Paper Chase

Playette chews paper, any kind (towel, toilet, bills, napkins, etc.). I thought it was a baby thing, but she's not a little baby anymore. She loves the stuff. At least now, when I ask her to spit it out into my hand, she will. She knows it's not food.

[Hey! Lady who posted on the Babycenter TMR* board that kids with Ds throw food because they don't know what it is? My kid knows what food is. Just thought you'd want to know.

Not that she's reading this, but still. Grr. Ignorance.]

So.

She likes it. She chews it. She mouths a lot of things still, actually, but perhaps that is because she's still teething. (Left front tooth is finally poking through. We may get a matching set after all! WOOT!)

Does/did anyone else experience this with your kid? If so, did you do anything about it? Does it continue?


*Termination for Medical Reasons

Iss-shoes

So I took Playette shoe shopping today. I was guessing that it was time. She was falling all over the place and I figured it was another one of her ways of telling us that her feet attire were due for an upgrade.

(Please don't worry. She's fine.)

So off to the outlets we went.

Wait. That makes it sound too simple.

Actually, there was an early wake up, lots of laundry, kitchen cleaning, hair doing, room straightening, and toddler chasing. So our morning jaunt had to wait until after lunch. Which didn't go well because apparently the cucumbers that she eats at daycare all the time are poisonous at home and macaroni and cheese is disgusting after three mouthfuls.

Which, seriously? They're not. I know because I ate everything she didn't eat and it was wonderful.[/bad habit]

Anyway.

As soon as humanly possible, I gently placed my hysterical child in her carseat, started driving, and five minutes later she was out.

I let her sleep long after I parked the car so that I could enjoy the nice breeze and the first few pages of my new-to-me book.

It wasn't long enough, but whatever. I tried not to be greedy.

Thankfully, the store wasn't too crowded. We got her measured and I got to looking for what was available in her size. Not much, actually.

I ended up with these:

Which...are cute, I guess. But very pink.

I mean, I'm ok with pink to a certain extent, but it's not my favorite choice as everyday-wear. I prefer options, but there just weren't that many.

Playette loved them though and off she ran, around and around the store, laughing and looking back every so often to make sure I was still chasing her and begging the forgiveness of everyone else in her path.

It was when I caught her that I noticed that there was a whole 'nother wall o' shoes! In her size even. I've been shopping at this particular store for quite some time. Why hadn't I seen them before?

Oh. Because they're boy shoes.

Good grief.

So the toddler shoes aren't all kept together?

They're gender segregated?

Boo and Noted.

I know that girls typically get more variety in clothes, but the boys surely aren't lacking in the shoe department. I saw lots of stuff I liked on that side.

So Playette got these, too:

And suddenly all felt right with the world.

I'm such a rebel.

Saturday Snippets

Sick Daze

Playette wasn't feeling well last weekend, but she was having so much fun with her new friends (more on that soon) that she really didn't crash until she was back at daycare on Monday. BD went and picked her up early and she's been home ever since.

Which means that I've been home ever since.

Big ups to SAHMs everywhere.

Well, except that rich lady on RHoOC. If you watch, you know the one. Not that they're all not really, really irritating.

Anyway.

Check out what happened when I tried to keep the Littlest occupied with some activities.







Thanks again, Phamily, for the wonderful birthday gift. She doesn't pass out every time she plays with it, promise!

Again. Some More.

Because maybe after watching this video another person will get it.

But Wait, There's More!

Our trip to LA didn't end with the I'm Down with You shoot.

Right after we were done there, we headed straight to visit Lisa and her family. This was our second visit, the first being last July.

It's always so much fun to hang out with them. I am so happy to be around this family. I know that sounds hokey, but seriously. I find big families fascinating. Not in a "put them in a petri dish" kind of way, but more like the kind of envious longing that comes from just never having lived that kind of life before. In Lisa's house...six kids seems so do-able. Now, I know we're "company" and the kids surely test their parents more than they do me, but still. I like the feeling of being a part of a group. And the activity. The sheer diversity of it all. So many personalities. And then I imagine what it will be like twenty years from now, during the holidays and such. It's pretty awesome.

No contradictions outta you, Lisa. Let me live in my visit-every-so-often fantasy world, k? ;-P

All of that activity does mean that it's hard to get a good picture sometimes, but I can live with that.

Baby Swap 2.0
Just because I feel like gushing more about their kids, who are so extremely kind and welcoming to my Littlest, five-year-old Daisy drew this portrait of Playette, which currently holds a place of honor on our fridge:


I love the detail of her hairstyle and the objects she was carrying around in her hand an the time. There was no help from any of the grown-ups with the name spelling either.

And thirteen-year-old Kevin? Well, check him out standing up for his little brother and any other people offended by the use of the r-word here:


Kevin will be giving this speech at his school early next month. While it's not related to our visit, I still wanted to share this here because I'm really proud of him.

So, in the quest to top the last visit, this time we ventured out to dinner. When Lisa asked if I was open to that idea, what do you think I said?


I am such a dork. The only one cheesing like we were on a grand prize cruise or something. I am also the only one not seated next to children that need much assistance. All part of my fantasy.

I love this pic of Finn:


When we left the restaurant, it was like a parade! (tee hee)


Lisa, you can totally laugh at me now. I deserve it.

BTW, Lisa wrote a great post about having a big family here.

Our Experience: I'm Down with You

I know that many people "in the Ds know" are aware of this project, but this may be new info for others.




From the time I first saw the video and website months ago, I've been excited for the day I'd be able to purchase this book. It's important for me to have Playette see people that look like her, beautiful and capable and in the public eye. She already has a nice collection of books showing people with all kinds of differences and I'm Down with You will be a welcome addition.

=====

By the way...

I highly recommend these books for all children, because, really?...They're gonna run into people that don't look or live just like them at some point and wouldn't you want your kid/niece/nephew/grandchild/friend's kid to be informed and just be able to go with the flow? [/soapbox]

=====

So, imagine my elation when Playette was invited to participate in one of the final photo shoots for the book!

We didn't hesitate with an affirmative response and a couple of weeks ago we packed up the car and headed down to LA.

She played shy at first so I had to sit with her on my lap while the pictures were being taken. We practiced signing to take her mind off of all the attention. Here she's showing the photographer one of her favorites: music.


We had a great time hanging out after Playette was done. There were other families present and talking to them and meeting their children was so much of the experience.

I told BD that we were leaving at least three times over two hours. It was so hard to walk away. (And not because it was special-special. It's just nice to be around people who I can tell without hesitancy that Playette will be three in June and not just "two" when asked how old she is because I don't want to hear the, "Oh. Well. She's so tiny," or the "She's not talking?")

We also met Katelyn, which was awesome for me because that little girl's face got me through a rough time after Playette was born. Seeing her on the Toys R Us catalog did something for me that I hope seeing Playette will do for others. I was inspired and it was an honor to be able to share that with her parents.

I didn't get a picture of Playette with Katelyn (they were both having too much fun to stop and pose), but I did get a couple of other opportunities.

At one point when I was chatting away, another parent came up to me and said something along the lines of, "I thought you might like to know that Sharon Stone is in the other room playing with your daughter."

And that she was. For a really long time, too. They got along quite well.


We also had the pleasure of meeting Lauren Potter of recent Glee fame. She told us that she started back filming the week prior so we can look forward to seeing her on the show again when the new episodes air.



Now that all of the photos for the book have been taken, the work begins on choosing just the right shots and putting it all together for final production.

I'll be sure to keep you posted as I learn more details and you'll see me cheesin' from here if Playette actually makes it in the book.