Jul 27 2008

Take 10 summer photos

Big Picture Scrapbooking offers a free class once more. It is called Getting Started: 10 Summer Photos To Take Right NOW!

It is not a big thing, but just some inspiration in form of an audio message and a handout. Quite good to get your summer photography up and running.

***

Our garden is a paradise for weeds, but, nevertheless, we do get some stuff out of it. How we manage I have no idea, I don’t think we do anything the way a gardener should, but the result is what counts.


Jun 29 2008

Bouncy castle in action

The bouncy castle  was a roaring success today. Corin was totally excited when we blew it up and he and Sean had a blast with it.

It is rather small – that is probably why it was so inexpensive – but it is big enough for our two boys. They loved it.

***

I can say I’m officially addicted to creating bag inserts, LOL. I don’t know when I will ever use them all, soon I’ll probably have to exchange them every day to give each one a chance, but it is fun.

This is one of the last batch. Actually I meant to get it printed on canvas, but somehow that didn’t turn out the way I wanted it, so I changed it to fit the bag. It is a blatant scraplift from a paper page by Ali Edwards, shown in her Life Artist book. I just liked the looks of it so much that I basically recreated it digitally. Not that anybody around here will ever notice. Probaly the people in my area who know who AE is can be counted with 2 fingers.

Credits Background paper: mine, floral brush: Jason Gaylor, sloppy snippet: Emily Farnworth, alpha: Gina Cabrera.

The next inserts are already under contruction. I now moved to poetry, but I’m swapping back and forth between that and quotes.


Jun 27 2008

A little update

Just to keep everybody updated on our activities. I’m not very active at the moment due to all sorts of reasons.

Sean and Corin are having lots of fun in the garden. We bought them a little slide – actually too small for Corin, but he’s enjoying it nevertheless. Sean is having a blast, too.

 

And as a surprise John ordered a small bouncy castle for them. It was extremely inexpensive, I hope it’s going to be an ok quality. They both love bouncy castles as you can see on this picture. I took it at the Maybock Fest some time ago. Sean was the youngest on it and everybody was dead sweet to him.

 

The garden is coming along nicely, especially if you are a weed lover. God, I never knew how overpowering weeds can be. It’s like being Sisyphus – a fate I never thought I’d have to suffer. There are some flowers to be seen though – if they can make their way through the weeds, that is.

Yesterday we saw a hare (or rabbit, no idea) in our backyard. It sat there for hours and Corin watched it nonstop. Then he had the awesome idea to throw some carrots down. First the hare/rabbit didn’t show any reaction at all. I assumed that the tale that rabbits like carrots wasn’t true after all, but eventually it finally jumped towards it and nibbled away. So cute!

And finally: I created a few more bag inserts. They are already on their way to me, can’t wait to see them. One of them is for a friend of mine who saw my first insert and wanted one, too. So I made her one for her official stuff bag for the oncoming Sand Spirit 2008.

Here is one I made for myself – totally different style from the first one:

Credits: Papers: Jen Wilson; Brush: Jason Gaylor; Dead end street sign photo: Stock Exchange, jnichols; Fonts: Totenkopf, Steak, Ambulance Shotgun

 Love that quote!

 


May 15 2008

Bayreuth

No, I am not talking about the early musical education of Corin (even though Joachim Witt is on my list as "still to be introduced") but of the town of Bayreuth. We went there today to visit the "Urweltmuseum" (prehistoric world museum)  with – you guessed it – lots of dinosaurs – and a few dragons thrown in for good measure. The female attendants there do their employer every justice, they were real dragons, too (in German we call those old hags with no sense of humor and loads of bloody mindedness just that). Anyway, Corin had a lot of fun and we had a short look around Bayreuth, too. A lovely town, never would have thought it was so pretty. We didn’t bother to go and have a look at the "Schauspielhaus" where the Wagner  festival is being held each year. Maybe next time.

As far as Corin’s tast in music goes now, when asked what’s his favorite song  he’ll say "Du riechst so gut" by Rammstein. LOL, good boy, hopefully the topic will never come up in kindergarten though.

