Sweet Sofia

Picture captured by the amazing Penny Sylvia for DSIA.

There is nothing sweeter than Sofia's face!

Quick update on our wonder girl! She is pulling up to stand on EVERYTHING and climbing onto things as well (as evidenced by her constant bumps and bruises). She is a COPY CAT...she will literally do whatever anyone else is doing. She is constantly using new signs and can very clearly say banana (nanana), mama, papa, nana, ball (baa), tickle (ticka) and many more words. She can blow into a recorder (brand new skill learned today!) and she drinks only from a straw now. She is cruising on furniture and in her crib and will push a shopping cart or walker toy and walk around. She has absolutely perfected her creep on hands and knees and is FAST. She dances and loves bathtime. She throws a ball and explores her whole house. She and Joaquin ADORE each other, give kisses, pats on the back and get into laughing matches in the car. Sofia's big brothers adore her and want her around them all the time, they fight over her often. She is very much in love with her mama, papa and nana. She is sassy and when she's done with something she is DONE. She has perfected her coy head tilt when she wants to be cute. She LOVES to eat and DO NOT get in her way. The only time she is truly angry is whenever food is taken away or not coming fast enough! She sleeps through the night and never makes a peep and likes to nap twice a day or one long nap but is totally flexible about this. She loves her bed and her room all to herself. All in all she is doing incredible and we continue to bond with her a little more every single day.

My friend and fellow blogger Bethany just wrote an amazing post on her blog "Our Perfectly Imperfect Life" about the rewards of special needs adoption. She speaks from her heart and really paints an accurate picture of the bonding process when adopting a child. Read it here.

Baby Steps

Look who is taking some assisted steps! Sofia did this all on her own, without my prompting. I just turned around at our sweet friend Kassi's birthday party and there she was shopping with her cart crusing across the floor. Amazing!

Increasing Awareness...Powerful Stuff Here

Tears are still in my eyes watching and listening to this awareness video done by Kelle Hampton.

Check it out HERE!

You'll see a little clip of both my sweet angels! Rock on Nella!!!

IEP Date is Set...Preschool Here We Come!

Our IEP (Individualized Education Plan/Program)date is set and we are getting ready for it! February 1st at 9AM...the day before Joaquin turns 3!!! Way to cut it close!

We have visited the program we were most interested in and that has been recommended for him by the school district and it looks like a perfect fit right now. It's a special day program preschool that is therapy intensive and has teacher/student ratio or 1:2 right now!  He will go 4 days a week for about 3 hours. They work on EVERYTHING from numbers, letters, phonics, speech, feeding self, potty training, fine motor, gross motor, socialization, handwriting without tears, colors, routines, EVERYTHING! They also spend a little time each day with the full inclusion preschool to observe and practice in that environment. The head teacher is AMAZING and ADORABLE...two prerequisites that all preschool teachers I think should have and it helps that she is young, energetic, motivated and highly educated. She has her teaching credential, early childhood education degree and a masters in special education. She runs the program with a great speech and language pathologist and then there is one more teacher's aid in the class. They will work on sensory issues, OT, PT, ST and some oral motor work. He may even take the BUS to and from preschool! WOW!

We have yet to see what more they may offer us and we do plan on asking for a few other things and we will continue to pay for private music therapy but I'm just thrilled with this next step! It's also perfect because we are starting mid-school year so we can reevaluate when the fall comes and see if he is ready for a few days in the full inclusion preschool next door. Joaquin has a few years of preschool ahead so we will work towards a goal of getting into a 5 day a week full inclusion preschool before Kindergarten!

Here is a short video of our littlest boy. And when I say little I mean tiny. VERY petite little boy. His sister is going to pass him up pretty soon!

Joaquin Being Cute!

I gave him a pre-birthday haircut today (all by myself!) so he'll be all set for preschool in February! He is such a sweet and funny little boy. He truly is the sunshine in our family!

Reece's Rainbow LIVE Interview!!!

Live Interview about Sofia & John David & Reece's Rainbow!

Happy New Year!

And what a year it has been!

Please consider visiting Kelle's blog at Enjoying the Small Things and see our little Miss Sofia and her brother Joaquin as one of the MANY beautiful faces of Down syndrome.

Let's start the new year giving back...and in return giving a better future for all children blessed with a little extra chromosome and those GORGEOUS almond eyes.

Merry Christmas!

Our REAL LIVE angel under our Christmas tree! She was ALL smiles this Christmas...her FIRST Christmas with her forever family. We are so lucky to have her. She is PURE joy!