Talk of the Town!
So many wonderful moments happening these days with Maisie. Moments of joy, pride, fun and it’s times like these that take the edge off the hard stuff. So much of the day can be repetitive and boring, play dough, homework, making dinner, preparing lunches and bedtime! I hate bedtime! Or I hate the thought of it for many of those special moments unexpectedly happen then. Reading with Maisie and she’ll do something funny or endearing. I do feel relieved though once she’s in bed, as it’s easier with Evie now(that is as long as she goes to bed!) and Tom has put himself to bed this long time now. I used to make up stories for him when he was little, we called it “Tom and Bailey” (named after our doggy). It started out as their adventures together, expanding to all sorts of imaginative tales. Some of them were so good I imagined myself becoming a famous childrens author! I’ve put the time in when it comes to doing bedtime, but I know I’ll never regret that time well spent. It was my dad who read Peter Rabbit to me as a child and the importance of that special time still resonates with me.
More bedtime tales; so Maisie has a little bunny attached to her sleepsac. She’s had it since she was a baby and as she was tube fed I couldn’t offer her a soother so after time it became evident that bunny helped her get to sleep. It’s unbelievable when I see photos of her alongside it as an infant, seeing how small she was for so long. Over time Bunny has become a bit bedraggled looking with toothpaste marks on its nose from Maisie brushing it’s teeth to both arms now hanging off. But does Maisie love Bunny! At bedtime she’ll tell Bunny it’s story time and takes her up for a cuddle. She’ll show her all the characters in the book and say all the various names and activities, for instance “Joe’s teddy”. She has her favourite books such as “The Tiger That Came to Tea”. She has the actual teddy and Tiger likes to roar during the story so I often get a “fright” and she gets a great laugh out of it! She’ll pretend to eat all the buns and the cake too. Or in “The Hospital Dog” she likes to give the sick baby a kiss better. Then I give her a hug and a kiss and tell her how kind and wonderful she is. She smiles back at me, a smile that says “yes mummy I am”.
Here is a photo of Maisie with her Bunny from when she was tiny, and now still very much attached to the worn sewed up loved Bunny.
More words come every day and there’s even a little bit of attitude sneaking in. Maisie says “huh” loads now. She laughs when I copy her but she’ll say “what” clearly too. Maybe I should correct her “huh” but it’s very cute and funny and I love it. Maisie will say a combination of words and what you could call gibberish! I think she just loves to chat around us so she’ll make up the words she can’t say yet, and I’ll catch the words she’s saying but she can get frustrated if I don’t understand her. I’m guessing like an eejit and she’ll start to get upset. I need to distract her quickly and she is so lovely any distress evaporates.
At bedtime she’ll both speak and sign “Goodnight Daddy”, and says it carefully and with so much love.
As much as Maisie feels comfortable with her family and teachers (she also has a wonderful minder, Maja on a Friday) I’ve noticed how quiet she can be in some environments. She can be very chatty with the people she knows and is comfortable with, but at her local preschool although I know she is happy there she might not speak much. Yet this can vary from day to day, and I know she’ll always have a super day if her besties “Molly and Mason” are there.🥰 Maisie and I did a photo shoot for World Down Syndrome Day this week and she was in flying form and having fun yet when I played with her she wasn’t talking. It makes perfect sense that this could be the case as she was in a strange room with three new faces. I suppose I hope that in time she will become more confident in new places (big school for instance!) and as she puts more words together she will speak out more. Although I was very shy as a child and I’m pretty sure I didn’t speak up often, preferring to hide away in the background. Perhaps it’s a combination of environment, language and personality and I shouldn’t be worried about it either.
Maisie is in the spotlight at the moment, the star of the Down Syndromes Centre calendar (along with Cillian) and there’s more to come from her as she’ll be starring in Down Syndrome Irelands social media campaign for World Down Syndrome Day on March 21st. So watch this space for lots more gorgeous photos, videos and inspiring tales from this fabulous little girl!
I nearly forgot Maisie turned 4 last month so here she is eagerly eying up her chocolate cake. She had the most wonderful day🥳🎂🎈