Halloween 2009

Last Day of School

Addi's last day of pre-k, with Ms. Cheryl, Ms. Stephanie, and Ms. Jana. Thank you teachers for an awesome school year!

Second Gymnastics Competition

Addison just completed her second "competition" at Oklahoma Gold. Many thanks to her wonderful coaches Lauren and Kayla!!!

Addison's First Swim Lesson

Addison's completed her first swim lesson today. She loves the pool and really likes Coach Theresa!

John C. McGinley and the R Word

John C. McGinley, who has starred in Scrubs, Platoon, Any Given Sunday, Wild Hogs, and many other movies, speaking about the R Word on the Bonnie Hunt show.

Addison's First Special Olympics Event

Addison completed the "Stars of the Future" today held at the University of Oklahoma. This is her first Special Olympics event to participate. At this event, the Stars of the Future athletes go through winter sports stations, receiving training in basketball, volleyball, and bowling events. In the upcoming Summer Games in May, she will go through about a dozen stations, receiving training in track & field events.
Tube Crawl

Big sis Kennedy in the Tube Crawl

Basketball

Hockey

Dad, Mom, Papa Ernie, Addison, Nana Rita, Great Grandma Moberly, Aunt Brenda, Sister Kennedy, Cousin Travis, and Cousin Ashley

Our 2 Little Reindeer

Big sis Kennedy and Addison

Speech Therapy with Candace

Addison attends speech therapy at Univeristy of Central Oklahoma Speech Clinic. Each semester, she works with a new graduate or undergraduate therapist and this semester, she worked with Candace. Addison enjoyed her weekly sessions with Candace, who did a great job. Thank you Candace and we wish you the best!

Halloween

Addison and her big sis Kennedy dressed up for Halloween!

2008 Buddy Walk

This year’s Buddy Walk was held on September 20th at the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark. It was a beautiful day for the Buddy Walk and over 2,000 people attended. Thanks to those who were able to attend and walk with “Addison’s Army”.

Rebecca and Addison were interviewed on the local news the morning of the Buddy Walk. To see a replay of the broadcast, scroll down to the next posting below.

The financial support we received from generous supporters, was overwhelming. The local Buddy Walk raised over $140,000, with Addison’s Army contributing over $9,000. As a result of the generosity, Addison’s Army was the one of the highest fundraising teams!

The Down Syndrome Association of Central Oklahoma (DSACO) has no paid employees and is completely run by volunteers. As such, we are able to utilize donations to fund program activities and not to pay for administrative salaries. The donations will be used for program activities that include pre-natal diagnosis outreach, new parent information, parent to parent meetings, and educational workshops.

We appreciate the participation and generosity in support of Addison’s Army, DSACO and the Buddy Walk this year!

Addison & Bec on TV

Rebecca and Addison appeared on KWTV Channel 9 this morning to promote the Buddy Walk. Rachel Coleman, host of Signing Time, and Rebecca and Addison, discussed the benefits of signing, as well as described the events of the day. Here's the replay:

Alternatively, you can click here for a replay of the clip from the KWTV website.

Newspaper Article

The Daily Oklahoman published the following article about Addison, Signing Time and the Buddy Walk.

Speech with Amy & Greta

Addison receives speech therapy at Mercy. Amy, on the left, is Addison's speech pathologist at Mercy. Greta, on the right, works with Amy. When Addison was first born, she spent 21 days in NICU at Mercy. During this time, she had feeding issues that required the use of a Haberman bottle (bottle designed for children with cleft issues). Due to the nature of the feeding issues, Greta was actually the first person to ever feed Addison by bottle. Greta spent many hours teaching Addison and us how to use the Haberman bottle. She taught us how to support Addison's checks and chin while feeding her.
Thank you Amy and Greta!!!!

Thanks Abby!

Today was Addison's last day with Abby. Abby has been Addison's speech pathologist at Univeristy of Central Oklahoma Speech Clinic for the past 7 months. She is continuing on with her studies and will be graduating soon. Abby was great with Addison and was able to keep her on task to make the most of their sessions. Thank you Abby!!! We will miss you!!!

Gymnastics

Addison continues her weekly gymnastics practice at Oklahoma Gold. She's in a regular class and is doing very well, with the help from her awesome coaches, Wendy and Kayla.

Horseback Riding

Addison continues horseback riding at Coffee Creek Riding Center . "Papa" Ernie and "Nana" Rita take Addison once a week to these sessions, where they emphasize muscle coordination and speech development.

Addison and Nana

Addison and Papa

Addison with volunteers

Flower Girl in Wedding

Today, Bec's cousin, Michael, married Darra, and Addison was one of the flower girls. She walked down the aisle just fine, but decided she wanted her Papa Ernie once the wedding had begun.

Kennedy's Thoughts on Addison

Once again, Addison will be in the Bountiful Blessings calendar for 2009. This calendar is published yearly by the Down Syndrome Association of Central Oklahoma (DSACO) to raise awareness for Down syndrome in our community. For 2009, Addison and Kennedy will be featured as a "profile", with a theme on siblings. Her big sister, Kennedy, 6, had the following comments to be included in the calendar:

"I really like having a little sister. We like to watch movies, put puzzles together, play outside and I like to teach her. My sister has Down syndrome and Down syndrome is to learn a little bit slower. Down syndrome is good, it is not a bad thing. We are sisters and we love each other so much. When I get big, I am going to have three kids, a boy, a girl and Addison. I am going to take care of Addison forever and ever."

And, a few pics with the girls:

First Gymnastics Competition

Addison just completed her first gymnastic "competition" at Oklahoma Gold Gymnastics! This was her second session in the "Parent and Me" participation, in which Bec and I participated in each session. She did very well and for the next session, we plan on moving her up to the next progressive class where we won't participate during the session (i.e. she will be following the coaches instructions without a parent). She had a great time and we really appreciate Coach Emma's instruction.





You can view the entire album here.

Another Blog

Here's another Blog, written parents of a child with Down syndrome. It's very informative and well crafted.