Off Topic a bit, but Very Important

I normally don't post stuff like this, but this is an extremely important topic.

There is a treaty put out by the UN called the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The US is the only UN country that has not ratified the treaty, which is a very good thing. This treaty would strip parents of their rights to their child’s education, health care and general raising of their child. It would give the rights that parents have now and should have to the child and the government. But, ultimately, if the child doesn’t agree with what the government thinks is best, the government will decide what is best for the child. This is horrible for our nation and will turn our country towards socialism.

We don’t hear about this on the regular news stations much, because most of the people pushing the ratifying of this treaty know that the average American does not want this perverted child’s rights.

But, there is a way to stop this, if everyone takes a stand against it. And that is in the form of a Parental Rights Amendment to the US Constitution. 7 Senators and 142 Congressmen are co-sponsors of this amendment already. But, the word needs to be spread more. This amendment would make sure that parental rights are not striped, even if the CRC were to be ratified.

You can sign an online petition at www.parentalrights.org. You can also see which of your senators and congressmen are co-sponsors of the bill. You can read the CRC and the Parental Rights Amendment at the above site too.

Parentalrights.org also has a video put together called “The Child” that goes into all the details, implications and problems the CRC would cause, as well as how the amendment would help. You can get the video for free or for a donation.  I’d suggest you watch the video and also get copies to pass out to anyone you know who could make a difference. The direct link for that is http://www.parentalrights.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={58D0E1F1-4EA2-45BA-9B40-941D71ED987F}.

The fact that some want the CRC to be ratified needs to be known and it needs to be stopped. If American’s do nothing, then our country will become like Germany in Hitler’s days – socialist and communist – and Americans will lose their freedom even more. The parental rights amendment is extremely important!

Please pass on to everyone you can.

Here is a short trailer on "The Child" documentary.

Recipe 11: Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yesterday I made 15 dozen gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. It took about 3 hours, which is why I don't make cookies all too often!

We made this same recipe for Thanksgiving and everyone really liked them. They're a hit this time too. And even made a good breakfast this morning, with a full glass of goat milk, haha!

I used the regular Nestle Tollhouse recipe just modified to make it GF.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yields: 5 dozen cookies

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups rice flour*
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
1 cup butter or margarine, softened (we use lard or shortening to avoid the dairy)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large egg
2 cups chocolate chips

*Note: We only used rice flour, but if you had any potato starch, about 2 tablespoons per 2 cups of flour would be a great addition to the recipe.  
 
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts.

3. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

4. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.

The stacks of cookies cooling!

Enjoy!  

(Remember, you can print this off with the printer friendly button at the bottom of each blog post!)

Vitamin E Supplementation

This study came through on of the DS listservs I'm on recently and I thought it would be a good study to share.

Cholinergic degeneration and memory loss delayed by vitamin E in a Down syndrome mouse model.

Down syndrome (DS) individuals develop several neuropathological hallmarks seen in Alzheimer's disease, including cognitive decline and the early loss of cholinergic markers in the basal forebrain. These deficits are replicated in the Ts65Dn mouse, which contains a partial trisomy of murine chromosome 16, the orthologous genetic segment to human chromosome 21. Oxidative stress levels are elevated early in DS, and may contribute to the neurodegeneration seen in these individuals. We evaluated oxidative stress in Ts65Dn mice, and assessed the efficacy of long-term antioxidant supplementation on memory and basal forebrain pathology. We report that oxidative stress was elevated in the adult Ts65Dn brain, and that supplementation with the antioxidant vitamin E effectively reduced these markers. Also, Ts65Dn mice receiving vitamin E exhibited improved performance on a spatial working memory task and showed an attenuation of cholinergic neuron pathology in the basal forebrain. This study provides evidence that vitamin E delays onset of cognitive and morphological abnormalities in a mouse model of DS, and may represent a safe and effective treatment early in the progression of DS neuropathology.

