New Learning Materials!

I attended Carter's open house at HSDB tonight, and I swear every time I go to a school function or family ASL event, it gets me so fired up to learn more about the deaf community and ASL. So! I bought a few things at the book fair to help Carter and some family members with learning new signs.

The book and flash cards are pretty self explanatory. The book has a lot pictures and is easy to read, so it's super kid-friendly. The DVD is a story told by an interpreter that's very expressive, and it was recommended for Carter by the lady at the library. She said kids love this DVD. And lastly, I bought labels for the home. It's pictures of things around the house with the sign shown next to it. I plan to put Velcro on them and place them on the actual objects. For example, the label for table will go on on our actual dining table, that way Carter can relate to it better, and hopefully will pick up the signs easily. 

I didn't buy these flash cards tonight but I've been working with Carter on these for a while. I'll show him the flash card, then do the sign with it so he sees it's related to each other. I try to do the alphabet every night, and I'll do the other two every other night. I know one of them says Spanish but I mostly use those for the pictures and "sayings". See below. The alphabet and Spanish flash cards are from Walmart and the other one is from Amazon. 

And these are what the alphabets look like...

Happy 5th Birthday

I debated for weeks on what I wanted to do for Carter's 5th birthday. It's a HUGE milestone! I finally settled on taking him to  Wet n Wild (water park) with just us, then Chuck E Cheese with the whole family and friends. 

Since we've never been to the water park, Carter had a blast! We stayed all day in the kiddie section that had small water slides and water falls. He loves the water so he just jumped right in... No fear, I swear! Wish I took more pics!

His actual birthday landed on a school day, so I made 'dirt cups' for his class. Because Carter is on the gluten-free diet, the pudding was perfect for the kids. They all 'sang' happy birthday to him in ASL... It was the cutest thing ever! 

Later that evening, we met with friends and family at Chuck E Cheese. Everyone had a great time mingling while eating pizza (which btw, is the best pizza ever!). And it was a total bonus that they serve gluten-free pizza now! And Carter and his friends of course couldn't get enough of the games. He hated the show though. He just wanted the cupcakes! Haha. 

The birthday boy!

Make a wish!

The goodie bags

About to open presents!

So much fun!

And so many to open

Happy, happy boy!

Meet Carter-Zion

If I had to describe my son in three words, it would be... ecstatic, strong, and carefree. He's definitely the light of my life and even though, he's a handfull, I wouldn't change anything about him for the world. On August 19, 2008, God gave me the sweetest, littlest blessing. It was a bittersweet moment. He was so perfect! I couldn't believe I made this beautiful thing, I needed someone to pinch me to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Touching him for the first time took my breath away, sounds so cliche, but really, it did! A couple days later, we were told by the doctors that he was diagnosed with ring partial trisomy 13 - a chromosome disorder. Supposedly, this is a rare disorder. The doctors couldn't really give us much answers, other than it is somewhat related to trisomy 18 and 22. It was really disappointing not knowing what to expect. We did a lot of research on the internet and found that ring parital trisomy 13 means that Carter has extra and missing information in his thirteenth chromosome. Where the information was cut off, the chromosome created a ring or circle. Some of the effects of this was polydactyly in both hands and feet, hearing impairment in both ears, and celiac disease. Because of this ring partial trisomy 13, we were told to expect developmental delays. Carter is now 5 years old... and thriving! It's been a long and encouraging journey for this first-time mom, but wouldn't ask for anything more or less. This blog was created to share the beautiful moments of Carter's life and hoping that it will inspire each reader. Enjoy!

Carter Zion - 5 years old