Sean slept last night from 6 pm to 5.30 am, that was something new to us. I think that makes it three days at most that he slept through in 2 1/2 years. Am I in luck and he has got it? We’ll see.

Just for my own entertainment here is another live clip from Rammstein:

 


May 3 2008

Ox on a spit

We had a fun day today. Admittedly, for the said ox it can’t have been fun at all, but everybody else was enjoying himself. Our daily paper has the best tips on what to do on weekends. For this weekend they suggested (among others) to visit the abbey Plankstetten not too far from here for the annual "Maibockfest" (May bock beer festival). Abbey shop, kids’ program, roast ox and all – what else do you want? So off we went and everybody had a fun time.

Of course we had some roast ox, Corin had fun in the bouncy castle and Sean likewise. First he was in his pram for some lunch, but after a while he wanted to get out and off he ran towards the bouncy castle. It was the first time he was in/on one and he thoroughly enjoyed it. He was bouncing up and down and rolling about – it was such fun watching him. He was the youngest kid in it, but everybody made sure he was ok. At one point he rolled down and just ran off in his socks, everybody thought he was the cutest – and of course he is.

I listened in to one of the conversations between Corin and another boy. The boy asked Sean whether he can speak already (which he can’t), so Corins says "No, he can’t. Leave my brother alone, little boy!". So the boy goes: "I’m not a little boy, I’m 4 already." So Corin goes: "I am 4, too", and there it was, the eternal argument about who is bigger, stronger, older, better – even the 4-year-olds already have it in them.

The abbey shop was fabulous. They sold vegetable plants and all sorts of organic food and drinks. Since my plan to grow zucchini from their seeds hasn’t succeeded so far we bought one zucchini plant and one Hokkaido bumpkin plant. I said to John that when we get home and check the zucchini there are probably a few coming up now – and guess what? There are 5 of those little buggers showing up through the soil, LOL. Figures! No idea what to do with all of them now. We can’t possibly plant 6 zucchini plants in the garden, they’d cover the whole area and later on I’d have to press my friends to take some of my zucchini until they are friends no more .

Here are a few pictures:

Here is the ox. Those people are no scrapbookers, they laughed about me taking the picture.

 

And the bouncy castle.


Apr 25 2008

I DO get stuff done

Ha, you thought I’m not getting anything done anymore. Wrong! I do get stuff done – some. I’m still working on lesson4 of the class, and it’s Friday already. Unbelievable how slow I am. I finished a number of pages for my Cre8ive album. All in all I have 20 pages now, am not sure how many will follow. I have to find a cheap way to have them bound into a little book. Shutterfly has a 4×4 brag book option, but the shipping is incredible expensive for such a small item, so I’ll give it a pass.

Here are 4 more pages of the album:

Credits: Papers and flower epoxy all by Jen Wilson – from various kits from the Spring Collection; staple: Ida; grunge overlay: DaniB; swirly overlay: Rhonna Farrer; Heart template: Jessica Bolton; antique notepaper: Meredith Fenwick; Fonts: Typenoksidi, The King and Queen

 ***

I’m trying to turn Corin into a proper music fan. Recently he started saying he was a robot, so I taught him to sing "Wir sind dir Roboter" by Kraftwerk – a good old German tune from 1978. so he’s always running around going "wir sind die Roboter, tam tam tam tam…" Too cute. Today I had a look on you tube and found this:

 

I made him watch it and he really liked it. Good boy. Then I discovered something else: The Pooh version of "Ich will" by Rammstein. Rammstein are German rock at its best and a Pooh version is the perfect start for a four year old.

 

So, on the headphones. He wouldn’t give them back to me again and was dancing to it. I taught him what song it was and by whom. Now he’s probaly telling the kindergarten people on Monday that he was listening to "Lammstein" (he can’t say "r"), which will shatter my reputation with them forever. All in a good cause though. I don’t want him to fall for some shallow boy group pop, do I?

