The Night Before Christmas

Christmas is celebrated different in Peru and the USA so Dave and I have merged some of our traditions and feel that we get the best of both worlds. We hade a nice Christmas Eve Dinner and program. The kids opened  one present and went to bed very excited in anticipation to the next morning. They could hardly wait to see what Papa Noel had left under the Christmas tree for them. Ethan wrote a short note to Papa Noel and left him some milk with white chocolate covered pretzels. Dave has spent a good part of Christmas day assembling toys and I don't think he enjoys it too much. 

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Celebrations

Christmas time is definitely a time for celebration and we loooove parties. We attended several Christmas parties and had a great time!
ALL ABOOOOOAAARD!!! polar express party.

Our branch had a nice Christmas dinner and play.Dave was one of the magi at the Church's play.There were lots of things to do at the Polar Express Christmas Party we attended, the kids wore their pajamas and had lots of fun making crafts, at the music and story workshop and in the play room. We frosted cookies and watched part of the polar express movie. Ethan was very impressed with Mrs. Claus and told me he never thought he would meet her at a party!Our USDF party was also fun, the kids ate way too many sweets and Ethan danced away. Gavin did not like Santa at this party either!

Part III Season of giving

As part of our season of giving, this week we focused on our immediate family. Each one of the kids took a dollar from their piggy bank and used it to purchase one gift for one sibling. This is the first time they do this. I must admit that I was surprised at their eagerness to give and did not expect them to be as excited as they were.  I told them that they would pay for the gift and I would pay for the tax. That initiated and entire discussion on taxes and government and I will just say that Ethan will never be a socialist; he did not like taxes one bit! 
We strolled through the aisles of the dollar store and after carefully choosing and deciding what to buy, they each purchased their gift.

When we got home I helped each of them wrap the present. Gavin thought that his purchase, an edible one, was to be eaten that night. He had a meltdown when he found out he could not open it but finally managed to pull himself together and put lots of tape on Ethan’s gift.
It was a fun night and I learned that children naturally give freely of their love, themselves, and their piggy bank. 

A season of giving

Continuing with our Christmas tradition of making it a season of giving instead of getting, we did more caroling this week. For family home evening we went to visit some elderly women. We sang to them, off tune, but they enjoyed it; we also gave them some cookies.  We were very grateful it was not snowing and all of them lived in the same building so we were much warmer and drier than last week. On our way home we witnessed a terrible car accident so we stayed around until the police, ambulance, and fire trucks arrived and Dave gave his account of what he saw. While we waited in the car for Dave to finish his report to the police, I took the time to discuss with the kids a little bit about elderly people, loneliness and the importance of visiting them. We talked about those in our family that are in that situation and why we always keep in touch with them by calling, writing (drawing) etc... Heidi was very sweet and pledged to always keep those who are old and live alone in her prayers. By the time we got home all but Ethan were asleep but he definitely wanted that hot chocolate cup I had promised. When I tucked him in bed he whispered to me how much fun it had been to visit the old ladies.

Christmas Tradition

One of our Christmas traditions is to go caroling on the first Monday of December. We pick about ten families each year and as soon as the door opens we start singing and give to them a homemade treat. This year we made caramel popcorn, it was yummy and fun to make with the kids. Our singing was not fully coordinated and it was snowing, but we still had fun.  I like doing this at the very beginning of the month because it helps set the tone and mood at our house for a "giving" Christmas. It gives me an opportunity to teach the kids about the fun of giving instead of getting. I even mention Santa because he is always giving and never getting any presents. Ethan felt bad for Santa so he wants to make him a present this year!
After all the singing we came home and had some hot chocolate and caramel popcorn and discussed how God has given to us his Son, and His Son has given to us His life. We went around the table saying what we would like to give to Jesus this Christmas and I suggested to all the kids to be reverent in sacrament so that I don't go crazy!

Santa!

We attended a Christmas party from the Utah Down Syndrome Foundation and Santa was there to delight all the kids. We thought it would be fun to get pictures with Santa. Gavin does not like Santa.....still and tried running away....again. Maybe next year he will do better! He did love the brownies, ice-cream and candy canes (stuffed himself full)!

First Haircut

Gavin had his first haircut and did awesome. He just let the hairdresser cut his hair with no problem as long as she did not block the movie he was watching. Here is a step by step transformation.

Before the hair cut.

What a stud!

Kailey waited very patiently for Heidi and Gavin to get their hair cut.

Cutie!

Up to date

Since my last post, so much has happened! we have been so busy that I don't know where to start.

Ethan started first grade in the Mandarin Chinese immersion program. He is doing fantastic and has adapted very well to a new school, new language and has made new friends. He also joined the chess club at his previous school and really likes playing every week. He already had a tournament and did well for a first timer. Needless to say I am very proud of him! At my first parent teacher conference his teacher, Li Lao Shi, told me he is doing extremely well, he is even a translator in her class! He also has an English teacher who  said that his work was high quality and is a super reader!

