The Making of the 5th Birthday Cake

The time has arrived to start working on Landon's Birthday Cake.  Wow!!  I can't believe that he is going to be 5 years old this year...Oh how the time flies by.  This year was another easy year to come up with a theme for his birthday:  Imagination Movers.  For those of you who don't know who they are, here is a quick link that tells you and little about who the movers are and what their show is like.  Landon LOVES to watch their show which includes singing, dancing, playing instruments, and NINA!!  Anyway, back to the birthday theme, The theme was easy but finding a cake idea to match was not as easy.  I finally found a cake I liked online, sorry to whoever make the cake: I can't find it again, that I thought was going to be easy to make and this is how it went:

I used a block to help me level each cake (That's what I have so that's what I use)

Travis made me a template so I could cut the cakes to look like gears

If I had been smart I would have stacked the two cakes together before cutting but I wasn't thinking that far in advance so I had to stack them and use the first cake as the template so that they would match up exactly.

Landon helped me make the icing

Icing the cake was the hardest part.  When I picked this cake I thought this would be no big deal.  Boy was I wrong.  This is the part that took the most time.  Trying to get the edges smooth was not fun.

This is the end product.  Warehouse mouse piped onto the top layer, and FYI, this was my first time ever piping ANYTHING!!  It was easier than I thought it was going to be.

I was overall pleased with the outcome.  There were a few things that bothered me such as you could see some of the "crumbs" through the icing but that comes from lack of experience and there was nothing I could do about it.  All that matter's:  Landon LOVED it!!  I could ask him, "What kind of cake do you have?" and he would say, "Movers."  I would ask him, "Who is on your cake?" and he would say, "Warehouse Mouse".  Isn't that what it's all about?

Car Camping

We finally did it.  We went, as Travis calls it, Car Camping.  Some friends of ours decided it would be great fun to have a multifamily camp out.  Now this was not your typical camp-out.

not a great picture but it's hard
to take a pic of a moving little boy at
wearing a head lamp!

There were about 15 families that came, it was in the back yard of Travis' Boss's family home (not where he lives but where he grew up) in the big town of Arvonia, VA.  This location meant that we had the benefit of having indoor plumbing, which is a big plus for me!  Because Travis is such a big Back Packer he never really considered it camping unless you had walked, a really long way, to your campsite.  Now that we have Landon I think that maybe he has changed his mind, a little bit, in certain circumstances. We started planning for this outing by making a trip to REI for suitable car camping items.  After much research, by Travis, we found the perfect items: tent, mattress pad, head lamp for Landon, and lantern.  Now we were ready!


The outing started with an inflatable bouncy.  Yea I know, that's a little odd for a campout but this outing was set up for families for little kids and it was great fun.  Landon jumped, ran, and flopped for hours.  I think Travis was more worn out by night fall than Landon was from jumping, running, and flopping with him!

Once it started getting dark it was time to watch a movie.  They had a huge blow up movie screen so we gathered around with camp chairs and blankets and watched 'Rio".  Watching a movie was a great idea because how do you keep up with  several young children in the dark?  The movie was a big hit and by the end Landon was barely awake and ready for bed.

Landon sleeping in the tent
 with "blankie" on his head.

Sleeping in the tent was a great adventue within its self.  Landon thought it was so fun to crawl into the tent with mom and dad and sleep, in the middle of course!

I wish that I had taken more pictures but we were having just to much fun to stop and grab the camera. 

Social Stories

A common "issue" with kids with Down Syndrome is stubbornness.  Yes, I know, all of you parents out there who have little ones are saying," all kids are stubborn" and that may be true but kids with DS tend to have a little extra punch.  This is not true for all kiddos but a lot.  Also, this stubbornness  is not always a bad thing but can be a bit frustrating.  Here lately we have been dealing with a little of the battle of the wills at our house.  Landon is really testing his boundaries and this is a lot easier to deal with at home compared to dealing with it while we are out or at therapy.

The two areas that have been VERY difficult have been during speech therapy and swim lessons.  After a little research I decided to try the idea of creating a social story.  Social stories were originally thought of for kids with autism but really work for any child who would benefit from expectations written out and read over in book form. I thought I would make a social story for speech first to see how it worked.  I took the camera to speech and took pictures of EVERYTHING.  Starting with what he does while I sign him in to what he does when we are done with speech.  IT WORKED!!!  I didn't really have high expectations but just thought it was worth a try, and like everything else we do with Landon, he proved me wrong.  Before I did the social story, when I told him we were going to speech he would say, "no, no, no" and during speech he wouldn't follow the schdule, wouldn't cooperate or do what was asked of him.  Since writing the book and reading it with him at least one day before and the day of speech, none of those things are true.  He has been obeying Ms. Lori and acting like he had been a few months ago.