 


Apr 20 2008

Playdate

Corin went on his first playdate on his own on Thursday. I was pretty reluctant to let him go, since I’m a protective mom and I’m always afraid something might happen to him. But what could have happened really? He was picked up from kindergarten together with his friend by his friend’s mom, they live right opposite and he stayed there until John picked him up. So, no real risk here. However, on Monday Lisa, his friend, hit him on the head with a plastic bowling pin, LOL. He complained about her thoroughly, what he failed to mention was that he had threatend her with the same pin until she got tired of it, grabbed it and belted him with it. So, possibly, the result of the playdate could have been some bruises. All went well, though. He was very "brav" (good), even though Lisa obviously wasn’t. But since her mom had to deal with it, it wasn’t my problem. According to Corin she stood on the kitchen table up to some mischief, but "I was good". He had noodles over there and came back all happy and wanted to go there again right away.

First playdate = success!


Apr 6 2008

Once more

Sean has gotten around to use another sign. He sometimes uses others that look vaguely familiar, he obviously creates his own signs based on the ones we use. But the only two he definitely uses regularly are the one for bathing and the new "once more" sign. He especially loves to use it when we are playing "Hoppe Reiter" and "Hopp, hopp, hopp". Now I’m playing those games with him 20 times in a row because I haven’t got the heart to stop after he made that cute sign, .

***

My newest layout in the Digi: in deep class is a dino-page. We had to scrap something that is very important to us and make a photo in Makro mode without flash. I chose to scrap something that has a huge impact on my life at the moment, even though I couldn’t care less about it, LOL. I love how the picture turned out. Don’t they look like they have a lot of fun?!

Credits: Lomo action from atncentral; Papers, stamps: Meredith Fenwick – Technotrash; String: Dianne Rigdon; Paintbrush: Meredith Fenwick – Everyday Inspiration; Fonts: Black boys on mopeds, Caveman

If anybody is wondering about whether to take Jessica’s class next time it is offered, do it! It is awesome, you get so many things done and learn so many tricks. Yesterday I was very disapointed when I checked my mail in the morning and my daily Jessica fix hadn’t arrived yet, LOL. It came a bit later though and everything was good again…..That’s what she does to you…..


Feb 26 2008

First sign

You mas ask, first sign of what? Actually it’s the first sign of communicating with something other than pointing. We are trying to use more signs with Sean now and have introduced several, all in all seven or eight. Some of them are so easy and self-explanatory that you wouldn’t even consider them signs, since everybody uses them anyway. Like for "stop" or "come" or "ball". Sean was sick today and John gave him a bath while I was gone. When I dressed him for bed this evening I asked him "Did you get a bath today?" and made the sign for "bathing". And guess what! He made the sign for bathing, too. Over and over again and thought he was extremely clever, which HE IS. I was so proud of him and praised him so much, which made him even prouder of himself, until we got into a whirl of praise and pride, LOL. He is such a smart little lad.


Jan 31 2008

Update

*Speech*

Today we went with Sean to a new therapist. Our ped had recommended to go to a speech therapist who also knows Castillo Morales therapy. Luckily we found one who could have a look at him right away. Obviously there are only a handful of them around in our area. So from next week on, John will take Sean there once a week. Sean doesn’t speak yet – even though he can make himself understood very well by pointing and gesturing – and he is a bit on the lazy side when it comes to chewing stuff. I’m sure he’ll make good progress with that therapy.

*Thud*

Corin played Thud with us tonight. Not that he knows ANYTHING about that game, but who cares about rules if you can make them up as you go along. He put the figues out in some way and off we went. You usually don’t play it with dice, but we did anyway. As dice we used two cubes from a Winnie the Pooh puzzle, you know the ones with images on all sides and you can make like six different puzzles (I never manage them). So we throw the dice and then Corin would tell us how many steps our markers could take, based on some secret code that only he knew.

All of a sudden he makes a move and grabs a second little marker (I call them peasants, but they are dwarfs). Why? Because if there is a cake on the die you may take a peasant. Right. The next few throws no more cake in sight, so we just decided that if you get half a face of Tigger and two feet of Winnie you may take a peasant as well. It is quite nice to actually play a game without any rules, apart from the ones your 4 year old makes up. Of course if you step out of line and move your ape (aka troll) against Corin’s wishes you are in trouble. It’s like playing chess with a madman – very refreshing, as long as the madman is fairly harmless and all you need to fear is an angry scream.

