Baby Blues

Yesterday (12/7) Ellie had her annual ophthalmology appointment.  First off, an annual appointment?!  Really?  She cannot possibly be old enough for an annual appointment.  Everyone says it goes fast and they are not kidding.

1 Year Ago

Okay, back on track. Eyes.  Ellie's eyes are fantastic.  Gorgeous and big and blue.  Very expressive. She has no need for glasses. . .yet.  Up to 50% of children with DS will require glasses at some point in their lives.  Some of these children need glasses due to far-sightedness or near-sightedness.  However, other issues that are more predominant among our genetically enhanced kiddos include an astigmatism, nystagmus, and strabismus.

Then of course there is the other genetic factors--familial vision problems.  Andrew has nice thick glasses.  I like to call him the naughty professor when he goes without contacts. Oops, too much info!

Very Handsome, yes?

I survived the elementary school years sans glasses, but ended up with them in college--vertical astigmatism but 20/20 vision.  Ellie's Gpa Bruns has graduated trifocals.  Yep, trifocals. (and is color-blind--I can pass that on to my male children)

That's my Daddy.  Isn't he handsome?
I aspire to be as good as a photographer as him.

However, my brother escaped the visual impairment gene as has my Aunt Peggy who also has DS.  So while Dr. B can go on and on about the high potential of the Bear-Bear needing glasses, I just think it is a good thing she doesn't need them now.  Can you imagine her keeping those puppies on?

Ellie Bear, bringing destruction wherever she goes.

Astigmatism: abnormal curvature of the eye lens.  Can be horizontal (common) or vertical (less common)

Strabismus: when the eyes do not line up when trying to focus.  aka lazy eye or cross-eye

Nystagmus: involuntary eye movement.  Usually involves both eyes.  

Fun Fact: infants up to 6 weeks of age will naturally have various movements of the eyes such as crossing.




Image References:
http://rosavision.blogspot.com
http://www.eye-care-inc.com

Jolly Old St. Nicholas

Grandpa Bolte (back row, 4th from left), 1920s

I always remember my mother recounting Christmas as a child.  My Grandpa Bolte would bring in a fresh cut tree the night of Christmas Eve.  Upon Christmas morning, my mother would wake to a beautifully decorated tree with presents under it.  My grandfather would also work painstakingly on a beautiful manger scene using moss from the woods on their chicken farm.

When I was growing up, my little brother Matt and I knew that it was time to decorate the Christmas tree when my father started to play the Manheim Steamroller CD.  On Thanksgiving, Grandma and Grandpa Bruns would handout the Advent calendars.  What a treat it was to each day open up a new glittery imagine.  My mother had a handmade Advent calendar with stenciled numbers and little wooden figurines.  Once we got to the 3 wise men, Mary, and Joseph, we would fight over who got to add the figurine to the manger scene as those specific wooden people symbolized just how close Christmas was.

While our families create these wonderful traditions leaving fond memories imprinted on my brain, my elementary school also added a particular tradition I am rather fond of.  December 6th is St. Nick's Day.  Shine your shoes and leave them at the door and perhaps, Jolly Old St. Nicholas will leave a treat for you.  That tradition seems to have gone by the wayside in our family once we were out the school system.  It was not until my friend Angelika reminded me about this day.  

Kind of hard to put treats in the shoes if the Bear is going to eat said shoes

In Angelika's native country of Hungary, Santa or Mikulas comes on December sixth.  Boots are placed in the window (similar to our stockings by the fireplace) and treats and toys fill them.  In Hungary, baby Jesus delivers the gifts on Christmas Eve.

http://www.hungarotips.com/ch/

In college, there still was an Advent calendar.  Only this particular calendar had chocolate!  Yum!  Courtesy of our dear roommate Denise.  Fond memories.

Our House Last Year.
Yes, there are 6 stockings.  Our furbabies get presents too.

It is heart-warming on how traditions invoke so many memories.  Marriage is not only a union between two people, but it is also a meshing of two sets of traditions. Some traditions are similar and other are completely different.  Andrew and I are still working on our traditions.  Sure, we are keeping some of the ones from our youth, but we are also in the process of developing our own.  Still being newlyweds with a little Ellie-Bear, we are trying hard to create traditions that will hopefully invoke wonderful memories for Ellie.