Heidi started preschool and just loves it. She goes twice a week and wishes she could go more often. She is totally into couponing and helps me clip all my coupons. She is also learning all the Chinese words that Ethan teaches her and of course is a super mom to Kailey. Now that Ethan is gone all day long she is doing much more with Gavin. She reads books to all of us but mostly to Kailey and Gavin.

Gavin is a handful. He has a really deep voice and is hilarious to hear him scold Heidi while pointing his finger at her and frowning his eyebrows saying "don't hut me!" He turned two a couple of weeks ago and got a slide that he just loves. He is such a busy buddy that each morning he goes straight to his toys instead of having breakfast.

Gavin loves anything with sugar in it. He seems to have syrup running through his veins! These are pictures of his second birthday.

Kailey is doing really well. She is doing everything that she is supposed to at the right times. She is all smiles and even laughter at times. In September she was blessed by David and we had a lot of family over. We also had our first, of many, Buddy Walks ( a fundraiser for the Down Sydrome Foundation in Utah). She is in the early intervention program already and it has been really good to have the therapist come to our house periodically.

Kailey was a Hot Chili Pepper for Halloween and did not like the costume at all!

David took the kids trick or treating and asked them what the most important rule was, the kids replied that they needed to be safe, to walk on sidewalks, etc.. and Dave said NO! the most important rule is to let Dad choose whatever candy he wants from each bag! As all of you know, he loves candy and I think that Halloween is probable his favorite holiday!

Learning Fun

Heidi’s first day of preschool was Thursday. I signed her up that same morning and in the afternoon she attended her first day of class. She will be going twice a week for two and half hours. I was thrilled to see her being so comfortable, so confident and so excited to learn and be part of the class. When I picked Heidi up she was very happy. She pulled from her backpack her newly made craft. She told me she sang three songs. Her teacher is Miss Cari. Heidi is attending the same preschool that Ethan attended a couple of years ago. She is in the blue room, the same classroom that Ethan had.

Ethan attended a two week program that was kind of a Chinese boot camp, an introduction to Mandarin Chinese and its culture. His last day was Friday morning. His class had a performance of song, theater and Tai Chi. He sang a couple of songs in Chinese and was selected to perform some Tai Chi. He did great! In the short time the program laste he learned several colors, numbers and animals and also the characters for some numbers. He has taught Heidi the colors so they now play I spy in the car and say the colors in mandarin.

Ethan and Heidi are teaching Gavin how to fly onto pillows on the floor. They had a great time, it was fun to watch them until Dave came by and asked them to put everything back in its place, they looked at him and told him that I thought it was a great game they were playing. He could not believe I knew what they were doing and had not stopped them.

Toothless

Ethan’s front teeth have been a little loose so we expected them to fall out soon. Yesterday I noticed that one of them had turned to a brown color so Dave told me that the tooth had died and it needed to be pulled out. So David decided to take things into his own hands and play dentist. I heard some crying, shouting, yelling and gnashing of teeth and the tooth did not come out! So it took Dave a couple of hours to gain Ethan’s confidence to let him pull the tooth out. Ethan did let Dave pull the tooth out and there was a lot of crying. Glenda the tooth fairy did come by and picked Ethan’s tooth and left a little cash for him.

Nee hao!

Nee Hao!
Ethan started his Chinese boot camp today and it will last about 9 days. I was thrilled to make his first lunch box meal. The kids were divided into sun and moon classes. Ethan is in the Sun class. His day is half Chinese and half English and he happens to be in the class that has Chinese in the morning. So he got a dose of Chinese right away. We were greeted by his teacher and she kept talking to him in Chinese, he took a step back so I gently pushed him forward. Somehow he understood what she was telling him and found the desk with his name on it. I was amazed! Then I realized I had understood her too! He had a great time today and learned two colors in Chinese, red and blue.
Kailey had an appointment with her pediatrician today. She has grown 2 inches since birth and is now 19.5 inches. She has gained 6 ounces since she left the hospital four days ago and weighs 7 lbs. 8 ounces. Her head is 1 centimeter bigger. So far she is in excellent health and that is a huge relief! She does suffer of nursing laziness! She can’t keep herself awake for more than two minutes or sometimes won’t even open her mouth so nursing her is a challenge. Thank goodness for electric pumps.

Finally home!

Kailey is finally home with us! We are so excited to have our family together under one roof. Now that my commute to the hospital is over I am slowly (very slowly) trying to figure out her real schedule. They had her on a 3 hour feeding time but she likes to sleep more than she likes to eat so in the short two days she has been home I have managed to already mess up the schedule they had. Oh well, at least I do pump every three hours because she is too lazy to even open her mouth. On Tuesday she has an appointment with her pediatrician and we should be getting some guidance (hopefully) or a referral to a pediatrician that specializes in children that have Down syndrome.
On Friday, we got the full report for the Chromosome test. I had hoped Kailey would be in the mosaic Down syndrome category but it only happens 1% of the time. She is in the Trisomy 21 category.
Kailey has been the delight of her siblings so now we need to protect her from the vast amounts of love she is getting and will be getting around here.