Life Imitating Art 22/31

Hannah loves our local art museum.  It's the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond.  It's free!   They just installed a traveling exhibit by Dale Chihuly.  We'll have to go back to see that when we have time to ooh and ahhh.

We only had an hour to kill, so we wandered around.    We found ourselves looking at the Ancient Egyptian art,  Ancient Chinese, and then, surprisingly, ended up at "British Sporting".   We always like the bronze statues of farm animals.

As it turns out, our dog Hazel has several nickname.  Basil.  The Cow.  Hazeltine.  (and a few I'm not allowed to use)

The pig sculptor's name is Haseltine.

Here is life imitating art.

And again.

This bull actually looks a bit like Hazel.

Wherever we go, Hannah finds a way to have fun.   The museum guard even mentioned noticed that!

Mummies and Elvis. A match made in heaven.

Yesterday we went into the city.  We met with the director of a really cool arts program that seeks out children with disabilities.  It's an inclusive program that offers several classes covering a variety of performance arts--dance, singing, instrumentation.   It sounds really terrific--and, it's FREE!  There will be four teachers in each class--two who are trained in the arts field (dance teachers, musicians, etc) and two who have experience with diverse experience with children with developmental disabilities.  Half of the students will be typically developing.  At the end of the semester there will be a BIG SHOW, featuring Jason Mraz and many other performers, who will be sharing the stage with the students.  Hannah is VERY excited about this! She's signed up to join the Singing Hands choir (singing and signing) and the Modern Movement class.   The dance class is her favorite (even though she hasn't started it yet).  The modern dance performances will include computer sensors attached to the dancers that project color on the back wall of the theater during the dance. So cool!

And, there is a documentary crew that will be filming throughout the semester to make a film about how to make the arts accessible to children with disabilities.  Below is the preview.

 

After our meeting with the director, we went to the Virginia Museum of Fine Art.  It's our local art museum.  We go fairly regularly, since it's free.  In addition to their own extensive collections, they have traveling exhibits that require a fee--last year there was a terrific Picasso exhibit, which I saw with my friend Catherine (Lois's mom!).   The current exhibits are Mummies from the British Museum, and a photography exhibit of young Elvis, when he just signed his first record label.

The Mummy exhibit started with a 3-D movie!  We all liked that, but the rest of the exhibit was less interesting.  I guess after going the museum in Cairo, Kate and I were not impressed.  

Of course, Hannah was interested in the gift shop...

You KNOW that Hannah loved the Elvis exhibit!

Her souvenir choice was a pen in the shape of an electric guitar!

Miscellany

Time to catch up and fill in!

1.  When we had our second trip to Kennedy Krieger we received a copy of Hannah's EKG (did you ever wonder why it's an EKG when it's an ElectroCardioGram?  It originally came from the German, Elektrokardiogramm). There was a little glitch that Dr. Capone mentioned.  Hannah showed borderline LongQT.   This is when the ventricular electric charge doesn't re-charge fast enough to maintain sinus rhythm (potentially fatal).  Her EKG showed she was just over into the borderline.  The weird thing is that LongQT is a congenital problem--very rarely diagnosed.  It also can result as a side effect of certain medications.    Hannah was not on any medications. Obviously she's had a myriad of cardiac tests, catheterizations and surgery--LongQT never showed up. So, after a short freak-out session, we decided that it was just a screwy test result.  


We already had Hannah's bi-annual cardiology appointment scheduled later that week, so I brought the EKG report along.

Sure enough,  Dr. F's interpretation was that the EKG was "over-estimated".  That the measurement could be "estimated" was news to me. I thought that EKG was rather precise, but apparently there is room for human error in reading the results.

Dr. F.  did the most thorough cardiac exam that I've seen since Hannah's surgery 11 years ago. Hannah's open heart surgery repaired her 2 ASDs, 1 VSD, a PDA and a clefted mitral valve.  It's been so long since the surgery that I rarely think about it anymore.  Hannah was really interested in the echocardiogram, and the doctor explained everything--blood flow, pressures, mitral valve.  She even showed Hannah her liver and kidneys.

Hannah's stats are:  5'3"   116 lbs.  BMI 20.5  This puts her in the 75th percentile for both height and weight on the typical growth charts.

The best part was when Dr F. said Hannah was doing so well that we don't have to go back for THREE YEARS!

2.  Last week we upped the dosage of the "placebo/Rivastigmine". The first two weeks were at half-dose, so now she's on the maintenance dosage. So far she has not had any side effects (most common side effect: GI upset).  We are still assuming she's on the placebo.

3. Hannah has been unusually interested in words lately. She's been asking for definitions, which she's never done before.  "Mom, I don't know what does 'eager' mean?"   "What is migration?"  

She's also been trying new words that are not in her typical vocabulary:  "I'm sorry I was grumpy, Mom.  I was just feeling impatient."     When Bunsen was boisterously running around the house she said, "Bunsen, you make me concerned."

4. A year or two ago I tried to teach Hannah how to alphabetize. We fizzled out after a bit. She did well as long as there was only one word for each letter of the alphabet, but getting her to look at the second letter in a word (pain, plant) didn't go very well. This week we brought out the dictionary, letter tiles and random flashcard words.  She picked it up right away. I had her alphabetize a dozen words at a time (using an alphabet line).  Then I had her find each word in the dictionary. She gets a little lost using the guide words  finding words beyond figuring out the third letter:

I am excited that she's making progress and figuring it out!  Waiting until a child is ready for a particular task is key to success.

5.  Hannah successfully made a ponytail!

(I just noticed that the picture you see over Hannah's right shoulder is an 1851 Fasel print of Thomas Duston protecting seven of his children during  an Indian Raid.  To read more about an interesting story about Hannah's namesake, look here.)