You can view the full text of the study here.

The Ts65Dn mouse is a mouse model of Down syndrome. It has been very helpful in doing studies on supplements and gene information for Down syndrome.

Basically, this study shows that Vitamin E can help alleviate oxidative stress, which is known to be elevated in DS. And therefore help delay some of the cognitive abnormalities seen in these mouse models. The cognitive abnormalities seen in both mouse models and individuals with Ds are elevations of amyloid precursor protein (APP), which causes plaques & tangles on the brain. This leads to Alzheimer's. Increased oxidative stress is also the cause of many cognitive and metabolic problems in DS, so to be able to lower that, is extremely beneficial. This study also found that Vitamin E can help with the problems that APP brings with it.

So, all in all, Vitamin E has a lot of potential for people with DS and is an excellent antioxidant (which was already known). O takes Vitamin E in his Nutrivene-D because of it's antioxidant properties.

Apraxia Issues

Well, I haven't kept this blog updated as often as I'd like, but so be it....life gets busy sometimes :).

On the ES listserv, we've been discussing Apraxia in DS. How it's so common and very often times misdiagnosed. I thought I would put up an email I wrote in reply to one of the mom's with the symptoms of Apraxia that O has. If anyone has any questions regarding Apraxia, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer.

I'll add a short definition of Apraxia from Libby Kumin's article, 

"Although many children with Down syndrome show characteristics of DAS, it is a term that has not been used to describe the speech difficulties experienced by children with Down syndrome. DAS describes difficulty in voluntarily programming, combining, organizing, sequencing and producing consonant vowel combinations. DAS is a descriptive label used when a child's speech difficulty is due to planning the motor movements and sequences of sounds for speech."

Libby Kumin's article on Apraxia in DS is very helpful and easy to read: http://www.riverbendds.org/index.htm?page=apraxia.html. I'll quote some of the symptoms she has listed and explain where O fits in that ....

"# Struggling or groping when speaking or trying to speak. He seems to be working hard to talk, but the correct sounds are not coming out."

---O: This is true for probably about 50% of what O says. He talks a mile a minute with us all and says so much. But, most of the time the words are not said how they truly are supposed to be pronounced or said. There are a handful of words that he can say clearly with NO problems at all, but not every word is like that.

"# Inconsistency in sound and speech production. One time, he can say a sound or a word clearly, but at other times he has great difficulty with the same sound or word."

----O: This is very true for him also, but again not 100% of the time. Like when he first started saying one of our friend's names - Teresa - he could say it perfect with the T sound and all. Now, though, her name has morphed into "Hada." And that's what he says all the time for her.

"# Difficulty combining and sequencing phonemes. He may be able to imitate or pro-duce individual sounds, but when he tries to combine them into words, he has difficulty, especially as the word gets longer or more complex. He can say "ham," but when he says "hamburger," it may come out as "hangurber." "Banana" may be "nabana." Sounds and syllables are frequently reversed. This reversal is known as metathesis."

---O: This is the classic signs of Apraxia that O has the most of. There are so many sounds he can say individually correct. Or, even words said correctly when they are by themselves. But, combining them with everyday talk is somethin' else that only comes by repetition!

A new Homocysteine study

This came through one of the DS lists I'm on and I thought it was a very informative study.  Having correct homocysteine is very important in DS, yet it is often times very hard to achieve. Especially since a lot of kids have a hard time taking too many methyl donors.

This is why O takes TMG & MethylB12. He is also sensitive to some methyl donors, as he can't take extra Folinic Acid.

Homocysteine concentrations in adults with trisomy 21: effect of B vitamins and genetic polymorphisms.

http://www.ajcn.org/content/80/6/1551.full.pdf

BACKGROUND: The effects of supplementation with B vitamins and of common polymorphisms in genes involved in homocysteine metabolism on plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) concentrations in trisomy 21 are unknown.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to determine the effects of orally administered folic acid and of folic acid combined with vitamin B-12, vitamin B-6, or both on tHcy in adults with trisomy 21. The study was also intended to analyze the possible influence of gene polymorphisms.