Because the social story seemed to be working with speech I decided to try to make one for his swim lessons.  His teachers are college students and they were not very firm with him.  He was getting out of the pool several times and ignoring them when they would ask him to get back in.  He would say, "all done, all done" after not even really trying to do what they asked. so....I took the camera to swim lessons and took lots of pictures. Then the social story was created.  We read the story several times before swim lessons and guess what....the best behavior he has had since he started. :) 

Quincadence or not... I don't know but i really think they work.  I look forward to going to speech again and am thankful that he is finally showing his swim teachers what a good little boy he is.  It's amazing that something as simple as a story can change a situation.  I am very thankful.

World Down Syndrome Day (3/21)

Today is World Down Syndrome Day because the date is 3/21 (3 copies of the 21st chromosome).  In the years past this day has come and gone without much thought.  Not that celebrating Landon isn't important but I feel like it takes more than just a day.  More than just posing something on Facebook, or Tweeting, or wearing a shirt or button.  I feel like for people to really understand the positives of children and adults with Down syndrome they have to see them out in public doing what every other child and adult are doing.  They have to hear me say, as a parent, that I really love my child, that I wouldn't trade him for anything, that I feel blessed to have him and that he teaches me new things everyday.  People need to see that Down syndrome is not who Landon is, it's just one small aspect of what makes him special.  For some reason this year WDSD has been on my mind a lot more.  Not for the "awareness" reason but more for reflection.  I have just been thinking about Landon.

I was thinking about what I wanted to write in this blog and so many thought came to mind.  Sadness in the thought that 90% or more of unborn babies are aborted just because their parents get a diagnosis.  Sad that number may rise due to new medical technology.  Sad that not everyone gets to experience life watching a child with Down syndrome grow and develop whether that be via a child, grandchild, cousin, niece, nephew, or just close friend.  I have to tell you it is AMAZING.  Now notice I didn't say "easy", that it's not.  But I don't know any parent would tell you that it's easy! BUT I also thought of joy.  Joy in what the Bible says:

Psalm 139:13-16

For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful, 

I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you  when I was made in the secret place. 

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

your eyes saw my unformed body.

WOW!  Did you just read what God said about Landon in the Bible?  It says that he is WONDERFULLY made.  That God created his inmost being (including one extra chromosome).  I love to read those verses and think about how perfectly God made Landon.  Just the way HE wanted him.

Well,  that it.  Just a quick thought from a mom who loves her little boy more than anything.

Happy World Down Syndrome Day

Am I the only one?

There are times when I wonder if a mother of a typical developing child feels the same way I do.  I wonder if other moms notice when their child does some the seemingly smallest task.  I first began to think about this when Landon was working on sitting up.  I had no idea that there were so many steps to this task.  I just thought that one day you looked down at your precious little one and they were sitting.  That was not the case for us...it took lots of work and many weeks of physical therapy to accomplish this goal.  But let me tell you... when it happened, we cheered and clapped like no ones business.  Do moms of typical developing children even notice the first time they see this?  Do they throw a "party" and have a special dinner because of the accomplishment?  I don't know but I know what happened in this family!!

I say all of this to set up the occurrence at speech this week.  Landon has been working so hard on his speech the past 6 months.  He gets therapy at school and then we also take him to private speech at Kluge Children's Rehabilitation Center in Chartlottesville once a week for an hour.  Lately he has been working on saying "ing" verbs in a three word utterance with no prompting.  Ms. Lori, his therapist, shows him a picture and the goal is for Landon to say, for example, "The girl is running".  Many of the pictures he has seen and knows what the verb should be but needs help putting the whole sentence together so Ms. Lori helps him by using sign language.  Well, yesterday Ms. Lori showed him a picture that he had not seen before.  It was of a baby taking a bath.  Landon looked at the picture, immediately said, "Baby is..." and then there was a pause.  You could see the little wheels turning in his head as he was trying to find the right word.  He knew that the word should probably end in -ing which is why there was a pause but he couldn't come up with the right fit so he said "in bath tub".  You would have thought that he just recited the Gettysburg Address.  No, it wasn't exactly what we were trying for but it was so much more.  We clapped, cheered, gave high fives, and praised him. And then it happened.....I began to cry.  My little boy had just said, "Baby is...in bath tub"  all by himself, with no verbal or signed ques.  It was a moment that I will never for get...a moment that I wonder how many moms would have over looked?  I am so thankful that these "little" moments don't pass me by.  I am so thankful that my little boy's hard work pays off.  Honestly..... I'm just proud of him.

