Porter's Christmas Presents

Everyone puts a lot of thought into Porter's presents. Presents that can make learning and working hard more fun not only help him grow stronger, but they keep him motivated. Here are this year's Christmas presents, and their purpose.

1. Imagine Elmo. This is Porter's favorite Christmas gift. We love it for a few reasons. First, Elmo asks Porter to follow some one and two step directions, like "Prince Elmo says tickle Elmo's tummy." We're working hard on following directions, so having one of his favorite characters ask him to follow directions is very motivational. Also, from a fine motor perspective, switching Elmo's hat requires Porter to use two hands...one to stabilize the toy and one to remove and replace the hat. 

2. JumpSmart Trampoline- This one was recommended by Porter's PT and works on core strength and jumping. Since Porter has very low muscle tone, the handle bars help him use his stronger upper body to help him strengthen his weaker lower body. The trampoline also has a few different music options (including the option to turn the volume up or down...hooray!), which are very motivational. Sister also loves this toy! It does have a weight limit of 80 pounds, so it's life span is limited, but it should really help him over the next few years. 

3. Fisher Price Drum Set Here's another one that works the core. Porter must actively engage his entire core to sit on the stool and play. He uses so many different muscles to push the foot pedal. And, it's so motivational- who doesn't love to make loud noises? 

4. Melissa & Doug Latch Board- this one is all about the fine motor control. And, Porter surprised us by figuring out how to open every latch! Each door has a number and animals to count inside. We're able to work on numbers, counting and colors along with fine motor. 

5. Bristle  Blocks- The set we got has people and wheels, which has made building extra fun! Bristle blocks offer sensory input, which means that Porter is more likely to play with them for a little longer. Lately he's been building birthday cakes and pretending to blow out the candles by himself. He's also been loving the cars that daddy builds! He requests trash trucks. Luckily he's got a pretty good imagination :) 

For a point of reference, Porter will be three in February. He's really enjoying these gifts! We recently cleaned out his play room, retiring many of the "baby" toys and sending them on their way to cousins. His ball pit (inflatable pool filled with balls) and climbing blocks stayed, but we made room for the new toys and he seems to be pretty happy with the results!

Oh Christmas Tree! 2014

We took our annual trip to Varner's in Collegeville, PA for our tree. I'll let the photos do the talking, but we had another great adventure as we hunted for the tree. We ended up with a 13.5 foot white pine. She's gorgeous. And we have yet to finish decorating, so we'll have to post an updated photo later this week. In the meantime, here are some photos from our tree-hunting adventure. Both kids were really into it this year. Porter especially loved the horses. And Penny looked forward to hanging out with the Nativity scene before we headed home. We just barely got the angel on. The ladder was needed to string the lights. We currently have ornaments on the bottom 2/3 of the tree and need to pull the ladder back out to finish off the top :)

 

  

 

Santa! Santa! Santa!

Hey Santa! We've had so much fun visiting you this year! We saw Santa at the mall with Grammy & Pa.

We saw him at the Down syndrome holiday party. 

We saw him at Chocolate World! And at Daddy's work.

 

We saw him with our friends at brunch. 

And even on the train!

We're all smiles this year and Porter is very intrigued by Santa's beard. So far, Penny has just asked for "Frozen stuff" and Porter has just said "Hi Santa!" about a million times. I was surprised to find that Penny actually enjoys candy canes. I'm also surprised that Porter has not yet tried to yank on Santa's beard. So far, it's been a magical Christmas season!

A Visit From Grammy & Pa

Grammy & Pa came for Thanksgiving. Penny takes these visits very seriously...she has a list of favorite things she likes to do with them...baking, reading, taking Grammy to dance class, playing pretend. She got started as soon as she could...she & Grammy baked brownies on the first night of their visit :)

Porter helped too! He loves to help in the kitchen!

As we got ready for Thanksgiving, they made cookies and pies and all sorts of wonderful things together!

Some of their favorite memories are made in the kitchen :)

And who knew cookie cutters could be such fun...Penny & Pa made up a game with the fun new gingerbread cut outs.

Grammy has patience for miles!

They had a blast!

During their visit we took a trip to Hershey.

We had never been there for Christmas before...it was awesome!

We toured Chocolate World and made a few friends.

We saw Santa!

And got treats!

Then we headed over to the park for some fun.

They had so much fun measuring up.

And picked their favorite candies!

They loved the rides. It was the first time we've been able to put Porter on a ride alone with Penny and boy did they have fun!

Beep Beep!!!!

The lights in the park were beautiful!

And the Sweet Lights drive that followed was so cool! We had a great day and a great visit! Thanks Grammy & Pa!!!!

Santa Train 2014

Santa Train 2014 was another great day at WK&S! It's small little railroad, the ride is not too long and the kids have a great time! Frosty was there to greet everyone.

 We had some friends along for the ride this year. Our old neighbors, Liam & Noah, came to join us. And Nana and Papa came along for the ride too!

 

 These two love the train ride. We don't tell them where we're going until we get to the parking lot, so it's fun to hear them guess where we're headed as we drive to the middle of nowhere.

 Penny is a big fan of Mrs. Claus. This year, Porter was too!

 Their favorite part of the ride is the visit with the Big man himself :)

My favorite part of the ride is seeing all the history the train cars hold. There are old fashioned luggage racks, the seats move so you can face forward or back and the wording on the walls gives insights into days gone by. The gift shop sells all sorts of train memorabilia and the snack shop sells wonderful soft pretzels. It's a fun little ride. We're already looking forward to next year!

A Christmas Book A Day in December

One of our December traditions is to read a different Christmas book each day during the month. We try for a good mix of books- for books about Jesus and books that will help them understand where traditions come from and books that are fun.

I love Christmas books. They tend to have great messages..."At Christmas we give, so give it your all."

Some have been passed down from our families, like this that was a gift to RC from Grandma in 1982. We have some from when Nana was a little girl. I love knowing that the pages were turned with love by our families! 

We love this December tradition and can't wait to carry it on for years to come!