DESIGN: One hundred sixty adults with trisomy 21 and 160 healthy, unrelated subjects aged 26 +/- 4 y were included. Plasma tHcy, red blood cell folate, serum folate, and vitamin B-12 were measured. Genotyping for the common methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) 677C-->T, MTHFR 1298A-->C, cystathionine beta-synthase 844Ins68, methionine synthase 2756A-->C, methionine synthase reductase 66A-->G, and reduced folate carrier 80G-->A polymorphisms was carried out.

RESULTS: The mean tHcy concentration (9.8 +/- 0.7 micromol/L) of cases who did not use vitamins was not significantly different from that of controls (9.4 +/- 0.3 micromol/L). Plasma tHcy concentrations (7.6 +/- 0.3 mmol/L) in cases who used folic acid were significantly lower than in cases who did not. Folic acid combined with vitamin B-12 did not significantly change tHcy concentrations compared with those in cases who used only folic acid. Folic acid combined with vitamins B-6 and B-12 significantly lowered tHcy (6.5 +/- 0.5 micromol/L). The difference in tHcy according to MTHFR genotype was not significant. However, tHcy concentrations were slightly higher in TT homozygotes among the controls but not among the cases.


CONCLUSION: This study provides information on the relation between several polymorphisms in genes involved in homocysteine and folate metabolism in adults with trisomy 21.

A Gluten-Free Traditional Thanksgiving

Well, we were able to successfully pull off a gluten-free Thanksgiving. And ya know what, you wouldn't have known all the goodies were gluten-free unless you asked!

Now, it wasn't all dairy-free, but everything we brought was and we just kept the dairy stuff away from O's plate.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies....12 dozen of 'em :). I just followed the Nestle chocolate chip cookie recipe on the chocolate chip bag and exchanged the white wheat flour for rice flour (brown & white) & a little bit of potato starch. Also, added a little bit of Xanthan Gum. They turned out great!

Gluten-Dairy-Free Deviled Eggs....

Gluten-Free Ginger Snaps. My little sister made these. Yum!

Dairy-Free (at least cow dairy!) Chocolate Mint Fudge...we had a lot of fudge of various kinds thanks to my little baking sister :).

Jello of course....

A view of one spot of the desserts. Cookies, Lollipops & Fudge.

The turkey that was baked with butter. It was good, just had to be avoided for O.

Homemade lollipops (again, thanks to my little sister). Cinnamon Spice, Pumpkin Spice (delicious) & Lemon.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bread

Of course, the cranberries :).

Gluten-Free Cornbread Stuffing. It turned out really good! My grandma made this and she did a great job, even with making the GF Cornbread from scratch.

The hors d'oeuvres counter.

Goodnight!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, I've had a good, busy week and the rest of the week will probably be pretty busy too. We'll get back to some more regular, informative posts soon, Lord willing. Probably by next week.

But, in the meantime, have a Happy Thanksgiving!

"Waking Up" The Oral Muscles

For some kids, "waking up" the muscles is very beneficial, especially before doing more therapy. With some children it may be rubbing various textures on their skin, some may be massage and others may be vibration.

To help stimulate O's oral muscles before we do speech therapy, we use the Z-Vibe from TalkTools. You can just use your fingers, but since we have the Z-Vibe, that's what we use.

What we do is basically a quick facial massage to help get those muscles ready for some therapy :).

Using either a Z-Vibe or your fingers, press gently and move in small circles from the TMJ (see below) and down to the corners of the mouth. Go a long the bottom of the jaw (see diagram below) and also along the upper part of the cheek. Both to the corners of the mouth. Go around the mouth/lips, doing small circular motions. Then on the lips. With some kids, you may go "inside" the mouth on the inside of he cheeks, but we don't do that.

