip is so encouraging to me. I can't wait til Braska tells me silly knock-knock jokes. That will be some fun day!

Today we bought a costume for Braska's first Halloween. It's not really a fave holiday of mine, but I like fall alot, and what's not to like about putting a little baby in a funny costume next to a pumpkin for a picture. Plus Halloween is Grandma C's birthday, so we celebrate the day for her really. Check back for pics from the FunFest at church on Wednesday night. (We're not even telling her Pop what she's going to be...it's a surprise!)

Tonight we went to a surprise party for our friend, Brent, but we missed the surprise. At least Braska and I did. But then we didn't know about it until like 5 minutes before then and it's a 15 minute drive. No harm though, and it was nice. Small gathering, interest-based group, as they all have MTG in common. I'm really just connected by marriage, so they let me come too. And who stole the show? Yep, that would be the tiny one . She seems to do that. I don't think Brent minded at all, as he's not a limelight kind of guy. And Braska had a peachy time watching her Pop play and banging on a very colorful table. It was a nice little party.

I have encountered plenty of people who ask "How old is she?" when Braska and I are out together here and there. They always guess her age about 5 months younger than she is, but that's ok, since that's what size she is. I have said several times that I can imagine it will bother me a bit more, although still not a huge deal, when she turns one next month and I see their reaction to that, as she still is in her car seat/carrier when we're in a restaurant or in a store since she doesn't sit up. Today, I met some friends for brunch. The waitress was a nice enough, very young girl, and she started cooing at Braska right away. That's nice. I don't mind, Braska likes the attention, and I'm proud of my cutie. The waitress asked her age, and I told her 11 months. She then said, "But she's not walking yet?" as she noticed that she was up to the table in her car seat/carrier. I just agreed and said, "Not yet." She said she h...

I got a visit and nice comment from Rylie's mom today on Braska Bear and wanted to let all the cool DS bloggers (should I say bloggers who have children with DS?) out there know about a new friend. Check out her three adorable little girls and say hello!

Previously on "The story..." Part 1 , Part 2 , and Part 3 if you'd like to catch up or refresh your memory... The continuing saga... I didn't know a whole lot about the testing that is "normally" done during pregnancy. They gave me a folder full of all kinds of brochures at my first appointment. I read everything, but it didn't really mean alot to me. My husband and I talked extremely briefly about it and determined that we'd do the blood work stuff and, of course, ultrasounds, but nothing more invasive than that. I'm a chicken when it comes to needles and such, so the blood work was more than invasive enough for me. Due largely to unrelated emotional stress during pregnancy, I lost quite a bit of weight in the first trimester. These issues combined to cause the dr to want to keep a close watch on the baby's size, so I had several ultrasounds early on. I also wasn't really eating--even though I didn't have morning sickness like many,...