Andrew says: "Um, what is this?"  I personally just like how little Ellie's shoes appear in comparison to Andrew's shoes.

Therefore, this morning (12/6) Andrew and Ellie awoke to having their shoes filled with a small gift from St. Nick.

Again with the shoes?  I thought she would be excited about the bag and tissue paper.  

Oh oh, showing some interest.

There we go.  I knew the shiny paper would be a hit.  There is an actual gift in there.

Nevermind, she is off to do more important things like dump the water bowl. (she got play food).

Do not ask me about her socks.  They were removed by Ellie.

Sophie wants to know what she is getting.  Four paws = four presents

Ah ha!  Gotcha Tama!  Proof that my black cat does indeed exist.

Rat-A-Tat-Tot Ink Dot

The Down Syndrome Association of Central Texas [DSACT] offers a monthly playgroup for children ages 0-5 years with DS and their siblings.  For one reason or another, we have never been able to attend Ink Dots until yesterday.  The expressions on Ellie's face say it all.

Can you spy Ellie?

Shake Baby Shake

Rat-A-Tat-Tots, a local Austin business, provided a free class to the youngsters.  Many of whom had a fabulous time with "creative movement" and exploring rhythm through music.  Of course being a December Ink Dot, the music was mostly festive such as Jingle Bells and the Dreidel Song.

Jingle Bear

Using the parachute to the Dreidel Song

Ellie was a little young for the crafts and cookie decorating, but I made a nice Christmas tree out of those foam stickers and stuck it onto her wall just above the dresser.  It has made changing her diaper much easier as the glittery foam snowflakes and ornaments distract her.

Gypsy Bear.  Look, she is even showing off her Buddha bellie

Looks like I need to get her a scarf

As you can see, Andrew used the camera.  I said he was the one who wanted it!  We tried a different lens this go around and as you can see, we are still getting used to it.

See the girl with the striped leggings?  Ellie kept trying to grab her pants.

Let's all take a moment to groove to the music in our own creative ways.  Happy Holidays!

Tired Bear

Camera Fun

I am having way too much fun playing around with the Sony SLR:

Can you guess what this is a picture of?  No? Guess.  I will give you a hint:

It is Ellie.  She is lying on the floor of her play-yard.  She has a blanket in her hand.  Her feet in the air.  Oh and she is touching her foot while holding the blanket.

Here, have this blankie.  It will make you happy.

No really.  It is a good blankie and I want to share it with you.

(Sophie: This kid is nuts wanting me to chew on a slobbery blanket.  I prefer her socks.)

Multi-tasking--I can chew on both the play-yard and the blanket

Yep, you guessed it.  Ellie is holding Amelie's Tail (and blanket of course)

I seem to really like fiddling with the apertures on this new camera.

More blanket.  She just walks, well crawls around with it when tired.

Sophie of the Princess Puppy-Paw-Paws is Dog Tired

A Pretty Kitty.  Amelie seems to think she is the Queen of Sheba.  Stole the title from Tama Boo.

I'm Ready For My Close-Up

Looks like I need to fix Mr. Sock Monkey's ear

Back in high school, I borrowed my father's fancy manual Minolta camera for a photography class.  It was black and white and required real film.  I would always scratch up the film when self-developing and I would always mess up the filters when using the enlarger.  I learned a great deal about setting up the shot and depth-of-field.

Hot Sexy Drewbie

I. Have. Forgotten. Everything.  F-stops, ISO, and other technical terms that I cannot even recall.

Experimenting Night Portrait Settings. . . 

on my neighbor's house.  I wish mine was this festive :-)

My little snap-&-shoot Nikon has served me well and still will for years to come when I do not want to lug around a huge camera bag.  Setting up the shot has completely gone out the window when photographing a very mobile toddler.  Ellie moves too fast.  I may shoot about 30 photos and only one is usable. (Yes, I take tons of photos).