This is where you want to start the massage.

I drew on this picture the pattern that you want to do with the massage. Starting at each side of the TMJ and working toward midline with both top & bottom.

This will help "wake up" those muscles and also help firm & strengthen them.

I received a comment with a request for a recipe for homemade ranch dressing. Yes, we do have a recipe for it (gluten free, of course!) and I will try to post the recipe soon!

Recipe 10: Garlic Italian Dressing

This recipe is one of the easiest and yummiest salad dressings we make.  It's great for salads and also to use as a marinade for roasts. And of course it's gluten & dairy free!

Garlic Italian Dressing

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups oil
½ cup vinegar
2 teaspoons oregano
1/2 tablespoon parsley
1-2 tablespoons any other seasoning (i.e. Italian seasoning, marjoram, etc)
1 ½ teaspoons garlic salt
½-1 teaspoon pepper
4-6 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons garlic powder

Directions:
1. Put all ingredients together. We use a big mason jar to mix it all up in.

2. Once all ingredients are together, put a lid on it and shake it up!

More on Potty Training

Looking Up left a comment the post I did the other day in regards to potty training. She made a couple good points that I forgot to address, so thought I'd address them here.

I'm in total agreement with you on this issue. There's no point in pushing the potty training issue until a child is ready. Potty training may come later for kids with DS not just because they may be developmentally delayed, but also due to the hypotonia that many kids with DS have to contend with. (This includes the bladder muscles!) The reality is, while they may understand the concept of potty training, their little bodies may just not be capable of doing what we ask them to do at age 2 or 3. Incidentally, I have a friend whose "typical" child is 4, (about to turn 5) & nowhere near potty trained yet. :)

Hypotonia can definitely be a HUGE part in the potty training area. We've seen that with Osiyyah. The first few times we tried to potty train him, he'd go a little pee-pee on the toilet, but 10 minutes later be wet. It was like it would just "drip out" if he hadn't finished going all of his pee. But, he wouldn't necessarily feel that he hadn't gone all of it yet.

We even dealt with that when we started potty training him again this last time around, a few weeks ago. He'd go pee on the toilet, and then say "done!", but we didn't think he was quite done yet. So, we'd tell him to wait a little bit and see if anymore will come out. Sure enough just a few seconds later, he'd pee a lot more! Then he'd truly be done. I

t took a little bit of us making him stop to see if he had really gone all of his pee, before he would really get all of it out every time. Every now and then, he'll still think he's done when he hasn't gone all of it. But, it's not as common as it was when we first started a few weeks ago.

His body, muscles and understanding were definitely ready to learn potty training now.

A new Gluten-free book

There's a new book recently published by Woodbine House. It's called Gluten-Free Kids by Danna Korn.

I've only skim-read it so far, but it looks like a very helpful and informative book. Concise, easy to understand and well written.

It's $21.95 through Woodbine House. You can view it here.

Potty Training

Potty training can be a slower process for some kids with DS. We have worked on it off and on for the last several years. But, we've never pushed the issue, because Osiyyah didn't seem quite ready yet.

We've worked harder at it for probably about the last year. Osiyyah has gotten going poo-poo in the toilet real well and has been good at that for probably the last 6-8 months or so. But, when it came to going pee-pee, it was a lot trickier for him.

So, a few weeks ago, we decided to try him in underwear again and not go back to diapers. He's been doing fantastic. He's had a few accidents here and there, but overall he's been great. I think we're finally done with diapers during the day. He still sleeps with diapers because he'll be dry some mornings, but then wet some mornings.

Osiyyah is 5 1/2 and just now potty trained. We could've pushed the issue when he was younger, but it would not have been easy for him or us. So, we decided to wait and just keep trying. We figured, once he is ready, it will come and be pretty easy for both him and us. And that was the case. It's been very easy to get him potty trained in the last few weeks.

So, there's our experience with potty training :).

One more mention....