*Journal revolution*

A new month – a new book. Of course I postponed the ordering of the new book for the Reading Room for so long that now I can’t get it in time any longer from amazon.de. had to order it from co.uk, but still have to wait for a week or so. So I’ll be a bit behind this month. But it is no novel, so I should be ok. It is Journal Revolution, obviously very inspiring in terms of journaling of any kind. Can’t wait to have a look. The longer I scrap the more important journaling becomes to me.


Jan 28 2008

Almost done

Januaray is almost over and apart from one day I kept my resolution and created a layout each day. Today’s is one of my favourites, even though it is very simple. Corin and I went to the cinema on the weekend. It was the first time for him and that certainly deserved a special page.

I used the template I created for the February ad challenge at PDP. Paper is from Tracy Ann, the filmstrip brush is from my mixed brushes basics set and fonts are Myriad and Times New Roman.

 

The question about Sean’s future kindergarten has come up some time ago. We will probably have a spot at our regular kindergarten which Corin goes to as well. There is also a kindergarten with two spots for handicapped kids in our vicinity and they obviously would take him, too. I really have no clue what to do. I think he will cope in the regular kindergarten, he would get a therapist to come there and work with him regularly and he would be with Corin for a year. The other kindergarten hasn’t got that much smaller groups and is more expensive. They might have more experience with handicapped kids, but our kindergarten is very motivated, yet unexperienced.  I spoke to therapists, our ped, but nobody can really tell us what will be the best thing. I suppose it’s trial and error here. Hopefully we’ll do the right thing, and if we haven’t done it, hopefully we will realize it soon and be able to rectify it.

 


Jan 24 2008

The sweetest picture ever

But then I have so many sweetest pictures ever, that I’m getting a bit unreliable. Just have a look at it yourself:


Jan 7 2008

Back to normal

Today normal life has started again. And it came back with a vengeance. Not only did I have to go back to work, but today was the first day of my almost full-time job. From now on it’s 30 hours a week spread over 4 days. So at least I will have a three day weekend, which is nice. It was quite hard though to get up and leave the house while it was still almost dark.

I’m reading A thousand splendid suns at the moment. It’s the first book for the Reading Room at BPS. And what a great book it is. The story is so captivating, you just can’t stop reading. I highly recommend it to everybody. Can’t wait to see what happens next.

My layout for today is finished as well.

Credits: BG paper: Jen Wilson; Frame, stars: Tracy Ann; Acrylic pocket: Michelle Coleman; Fibers: Kathy Moore, Meredith Fenwick; Bundles up tag: Jen Wilson
Ribbon tabs: Anita Stergiou; Font: Birch

I’m not going to go into my sewing project. Obviously I’m not smart enough to tackle a sewing machine. I’ll let you know if I have good news :-) .


Dec 29 2007

My year in review page for Sean

This year I was much faster with my year in review pages about Corin and Sean. For 2006 I did them some time this year and will add them to my 2007 yearbook, but this year I’m up to date. I still can’t belive how fast they grow and how much they change over the course of one year.

Credits: template: mine; everything: Tracy Ann, except: dotted borders and square border mine; Font: SP you’ve got mail

*** Quiz ***

And now on to a little quiz: What does that look mean?

It is pure greed. The stare on above picture is going to Corin who got himself some salty sticks. You wouldn’t believe how greedy that little person is.

As soon as someone has something edible in his/her hands, he’s there – staring at you until you share it. As soon as someone is getting up from his/her chair, he’s up following you – hopefully into the kitchen to grab a snack. As soon as someone accidentally leaves the kitchen door open, he’s in there – no matter where he was before, it only takes him a second – to climb on a chair, onto the table and grab the Zwieback (something a bit similar to rusk) or the rice crackers. By rights he should be a right butterball, but he isn’t. I assume it is because of all the physical effort he goes through in order to procure food. And before you ask: we do feed him his regular meals, I’m strictly talking about in between snacks.


Dec 26 2007

Update

I decided to move my German blog over to this one, so in the future I’ll only use this blog for everything. Not only digi scrapping anymore, but all sorts of stuff.