It's been a while

I hate that I have not blogged in such a long time but that's just how life is at the Kerr house. I do have some really fun pictures that I thought I would share.

First, Landon went to his first swim class, well O.K. it was just his evaluation but still he was in the water doing things with someone other than me!! The class is at Kluge Children's Rehab Center. He has 2 teachers that work with just him. There can be only up to 3 other children in the pool at the same time but they each have their own teachers. He will go each Friday afternoon. I really hope that this is something that Landon will like...we will see. Anyway....here are some pictures of the class. (look how small the pool is :)




Second, my mom and dad came for a nice visit. While they were here we had great weather so my dad helped, meaning "did it all", to clean up our back yard. It now looks a great play area instead of a wooded area. Thanks Dad!! Landon had a great time playing both inside and outside with his Granny and Papaw.





Things here are moving right along. Nothing overly excieting just the normal day to day stuff. I am looking forward to the warmer weather arriving and staying for a while. I am already trying to think about this summer and what I can do to to help Landon continue on his fast pace of learning...more on that to come.

Week 2 Home School

This has been kind of a crazy week. Week 2's Lesson Plans actually didn't end until today due to a little cold Landon had. I already that this coming week is going to be equally crazy due to doctor's appointments. But we will work it all out. First I would like to share with you a video of Landon's first Home school created book for this year. I put it together in a video. I hope you enjoy. ( I hope to add a clip of him signing the Bible verse but I'm just learning how to use this site to make the video's so it may take a few days.)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Here are some of my favorite pictures for our home school this week

matching numbers to the correct picture

"Reading" Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star with his pointer

the sun he made by painting a paper plate, gluing yellow triangles around the edge, and sprinkling glitter

Week 3 Lesson's will start with the alphabet and "math".  I will describe how I am working the math program and what book I am using in my first post about week 3. 

Week 1 days 2&3

School is going great...even though not as planned.  Landon has had a little cold and a VERY runny nose plus he went to school on Wen in addition to his normal days because it was picture day.  All of this has caused us to do Home school a little off schedule.  We actually did days 2 and 3 on Sat. and Sun.

Landon really seems to be enjoying our school time together.  He still loves using the pointer, I'll have to get a picture of that, and the "art" of learning.  He sits right down and does everything like we have been doing it for months.  He is such a good boy!

Some have asked why I haven't started with any alphabet activities.  Well,  I wanted to get into the grove of things first.  We will start alphabet activities on week 3.  Here are some pictures from the past couple of days.

Day 2 Creation Book

Day 3 Creation Book

writing practice on paint baggie

Woody needed some writing practice as well:)

I can't wait to show you the finished Creation Book.  I have taken up close pictures of each finished page and will post them all together at the end of the week.  Maybe the video of him saying/signing his Bible verse will accompany it.

We love you all and hope that you are enjoying the posts.  Our next visit to Knoxville is soon...The Buddy Walk is Oct 10.  I can't wait!!

Week 1 Lesson Plans

"Paul Daugherty 2009 Keynote Address"

A friend of my found this great Keynote Address made at the Remarkable Families Symposium.  Mr. Daugherty has a daughter with Down Syndrome.  His Keynote address was powerful and I wish everyone who teaches Landon could read this and really "get" what he is saying.  Please take the time to read:

Paul Daugherty 2009 Keynote Address

Home Preschool Week 1 Day 1

Today was so much fun.  It was our first day doing preschool at home.  Landon did great and really enjoyed the Nursery Rhyme, singing time, and most all of the activities especially when he got to use the pointer.

This week and next week we will be learning about how God created the earth.  Today was about day one which is the creation of the Day and Night.  During out ABC time we are going to start focusing on one letter per week in a couple of weeks but to get us started we are just doing some letter matching.  Because Landon already knows most of his letters we are going to use the letter of the week as a review and a spring board to do activities that will encourage reading, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, and speech.  The letter matching today was interesting to watch.  I helped him with the first two he drew from the mystery box by showing him where to place the letters.  When he did it by himself, you can see in the pictures,  he put the magnet letters on top of the printed letters.  That was fine but just interesting.  I can't wait to see what he does tomorrow.

Our Bible verse for the next couple of weeks will be Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth".  I taught him the signs today and it was so touching to see him working on it.  I am hoping that by the end of the week or at least by the end of next week he will have it down pat and I can video it to share.   Here are some of the pictures that I took while he was working on some of the activities.

making "Creation Booklet" day 1

gluing paper for his "Day and Night" collage

pulling letters from the mystery box for his letter match

Enjoying his "Day and Night" Oreo snack

Letter match

In case you missed my lesson plans for this week:  Week 1