Alright, one more mention of the book. I won't keep posting stuff on it, but like I said in another post, I'm working on making it more available for folks for the next few days, so gotta have a post here and there :).

Today, I added a sale to the book....from now until December 10th, you can get 15% off the book by clicking here.

You can also get an additional 10% off by entering the coupon code "TURKEY" at checkout. So, that gives you 25% off the book! Pretty good deal, especially for a 589 page book!

Share with anyone you think may appreciate it.

Also, don't forget to "Like" the book on facebook, since we'll be giving away a free book when we reach 100 "Likes." We're a little over half way there :)!

How does Osiyyah take all his vitamins?

Someone left a question yesterday on the post regarding Osiyyah's vitamins and what he takes.

HOW do you get him to take this stuff? What do you put it in?

 Osiyyah takes his vitamins very easily, because he's been taking it all for so many years now. And he knows he has to take it, so he does it and then just takes a drink afterwards to help wash it down.

The best thing that we've found to mix it in is Apple Butter. It works very well, is a good consistency and seems to mask the taste great. But, most jams, fruit spreads or jellies will work too. Right now we're using homemade Zucchini Marmalade. I know that sounds nasty, but it is actually really good (made with a lot of jello, so you really have no idea it has Zucchini in it!). It mixes pretty well with the vitamins, although it is a bit thinner than Apple Butter.

Over the years we've used quite a few different things....pudding, caramel cream frosting (that worked well too!), natural fruit spreads, apple sauce, and more. But, for us, the apple butter & jams/fruit spreads seem to work the best.

I know some people use it in yogurt. We've never tried that, so not sure how well it would work or not. Others also use it in Smoothies. We don't like to mix it in some big amount of liquid or food, since we want to make sure he gets all the vitamins.

Hardcover!

Well, I'm going to take this week and maybe into next week to add more to the availability of our book. Today, I organized LuLu's storefront page for our book a bit more and also made a hardcover copy of the book available!

Yes, the hardcover is a bit more expensive than the paperback, but that's to be expected. A hardcover is $35.50.

I was also able to successfully get the book back out into the online marketplaces with the ISBN number, as we had a bit of an issue for a little bit with being able to buy from other places (like Amazon, etc).  Our book will also be available on Google's Book search within about 8 weeks, Lord willing. It will have a 20% preview available.

Stay tuned for more exciting things to come with the book. Don't forget to "Like" it on facebook on the left side of the blog here ;).

Osiyyah's Vitamins Part 2

Here's part 2 of the blog post I did on Saturday with a break down of the vitamins we give Osiyyah. Again, the chart is also located here.

Evening:
1) 3/4 of a scoop Nutrivene-D Advanced Daily Antioxidant Supplement (Microencapsulted powder)
2) 1/4 Teaspoon (500mgs) Life Extension Powdered TriMethylGlycine (TMG)
3) 1/2 lozenge (500mcg) Jarrow Formulas Methylcobalamin B12
4) 1 capsule Nutrivene-D Nighttime Formula

1) I think it's obvious why we give this :). Now, I will mention that we use the Microencapsulated powder because it does not taste near as bad as the regular powder.

2) TMG is given to help offset some of the bad effects of the overexpressed CBS gene, which causes decreased folate (due to a folate trap caused by the a messed up SAM cycle).

3) Methylcobalamin B12 is also given because of the overexpressed CBS gene to help normalize elevated MCV levels that can be there (which can mean a B12 deficiency) and help maintain good homocysteine levels.

4) The Nighttime formula is very good to help with growth. It has a couple amino acids in it which help stimulate the release of growth hormone.

Osiyyah's Vitamins Part 1

We have a list of the vitamins Osiyyah takes on the website, but I thought I'd break it down into a couple blog posts with reasons for why we give them.