 

*** Gifts ***

First of all, Kat, if you see this, thanks a lot for the awesome gifts. Your book was such a success, in fact, so much so, that it is already ripped (I consider that a sign of appreciation). Thank God, I’m watching Barney a lot, so I knew most of the songs and could sing along. In the background you can see the trainset. I think we will use it as a take along item when we go out. It can be easily packed away and put up quickly.

 

*** Meals ***

Today we had a traditional English Christmas meal. I’m so stuffed, I feel like the turkey must have felt this morning. John coooked it all and he did a fabulous job.

 

*** TV Shows ***

Corin got a DVD with the first season of Bob the Builder. By now I’m already totally sick of it, even though I really like Bob and his buddies. Have you ever wondered about the relationship between Bob and Wendy? What are they? Today I saw the episode where they won the dancing contest, and if that wasn’t a very awkward "Am I going to kiss her now?" scene at the end, I don’t know what is. I can’t stand unresolved sitations like this. Are Bob and Wendy ever going to be a couple? Or are they staying friends forever, both wishing something more would evolve? Why on earth didn’t the creators just make them husband and wife from the start? That would have resolved everything. No romance necessary, but it would be clear they are a couple.
You can see already that my life is a tiny bit on the unspectacular side if Bob and Wendy’s relationship is one of the problems that occupy me, LOL.


Dec 20 2007

Zwei!

Kaum zu glauben, unser kleiner Sean ist heute zwei geworden! Eine große Party gab es nicht, aber einige Geschenke doch. Am allerbesten gefällt ihm momentan, mit dem tanzenden Schneemann durch das Zimmer zu wirbeln. Sean hat Musik im Blut. Happy birthday, little one! We love you!


Dec 14 2007

Vom Ausräumer zum Einräumer

Sean entwickelt sich zum Einräumer. Bisher hat er lieber ausgeräumt; einräumen, einfüllen, wegstellen hat ihn nicht interessiert (außer vielleicht weg-schmeißen). Vor einiger Zeit hat er mal den Küchenschrank richtig eingeräumt, nachdem er ihn zuvor komplett geleert hatte, aber das war ein einmaliges Vorkommnis. Heute hat er zum ersten Mal ohne Aufforderung Legosteine zurück in den Eimer geräumt, und dann gleich auch noch eine Verpackung IN den Mülleimer. Er mausert sich!


Nov 21 2007

Mr. Cute No. 2

Keine Ahnung, wer von meinen beiden Jungs der süssere ist, aber das hier ist wirklich schwer zu übertreffen. Mr. Gute Laune…

0710_sean.jpg


Oct 13 2007

Käppi No. 2…

…muß warten. Offenbar habe ich mich beim Wollkauf von der Schönheit der Wolle blenden lassen. Irgendwie eignet sie sich nicht zum Häkeln; sie sieht wie ein süßes Bändchen aus, beim Häkeln verheddert man sich leicht in den dünnen Fädchen, die das Bändchen bilden. FEHLKAUF! Für irgendwas wird sie schon noch herhalten müssen, aber vorerst ist sie erst mal weggelegt.

Jetzt werde ich den Blumenschal aus meinem schlauen Buch in Angriff nehmen. Bilder von dem Teil gibt es dann wahrscheinlich, wenn der Winter vorbei ist, LOL.

Hier noch ein aktuelles Bild von unserem Schnuckel Sean, der sich gerade in einer Froschtonne verlustiert.

sean_frog.jpg

Rahmen: Tracy Ann Robinson


Sep 26 2007

Geburtstagsparty!

