Wordless Wednesday

Tell me Mirror

Mirror...
Mirror...
Tell me Mirror...

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That was not the one..... Got into 'Just Kiddin'

That was not THE ONE :(. Even 'My Little Company' refused to take Navya. The Branch Head had seen Navya and had no issues admitting her. But one of the Directors had issues, again same reason was given. We are not well equipped to handle her. We had sent a request mail too, but they haven't got back to us yet. I think that's the easiest way to avoid further fights.


So we started searching again, found 'Kidzee'. We liked the place; they were fine with Navya's gross motor delays. We had not mentioned anything about DS. But our PT told me Kidzee takes kids with special needs. The only issue was - it was bit far from our house. We had kept it as an option.

Today around 1pm I checked one more place called as 'Just Kiddin'.
I explained what kind of delays Navya has and all. So she wanted to have a look at Navya before saying yes. I told her I will get Navya back in 30 mins. This time too, the felt they are going to refuse. The Head suggested me to wait for another 6 months and then try saying 'let her be independent first'. But getting admission in Nov session would be tough, so we will have to wait for another year.
This time I pushed and mentioned I can provide the personal care taker for her. But then again the Head said 'Let me have a look at the child, as most of the times kids are very smart and they are above our expectiations'. Then we agreed to meet within half an hour as there was just one seat left for the afternoon batch.

We went there again at 1:30. Navya was dressed in pretty Blue dress.
As soon as we entered the Head and other staffs smiled and said 'Hello Darling'.
Navya smiled and waved back. I made her sit on the table. Navya was very curious, was busy checking the place. Then she noticed a 'Ganesh Idol' and she started doing 'jai jai' (praying).
By this time the Head was impressed. So in just two minutes of our arrival, she said 'Her refluxes and understanding is perfect. We will have no problem admitting her'. :)

Hurray!

School is starting from 16th June. Timings: 11 am to 1 pm.
It’s within a kilometer range from my office and home. Fees are also less compared to other play schools.
Hopefully this is the one we had been looking for.
I am super happy today, as we did not have to convince anybody, nor have we hidden anything from anybody. It was Navya's Maya (magic) which worked. :)

Found one :) and Life Begins at 30

"My little Company"  Yes that's the name of Navya's Office (Ashish has asked me not to call it a SCHOOL, he says call it Office, Navya is too young for school. :))


We got a warm welcome from the team there. Navya liked the place a lot; she wanted to play there right away. I am sure she will enjoy there.
I had seen the place a year back, we were thinking to put Navya there for Day care, but things did not work out because of my odd office timings.
The admission process will be done on Monday. Navya will join her office from June 16th. :)

There is one more news - Ashish has started writing his own blog. Its name is 'Life Begins at 30', pls. check it here  http://maverick2311.blogspot.com/

Play school update

Well, we haven't got into any yet. Collected info on various other play schools close to our place. Will visit one by one.
I spoke to one mother yesterday; her child with DS was going to Tree House. Her experience was bad. I really wonder how they can do this to such a small kid. These days lots of private playschools are coming up with various promises, we parents fall for those big brand names and pay heavy tuition fees. I wish there was some regulations on these private playschools.

I was very angry yesterday; I knew I will have to fight. But at playschool level????? I was angrier with the remark of having a Special Educator for Navya at such early stage. She doesn't need any special educator right now.
At this stage I just want my child to go to an interesting place, play there, and interact with other kids. That's all. I wish Navya had a sibling.
The mother I mentioned above also said  'Put Navya to a playschool where they will take her happily. We can certainly send a notice to the school. But it's just the beginning and we will have to fight at school level too, so reserve energy for that'. I see a point there.

And thank you all for your comments, I think I am not going to tell everyone right in front about Navya's DS. Let them ask questions. Will try and find a place where Teacher:Kids ratio is small.
The session would be starting by mid June, need to finalize before that. Will keep you updated.

Bye the way below playschools happily take kids with special needs and they have special educators. Unfortunately we don't their branches near our home.
    Kangaroo Kids
    Tigger Kids

And the battle begins...

Just got a call from 'Tree House' that "They can not admit my child to playschool, as my child has down's syndrome and she needs to go to a special school. Whatever the teacher will teach (????) in school my child may not understand it and they don't have any special educator with them. So we can not take her"

WHAT THE HELL?????
Have they seen my child? how can they say she will not understand whatever is taught in the class???
Bye the way what do they TEACH in class???? in a pre school playschool????
By law they can not refuse admission to my child?
Why the hell they don't have any special educator?? They are there to make money, aah I missed it.
Pls don't ask me to mind my langauage, hope you understand how angry I am.

But seriously, what can I look forward? Getting into a mainstream school would be just a Dream?????

I think I should stop writting now.. I am just too angry and disappointed right now. They said NO for Playschool... this is just too much to take..