Depth-of-Field Experiment

Depth-of-Field Experiment

Baby Drews bought me a Sony alpha 55 something-or-other SLR camera for Christmas.  To be used at Christmas, hence why I have the camera now.  Thank you Drew!!!!  I have 3 lenses and I am slowly learning what all of the fancy buttons on this camera are for.  It also has this LCD screen that shows all sorts of graphs and whatnot.  Again, I do not know what it all means. . .yet.  (It should be noted that Andrew is the one who wanted the camera but he already got his Christmas present so he "gave" me the camera under the pretense of it being my present)

Tights!  Can you tell I love tights on Bear-Bear?

As you can see in all of these photos, I am experimenting with the different lenses and apertures.  I know that I could just put it on "Auto" mode and call it a day, but that takes all of the fun out of having an SLR.  The cool thing is, it can snap 10 pictures very quickly so it looks like an Ellie (or kitty or doggy) play-by-play.

Am I a supposed to smile at this large contraption?

I am ready for my close-up.

Of course, I still have to read the manual and brush up on the different techniques.  Oh and the editing software.

La La La La

"Helping" Mommy put away the laundry.

I have to tell you that I have never been so entertained by baby jargon before.  Ellie Bellie Bear has been making all sorts of sounds for months now.  She is loud.  Very loud.  So loud that her incessant happy babbling wakes us up before the sun is up.  Yes, I realize how funny this is too many of you given that I am both loud and a nonstop talker.  Yes, it is indeed payback time.

Ellie Loves the tree, but she prefers the M&M car.

People with DS tend to have speech delays and if you happen to know someone with DS, you might think that they "talk funny".  There are many reasons for that aside from the global delays associated with DS.  There are several physiologic characteristics of DS that cause the delayed vocalizations and the lisp-like pattern of speech.  Hypotonia or low muscle tone does not just affect large muscle groups, but also the smaller muscles of the cheeks and the tongue.  This makes it difficult for Ellie to form words.  Sucking thickened fluids (ie yogurt and applesauce) from a straw helps improve the tone of these muscles.  Crooked teeth, pointed teeth (vampire baby!  Yeah!), and/or abnormal arrangement of teeth also affect the ability to make sounds in addition to a high-arched-palate.  Sounds such as "s" or "th" are formed with the use of our tongues, palates, and dentition. People with DS also have what is termed mid-facial hypoplasia or rather a small middle of the face which includes the nose and sinuses.  Add all of these physiological characteristics together and speech becomes affected.

Shift dress &leggings!  There is just something about baby fashion.  Looks good on all babies, unlike misses/petites clothing.  Bear-Bear is on the petite end so the dress is a bit long.

Elle Belle is very vocal and is now consistently incorporating "mon mon mon mon" with the occasional "mamamamama" into her repertoire.  Mostly when agitated. This makes me SO happy and proud :- )  Yay!  Jumping up and down with Mommy happiness!!!!

Baby Feet! Tutu leggings!  This is almost as exciting as tights.

Andrew and I have been working so hard to coax that "M" sound out of her.  So much so that Ellie might actually think Andrew is "mama".  Now these sounds are not specific.  If I say "Where is Mama/Dada?" she just stares.  However if we reword the question to "Where is Mommy/Daddy?", she will seek out the correct parent.

The complete outfit which of course only lasted until lunchtime. Uck, reflux!

What is specific though? The Bear is starting to have "conversations" with us.  She is not saying any actual words per say, but she babbles now in a reciprocal manner.  Only with "la la la la".  If you say "La la la" to her, she will respond back to us with "la la la la".  If I sing my happy little car jingle:

"We're going for a ride in the car.  Lalala. Lalala."   Ellie Bear will sing the "lalala" portion!  Again, Mommy jumping up and down for joy!  Super Ellie!

I open the closet to refill the diaper drawer.  I turn around and there is an Ellie Bear.  She found her bouncy chair . Oh and tights!!!!!

Am I worried that Ellie will not talk?  No, I know that she will eventually and that I must be patient.  Ellie is really good at helping me slow down and take things in stride. However, the paranoid Mama that I am does worry about if she will be understandable to others.  Perhaps this is useless worry, yet worrywart is my middle name. Until then, I am embracing her "Mon Mon Mon"s and her "lalala"s.