Heute war die große Geburtstagsparty für Corin. In einem Anfall von Naivität beschloss ich, sie zuhause zu veranstalten. Schon am Morgen hat Corin geholfen, die Tische und Stühle aufzustellen. Seine vielen Geburtstagskarten hat er auch aufgestellt “damit meine Freunde sie ansehen können”. Zu süß! Vier Freunde hat er eingeladen, gekommen sind 4 Freunde, ein Bruder und eine acht-jährige Schwester (die Arme). So ein Geschrei hat unser Haus selten erlebt. Meine sorgfältig geplante Tischdeko war schon nach ca. 30 Sekunden zunichte gemacht, die Geschenke begutachtet (alle prima) und dann ging das Toben los. Mann oh Mann, 5 kleine Jungen sind ganz schön laut. Und Sean mittendrin. Er ließ sich von dem Lärm überhaupt nicht beeindrucken – geschweige denn abschrecken – und mischte mit. Es gab Muffins, und er bettelte jeden an, der Vielfraß. Was dieser Kleine essen kann, ist unglaublich. Die Party war bis 18.00 Uhr festgesetzt (aus Erfahrung bei einer anderen Party gelernt!) und so war der ganze Spuk nach gut 2 Stunden vorbei! Corin hatte ein wunderbare Geburtstagsfeier, bei der er seinem Busenfreund zweimal die Freundschaft aufkündigte (sowas gehört ja dazu), tolle Geschenke bekam und jede Menge Spass hatte.


Sep 15 2007

Er entkommt….

Sean ist dermaßen aktiv und geschickt, es ist beängstigend. Er klettert über sein Gitterbett – und lässt sich dann fallen; er klettert aus dem Laufstall und verschwindet in den Tiefen von Corins Zimmer ; er klettert auf Treppenhochstühle. Gott sei Dank ist er ziemlich wendig und, falls er fällt, fällt er immer auf die Hände oder den Po.

Corin hatte gestern seine U8 und hat fast alle Test mit Bravour bestanden. Wären wir allerdings keine zweisprachige Familie, würde der Kinderarzt umgehend Logopädie empfehlen. So hat er nun noch eine Galgenfrist von 5-6 Monaten, danach muß er wieder zum Sprachtest. Sollte sich seine Aussprache nicht gebessert haben, ist er fällig :-) . Er spricht nicht wirklich undeutlich, aber manche Konsonanten und Konsonantenkombinationen (tolles Wort) kann er nicht aussprechen, und offenbar sollte er das mit vier aber schon.


Sep 9 2007

Auf dem Spielplatz

Hier ein paar aktuelle Fotos

storyboard1.jpg


Aug 20 2007

Das Kind ist in den Brunnen gefallen

Heute wurde wahr, was John schon seit Wochen befürchtete. Unser wilder Corin, der so gut wie nie schaut, wo er hinläuft, weil er rückwärts geht, seine Umgebung betrachten muß oder sonstwie abgelenkt ist, trat nicht auf den Brunnenrand, sondern leider ins Leere. Und – platsch – lag er im Wasser. Der Brunnen ist nicht ief, und der Rand ebenfalls nicht hoch über dem Boden, und Corin stand sofort auf und kletterte aus dem Brunnen, war aber natürlich tief bestürzt über sein Mißgeschick. Vor allem, weil er bis auf die Haut durchnäßt war. Zum Glück hatten wir ein neues Set Kleidung für ihn dabei – bis auf die Schuhe, da mußte er in den sauren Apfel beißen und nach improvisierter Trockenphase wieder reinschlüpfen. Nach zwei Eis war er wieder völlig obenauf. Nun hat er eine Geschichte zu erzählen, die (bisher) ihresgleichen sucht.


Aug 10 2007

Wer hat heute zum 1. Mal durchgeschlafen?

War es ein einmaliges Ereignis oder wird es zur Regel? Das wird sich erst noch zeigen müssen, aber unser kleiner Sean hat heute zum ersten Mal durchgeschlafen. Nach einem Jahr, sieben Monaten und 20 Tagen. Welche Freude! Eine Wohltat ohnegleichen. Es lag sicher daran, daß er gestern abend eine ganze Portion gebratenen Reis mit Gemüse und Hühnchen verdrückt hat :-) .

sean_kiste.jpg


Aug 7 2007

Keine Angst!

Für alle die, die mein Scrapbboking blog nicht lesen, geschweige denn meine ADSR layouts sehen, aber mal wissen möchten, was Sean mir beigebracht hat, poste ich das hier.