Any lawyers out there???? Mommies did you face this issue?? Anybody from Mumbai out there????
Are there any other playschools, which happly take differently abled children???
Please leave a comment here....

Dance Video

A month old but worth watching her moves :)

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I wish....

I wish I had told ALL my dear and closed ones about Navya's diagnosis on the very first day. 

I don't know if I have ever mentioned it here - Navya was born on 6th Sept and we got the chromosomal results on 14th Oct. Meantime Ashish did not tell me or anybody that Navya was showing symptoms of Down's Syndrome. He kept it to himself with the hope that the results could come back negative. So when I saw the reports, I was shocked, I had never heard of the word DS, my doctor did not even mention it to me, forget about tests. I googled on it and was in terrible shock. I was so fearful that my parents/relatives will not be able to take this, we were not sure how our relatives would react and thought our parents will not be able to face our relatives remarks. How silly!

Me and Ashish decided to get STRONG enough to face everyone and all their queries and then only tell people openly about it. We did not want anyone to feel sad for us and most importantly treat Navya any different way.

BUT

I wish I knew, we have a very supportive and understanding set of relatives and Friends.

I wish we would have told them on the very first day; the healing and acceptance would have come easily.

I really wish......

THANK YOU ALL for showering our baby with so much love and care. We feel truly Blessed.

Posting some old pics (Nov 2008). Pics from Navya's First Diwali. There were just three of us that time.

Product Review Monday - Your Baby Can Read

Starting from this Monday, I am planning to write the reviews of things we have tried and been using. Hopefully this is useful.

Product -  'Your Baby Can Read'

Why to Introduce?

There are varous claims from Dr.Tizer who invented this program, you can check them here.
I clearly remember the day, it the first time after receiving Navya's diagnosis I met my Gynaecologist, she was feeling very sorry for me. She was willing to prescribe some anti depressant tablets for me. But that was not all I wanted from her. I asked how would be my baby. She said 'your baby would be mentally retarded. Meaning she can walk and play but she will never be able to read or write'. I felt terrible that day.

Thankfully, in few days I met a wonderful lady  Mrs. Noni Khullar'. She runs a wonderful school 'Akshar'- the first fully integrated school in Kolkata. Her first child 'Dhruv' has 'Down's Syndrome'. I remember Noni Maa'm telling me to introduce Flash cards to Navya at the age of 15 months. And at that time she also told me teach her the words in whole as in teach 'cat' as 'cat' and dont separate out the letter as C A T.. CAT..

So as soon as I saw the ad of this product, I knew this would be useful. The other thing which she has mentioned is Stimulation. Stimulate as much as possible, the neurons in brains should burn (if thats the correct word). Take her wherever you go, shopping, restaurants, malls everywhere. Dont loose a single opportunity to show her something new. So that more and more numebr of neurons burn/light up and connect. I believed it in as Mrs. Noni has raised Dhruv so well, at the age of 16 he can speak fluent english, plays golf better than his father, a computer savvy and into many more things. 

To summarize I Introduced this program to Navya

1) For Stimulation
2) To introduce New words
3) For my child to read - any reading is good as long as it benefits my child. I know there are somem oppositons to this approach. but as we have been told that there could be problem in reading area then why not introduce this.And eventually the child will learn the phonic reading. Dr. Tizer has mentioned that on this website too.
4) And these days Navys demands to watch TV wherever possible - so we introduced these DVD. This keeps her busy and I can take care of my cores SOMETIMES :)
Our Experience
It's been a little over a month we have introduced 'Your Baby Can Read' (Starter Level )Flashcards/Picture cards to Navya. within a weeks time she started recognizing 'hi' word. We continued showing her falsh cards. Now she can recongnize and sign for all most all words from Starter Level. Now we have introduced Level 1 Flashcards/Picture Cards to her.

She can recongnize and sign below words (actually I could remember only these words)
hi
nose
toes
clap
arms up
elephant
mouth
wave
tiger*
eyes
Gorilla*

* I am not sure if she understands it. As I don't know how to sigh this. Navya knows sign of 'Monkey' but this DVD sets has all 3 words Monkey, Chimpanzee and Gorilla..  :(
Will try to post a video. Btw we purchased a Sony Handycam on the eve of 'Akshay Tritiya' (It is supposed to be an auspicious day for purchasing valuable items/gold)

Product Details

To Purchase in India

I ordered from here http://www.tbuy.in/yourbabycanread.php

Cost: Rs. 5000/- Inclusive of Shipping charges (shipping charges are less in Tamilnadu state)

Is anybody else using this program.What do you think? Let me know your views about the program.

Pray for our Sweet Ella Grace

Just got to know that Our Sweet Ella Grace is beginning her battle with Leukemia.

Please Please Please pray for our sweet girl and her family.