Morning:
1)- 3/4 of a scoop Nutrivene-D Advanced Daily Antioxidant Supplement (Microencapsulted powder)
2)- 2 Nordic Naturals ProDHA Strawberry Flavored gel cap
3)- 1 capsule (25 mgs) Nutricology Zinc Citrate
4)- 1/4 teaspoon (1 dropper/100mg) of Honeycombs Liquid Ginkgo Biloba
5)- 2,000 IU's (1 drop) Carlson's Liquid Vitamin D

6)- 1 teaspoon (2,000mgs) Nutrivene Longvida Curcumin Powder

1) I think it's pretty obvious why we give Nutrivene-D. No explanation necessary there, I don't think :)!

2) DHA is extremely beneficial for the neurological concerns and the brain. We give him the strawberry flavored gel caps since they don't taste as bad as plain fish oil caps.

3) Zinc is often times low in people with Down syndrome and Osiyyah happens to be one of those. If he doesn't take 25 extra mgs of zinc a day, his zinc will be borderline low or deficient. That 25mgs of zinc is in addition to the 9 that is already in his dose of Nutrivene-D.

4) Ginkgo Biloba is a GABA antagonist and helps with some of the neurological pathways that need addressing in Down syndrome.

5) Vitamin D is extremely good for the immune system & bone health. It has recently been recommended to give additional Vitamin D, so we do that.

6) Longvida Curcumin is a very helpful antioxidant and has many other benefits for neurons and neurological concerns. We give it in the morning because we've noticed a big difference in Osiyyah compared to when we give it at night (more on that in another post, Lord willing!)


Part 2, with Osiyyah's evening vitamins, will come soon, Lord willing!

On Facebook!

I was corresponding with a mother who has a little boy with Down syndrome this past week and she was asking about different ways that we have advertised our book. She was giving ideas to help us get it out there more and advertise it more, since she has benefited from it so much.

One of the things we talked about was facebook. So, I decided to make a facebook page for it.

You can "Like" it on the left hand side of the blog, or you can click here to go to the page.

I will be adding some new things soon too. We'll be making a hard cover copy of our book available and also offering a special discount for a certain amount of time! Stay tuned :).

When the page gets to 100 "Like's", I'll have a drawing for one person to receive a free book! So, share with your friends and anyone you know who would benefit from this book.

Gifts From The Heart Foundation

I received a phone call the other night from a mother, Kim Adams, who follows my blog. It was a nice conversation and I even found out that her son was pictured in the Circle of Friend's book years ago (it was published 12+ years ago). The Circle of Friend's book was a very handy book that had a lot of info in it in regards to TNI and all. Our book is very similar to Circle of Friend's, yet has more new research in it.

Kim has adopted 2 children with Down syndrome. Her son is 16 years old and her daughter is 12 years old. She has also fairly recently started a foundation called Gifts From The Heart Foundation. It is a foundation similar to Make-A-Wish, but only for people with Down syndrome.

You can view her site here and her blog here.

It's November!

Well, it's November 1st, which means the 31 for 21 Blog Challenge is over. It was great to do and I hope y'all learned a lot :). I'll still try to keep the blog updated with a post a day if possible, but may miss a day every so often.

Thought I'd post a message here that I posted on the ES website list regarding the recommended blood work and some explanations for why.

This list below is taken from Dr. Leichtman's website.

    * CBC every 6 months until 6 years of age. (Looking for leukemia)
    * T3, T4 and TSH every year for life. (Thyroid testing)
    * Atlantoaxial X-rays at 2 years of age especially in active children.
(Looking for atlantoaxial dislocation)
    * Metabolic Testing:
          o If working through a local lab only: Obtain serum levels of Vitamin A, iron, ferritin, zinc, selenium, and homocysteine, IgA tissue transglutaminase anitbody, endomyseal antibody.

I think the first several are pretty obvious as to why you would get them tested. The other ones though...

Vitamin A - to make sure it isn't too high, since it's a fat soluble vitamin.

Iron & Ferritin to make sure iron levels are good.