070729_chall5.jpg

For my English speaking readers here is the translation of the journaling:

When I was pregnant with Sean and received the result of the NT-check I was very sad and cried a lot during the rest of my pregnancy. I was pretty sure Sean would have a chromosome too many. And that scared me. I didn’t know what a baby with DS looks like, how it behaves, what the future holds. I was scared that I might not be able to love my baby. And then Sean arrived. And he was beautiful. And he behaved just like Corin. And the future was good. And I loved him from the first second. Sean taught me to have no fear. Before Sean the thought of having a child with DS was frightening. Now I wouldn’t want to have him any other way. He showed me that my fear was not of a child with DS but it was the fear of the unknown – and it was totally in vain.

Credits für das layout hier 


Jul 28 2007

Hunger oder Gier?

Sean ist ein richtiger Freßsack. Nicht, daß er rund wie eine Kugel wäre oder dergleichen, aber essen tut er schon sehr gerne. Mit dem Kauen tut er sich jetzt leichter – oder vielmehr er bequemt sich nun mehr dazu – und da schmeckt’s natürlich auch vieles gleich viel besser. Wann immer jemand von uns sich irgendeinen Bissen holt, steht er schon bei Fuß. Egal, ob er gerade erst gefrühstückt hat, oder kurz vor der nächsten Mahlzeit steht (da kann ich das ja noch nachvollziehen), sobald jemand ißt, will er auch. Aber wie! Da wird nicht nur kurz und schüchtern nach Essen geguckt, sondern er steht am Tisch wie ein Bettler, der seit Wochen keinen Bissen mehr zu sich genommen hat. Aufregung pur! Endlich Essen! Wurde auch Zeit! Ist das nun Hunger oder bloße Gier?


Jun 29 2007

Nicht reparieren, sonst wird’s kaputt!

Eine Weisheit, die wohl h�ufig zutrifft. Dass aber auch schon 3-4 J�hrige das wissen, ist erstaunlich. Der Satz stammt von Corin, der seinen Kumpel davon abhalten wollte, einen Blumenkasten kaputtzureparieren, mit Hilfe eines Plastikhammers und eines Spielzeugbohrers. Kindermund tut Wahrheit kund. Nie h�tte ich gedacht, da� mir ein solcher Gemeinplatz �ber die Lippen kommt, aber wenn’s stimmt?

070629corin.jpg


Jun 10 2007

GuK – Episode 1

Unser GuK Karten kamen am Freitag an. Ich habe mir 5 Begriffe ausgesucht, die wir wirklich andauern verwenden, nämlich “essen”, “trinken”, “aua”, “baden” und – “Keks”. Sean beobachtet mich sehr gespannt, wenn ich die Gebärden mache, er wird sicher bald den Bogen raushaben und begreifen, daß Gebärde und Sache bzw. Tätigkeit etwas miteinander zu tun haben. Ich bin schon sehr gespannt.


May 29 2007

Auf Erkundungstour

Seit ca. 1 Monat haben wir ja einen eigenen Garten, in dem es sehr viel zu entdecken gibt. Sean ist gerne unterwegs – man muß aufpassen, wie ein Schießhund, denn es gibt Rosen, ein riesiges Vogelbad, einen Brunnen, eine Regentonne und viele, viele kleine Dinge, die er gerne in den Mund steckt. Dreck ist da noch das wenigste. Bei Rindenmulch hört’s bei mir allerdings auf.

sean_garten11.jpg

Heute habe ich endlich die GuK Karten bestellt. Ich bin schon sehr gespannt auf unsere Erfahrungen damit. Hört man die Logopädin und andere davon schwärmen, klingt das alles ganz hervorragend, aber ich bin mir nicht so sicher. Ich hatte, als Corin noch klein war, diese Buch hier bestellt: Baby Signs, welches auch die Kommunikation mit Gebärden anpreist, leider waren Corin die Gebärden völlig wurscht. Vom GuK erhoffe ich mir, daß ich mich nicht erst durch einen Wust von Informationen wühlen muß, und daß die wichtigen Begriffe, die man braucht, schnell abrufbar sind. Wir sind gespannt.


May 22 2007

Down Syndrom Sprechstunde

Heute morgen hatten wir unseren Termin in der Down Syndrom Sprechstunde. Pro Vormittag werden vier Familien bzw. Kinder betreut. Alle, mit denen wir gesprochen haben, waren von der Tatsache, daß Sean schon laufen kann, ziemlich verblüfft und erfreut.

