Yesterday Kate received a gift card to Mastermind Toys from some friends that reminded me I should tell this story.

I’ve mentioned that Kate’s communication is increasing. We’re seeing great evidence that her receptive language is awesome. On Family Day weekend, Kate, Jamie and I went shopping for a birthday gift for one of Jamie’s friends. We went to Hobby and Toy Central in Kitchener to pick out a stuffed animal. Kate walked me over to the stuffed animals and selected a blue dragon, very similar to the red one we bought Jamie in Oct 2011…the one Kate has loved and tried to make her own for over a year! She pulled this new blue dragon off of the shelf, got down to the ground and crawled away from me. She put it under her tummy and lay on top of it. In her big fluffy winter coat, I panicked and thought she must be seizing. Once I lifted the hood so I could see her face, I could easily see her huge smile. She was making a choice. She picked out her own toy!!! She giggled a sly giggle and I knew we weren’t leaving that store without that dragon. It was a super cool moment to witness. She’s developing and growing up!!

We are also working hard at modeling Kate’s PODD communication book. It’s easy to do at meal time. I’ve seen her identify “yummy” a couple of times. If it weren’t for all the learning I’m doing right now about communication and literacy, I would have assumed it was a coincidence. However, I now know to assume competence. It’s empowering.

Tonight we had Grandpa Mark over for dinner. Kate was working on her walking and chose to walk to him 3 times. It’s so cool to see her make decisions, to go to the person she wants to. She hung out in Grandpa’s arms afterwards, watching The Lorax music videos on her iPAD. I think it’s a bit ironic that Kate loves The Lorax movie so much. The quote on my rock from my parents at Kate’s Place is from The Lorax. She’s so smart…she’s made the connection! And really, how can one not like a movie that’s colourful, musical, and has an important environmental message! So smart! 

This week was a good week. I need to write about these moments so I can remember them later. At the beginning of the week, we had our first meeting about Kate attending her local neighbourhood school. It went WAY better than I ever imagined!

It is so cool to watch both of our kids excel in their own way. Swimming lessons is something that brings us so much joy. Kate is now in the preschool swimming lessons. She swims in her ring so she can have some independence and learn some new skills without Mom, Dad or Grandpa being there! This week showed large improvement. Kate wore the life jacket really well. She did some assisted jumping into the pool. AND she followed one step instructions and swam for a toy…all by herself! She did this over 5 times! Her teacher would throw the toy and ask Kate to swim to it. Kate swam in her ring toward the toy each time. It is so cool to see her succeed like this! Just awesome! It’s great proof that she’s so capable of learning. She’s really showing us that she understands what we are saying.

Meanwhile, Jamie is doing well in his lessons. He’s the smallest kid in his swim class, but that never stops him. He jumped off the swim block today. He also used a pole to get himself down to the bottom of the pool. It’s always a fun night, but this time it was extra special as both kids tried their best and exceeded their expectations.

At the end of the week, Kate and I spent the afternoon cruising the mall. She walked the entire way holding my hand, side by side, fom Old Navy to Bath and Body Works. We stopped at lots of windows. Kate loves the ones with loads of colour and lights! People would smile at her as they walked by because she can’t help but make people smile! If someone would walk by and not notice her, she would giggle and cackle at them until they would see her smiling up at them. I’ve never seen one kid make so many people happy. It was such a typical thing to do with your daughter. I thought I’d miss out on moments like these, but that’s not the case with Kate. She’s an awesome little shopper. I loved every moment.

Finally, Kate is working really hard at standing up on her own. She’s constantly popping into the bear crawl position. She’ll look at you upside down while doing her super flexible version of downward dog. Tonight she did it with only one hand as support and she figured out she needs to pull her body up to stand. So satisfying…there were those who said she couldn’t motor plan! As if! She’s a rock star.