Zinc & Selenium to make sure there are no deficiencies.

Homocysteine to make sure it isn't too low. Although this can be a tricky thing to test, because you may not even be able to get it to a good level even though you test. It's so hard and so Dr. L isn't even routinely doing homocysteine testing anymore.

IgA tissue transglutaminase antibody & endomyseal antibody are for Celiac Disease screening.

31 for 21: The Other Kids

Well, with the post I did yesterday in mind I decided to ask the rest of the kids in my family what's one thing they are thankful for or like about Osiyyah.

Here's their responses in age order:

E. (20 yrs old): "I like how excited he is to go on walks with the dogs, even though it's a common event."
N. (18 yrs old): "His stories."
S. (16 yrs old): "He talks to me all the time and really likes animals :)."
T. (14 yrs old): "I like listening to his 'stories.' And thankful that he's not 'normal' :)."
H. (13 yrs old): "He is a very good little cleaner and helper."
H. (11 yrs old): "He keeps everyone laughing and happy and is a great example to just not worry about anything and be a good servant."
R. (9 1/2 yrs old): "He makes me laugh a lot."
B. (8 yrs old): "He's happy all the time."
Y. (5 1/2 yrs old): "He's funny."

And if you want to see a list of some of the things Osiyyah likes to do, or is thankful for, you can hop on over to my sister's blog. She "interviewed" Osiyyah yesterday and asked him 21 things he liked or was thankful for :).

31 for 21: 21 Things

I've seen so many people do this over the years on their blogs and message boards, so I figured I'd try to do it as one of the last couple posts in the 31 for 21 Blog Challenge. I thought it may be a bit hard to do, to come up with 21 things about Osiyyah, but it was quite easy. And I think I could go on for awhile and do a lot more than 21 things!

21 things about Osiyyah that make him unique & that I'm thankful for!

1. His laugh. It's contagious.

2. His goofy grin where he makes his whole face scrunch up.

3. The way he says "dark"..."dwark." And, how almost every night recently he asks, "Why dwark?"

4. How he randomly waves and says "Hi!" to any person while we're shopping. I've heard stories from families with "older" kids who did this and now Osiyyah does the same thing!

5. How he crawls into my bed many mornings.

6. How he wants his big sister to wake him up in the morning when she gets up to milk the goats. But she never does, since it's early!

7. How he counts days down by how many more times we have to eat, sleep & milk the goats.

8. How he thoroughly enjoys the livestock auction. He counts down the days to it!

9. How he comes outside to the "mama bunny barn" (what he calls it) many times a day with me.

10. How he tells me every morning that he will carry the "kitty cat bowl" (of food) outside & I'll carry the "arlic" (garlic)...(the garlic powder is something we give the cats to prevent fleas).

11. How he laughs at himself, in a totally fake laugh, if he puts his sister's pink boots on.

12. How he says "Oops"..."Suh-ooo." Yes, it's backwards!

13. How he says, or rather sings "Molly"...."Molleeeeee!" It's the only way he will say that word with an "m" sound and not as "Bolly."

14. How he calls almost all animals as the sound that they make, not the word that they are called. Like goats are called "ahhhh" since they sound like that, haha.

15. How he acts out so many things in his talk.

16. How he likes to dance. And how he asks to dance by saying his variation of "dance" and tapping his little heel on the floor.

17. How he says his name, so perfect & clearly.

18. How he likes to take the bullmastiffs on a walk and then help his sister give them a bath.

19. How he asks if a food is allergy free..."No cow? No wheat?" If the answer is "Yes" to both of those, he excitedly says "Osiyyah!" and claps his hands.

20. How he says something is yucky or stinky. It's "ewwwie." Or, "ewwww" as he waves his hand.

 

21. How he likes to clean & help do chores. He does them so well!

I'm so thankful for the blessing God has given us in Osiyyah and the extra chromosome that comes with him. He adds such a fun dynamic to our family.