Unseren ersten Termin hatten wir bei der Krankengymnastin. Sie hat uns geraten, bei Sean das Krabbeln noch ein wenig zu forcieren, denn dadurch, daß er relativ kurz gekrabbelt ist (wenn man das überhaupt krabbeln nennen kann), hat er noch nicht ganz begriffen, daß es auch Hindernisse gibt, die man vorsichtig überwinden muß. Dies lernt man am besten aus der Krabbelperspektive, beim Laufen ist er ein richtiger Hans-guck-in-die Luft. Außerdem empfahl sie uns, ihm Schuhe anzuziehen, die ihm geradeso passen, anstatt wie üblich, etwas Spielraum zu lassen. Er steht damit a. sicherer, und b. werden seine Zehen etwas aneinander gedrückt. Seine große Zeh steht nämlich ziemlich ab, nicht nur durch die Sandalenlücke, sondern sie ist etwas gespreizt. Und nach innen sind seine Füße auch noch geneigt, also fußtechnisch gibt es einiges zu verbessern.

Dann war das Beratungsgespräch an der Reihe. Es drehte sich fast ausschließlich um Kindergarten (ist noch etwas hin, aber man kann ja langsam anfangen, sich umzuhören) und Zweisprachigkeit. Ich werde mich mal demnächst in Corins Kindergarten erkundigen, wie man dort zu Einzelintegration steht. Offenbar sind wohl immer mehr Kindergärten nicht nur offen für Kinder mit Behinderungen, sondern suchen geradezu nach ihnen. Bleibt zu hoffen, daß dies nicht nur aus finanziellen Gesichtspunkten geschieht.

Nach einer kurzen Pause, die etwas zum Plaudern genutzt wurde, war der Termin beim Kinderarzt an der Reihe. Dort erfuhr ich, was mir in der Geburtsklinik entweder anders erklärt wurde, oder ich falsch verstanden habe, daß freie Trisomie 21 durchaus auch die Mosaik-Variante sein kann. Bei Sean war es nämlich so, daß mir erst aufgrund einer Vorabanalyse gesagt wurde, er hätte die Mosaik-Variante. Später dann hieß es, es sei nun doch Freie Trisomie 21 und nicht Mosaik. In der Analyse steht allerdings, es wäre eine Zelle mit 2 Chromosomen gefunden worden, und eine weitere Analyse zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt sei eventuell angeraten. Wie dem auch sei, welche Variante er hat, ist eh ziemlich irrelevant, Hauptsache ist, wie er sich entwickelt, und das kann in jedem Fall so oder so ausgehen.
Sean wurde dort auch gemessen und gewogen, etwas was wir zuhause immer versäumen. 77cm, 10,2kg.

Als letztes hatten wir noch einen Termin bei der Logopädin. Das war mir besonders wichtig, denn Sean ist extrem kaufaul, und einige Tips waren mir sehr willkommen. Sie hat ihm eine kleine Salzbrezel angeboten, die er auch zu gerne gehabt hätte, aber offenbar hat er nicht genug Kraft, davon abzubeißen. Zwar kaut er stundenlang auf hartem Brot herum und liebt auch Zwieback, aber sein Mittagessen, das ihm stückchenweise angeboten wird, verschlingt er mit einem Satz. Um das Kauen zu üben, haben wir von der Logopädin zwei Kaunudeln bekommen, die Sean auch ganz klasse findet. Und einen tollen Tip: Apfelstückchen o.ä. in einer Mullbinde oder Stoffwindel stecken, zubinden und Sean in die Wange stecken, so daß er darauf herumkauen kann, ohne daß Gefahr besteht, er verschluckt sich. Das andere Ende der Mullbinde habe ich in der Hand. So lernt er den Geschmack des Apfels kennen und lernt gleichzeitig, darauf herumzukauen.
Weiterhin hat sie uns empfohlen, nun mit GuK anzufangen. Nächste Woche werden wir wohl nach Lauf fahren, und im DS Center der erste Set gleich mitnehmen.

Alles in allem war die Sprechstunde sehr informativ und interessant. Wir werden wohl in 6 bis 9 Monaten wieder hingehen.