6. Hannah just finished her latest series of art classes.  They worked on perspective and self-portraits.   Since my printer is not cooperating, all I've got are some pictures of her three-dimensional cube of her self-portraits.

All the students thought that the profile was the most difficult to draw.

I especially like the back and top-down views.  She really figured out how her hair must look from above with a barrette!

I

7. We all had a miserable cold 10 days ago.   Hannah still has some congestion.   She felt terrible.

8.  We finally found Hannah's camera, so she's taking tons of pictures and will be creating a picture blogpost soon.  Maybe.

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(click here for subsequent Research Study post)

#26/31 Art

Hannah completed her art session at our local Homeschool resource center on Monday.   Miss Jennifer is a great teacher!  Hannah's been taking classes with her for over two years.   Usually I stick her in the 6-11 year old class, but she's outgrown it (physically); she doesn't really fit in.   This session Miss Jennifer offered a new class for advanced students. Over the course of eight weeks, the class would work on just two projects, one was pencil, and the other was acrylic on canvas.  The focus of the class was on color scale--from light to dark tones, shading, etc.   Now, I wouldn't ever intimate that Hannah is an advanced artist (yet), but it sounded like a class she'd enjoy.  And the age range was 10-15.  Perfect.  Jennifer and I chatted and she quickly said she absolutely would love to have Hannah in the class.

Everyone in the class did a similar drawing, with a ribbon through the fingers of their hand.    Then Jennifer connected each drawing and built a long accordion style book.

(click to enlarge)

Hannah really enjoyed this project!  (She managed to squeeze in a little bit of an electric guitar in hers too.)

Her second project was a little more challenging.  The teacher brought in a variety of glass bottles.  The students were to imagine something made out of them.   There was a charcoal sketch, and then a pencil outline on the canvas.   They had to pick one color and make a tone scale (light to dark). Her favorite color is red (like Murray Cook, the Red Wiggle, and like Lightning McQueen).

Hannah thought about a castle.   Here's her charcoal sketch:

And her final painting.   My favorite part is that little duck in the bottom right corner. (And that other creature is a pony, not a rodent. I think the thing that looks like draperies is a stall in a barn.  Not sure though.)
 

She was very happy with the class, and she's proud of her hard work.  She's looking forward to starting a new class in January.

7/31 Art

Hannah detested coloring/writing/scribbling until she was 5 years old and no longer had an OT telling her what to do.    She avoided scissors like the plague.

Then one day she discovered crayons and coloring books.  And my life was easier.   Any time we had to wait at a doctor's office, or a restaurant, she was thrilled to fill her time with coloring.  Long car trips?  She could color for hours.  A new coloring book was a favorite gift.  A pair of scissors and some construction paper kept her occupied for quite a while. (And even longer when she had to clean up the mess!).   Throw in a hole punch and she'd be set for an afternoon.

As the years went by, she discovered that she liked to draw as well.  At her peak, she probably did some kind of coloring, drawing or painting for 2 hours a day.  She started taking art classes a couple years ago.  Her creations in class are quite different from the ones she does at home.   She doesn't have much carry-over.   That carefully executed self-portrait made in class is the only one that has any sort of real proportion.   That's okay.  We enjoy all that she creates.   I really wasn't expecting a child of mine to be artistic.   I am lucky if I can draw a stick. (No, not a stick person, just a stick.)    My idea of painting is using a roller on a wall.   James can draw.  He will sit and draw or color with Nan.  Me?  I'd rather bake muffins.

Hannah's moved past her "tape" phase of 6 months ago.  (Sorry to disappoint you Chrystal!)
In the spring she took a pottery class. She doesn't yet have the finely graded muscle control to use the wheel, but she has made some nice handwork pieces.

(that's a yellow turtle in the front)

This vase was my Mother's Day gift.

When she's motivated, she'll get out her paints.  We have a variety of paints, but usually she just goes with the Crayola washable poster paints.  She really that Little Tykes would make a tall version of their easel.  All the "adult" sized easels I see are not sturdy enough for her.  So she uses a tabletop easel left over from Occupation therapy.   

 
This one surprised me.  I don't know where she picked up the idea of a fruit bowl still life, but she created it from somewhere in her memory.

And this is one of my favorites. Again, from her memory.  She hasn't read Morris in a long time.

It's Morris the Moose (a very funny beginning level set of stories).  I like it because I think it shows that she tool some thought to figure out where to leave paint out.  She planned to leave the teeth white.  The visual processing is amazing to me.

 

If you haven't read Morris stories, I recommend them.  I prefer Morris over Amelia Bedelia.   The books are simpler than Amelia Bedelia, so the humor is more obvious. (And let me tell you, a concrete learner does not understand Amelia Bedelia.  She IS Amelia Bedelia.)

Having an artist in the house was the last thing I would have expected when Hannah was a preschooler.  Some things are best left alone to be figured out on their own time line.  I'm glad we dropped OT.  It gave her the freedom to explore on her own terms.

My Artist!

Hannah has had a big spurt in her artistic endeavors. She has cut back her coloring considerably, and now is into making odd (and frequently cute) mosaics using scissors, construction paper and tape. Lots of tape. Practically laminated with tape. That makes it difficult to scan or photograph.

She also has been drawing lots and lots.

At least 4 times a week we have an "art show" at the dinner table. No matter that there are only three of us. Usually I am the Emcee of the show, introducing the evening's selected artist, who invariably is our own Artist-in-Residence, Miss Hannah Duston. Then we page through the pile of papers she has produced during the day, sprinkling in descriptions and items of note. It ends with applause and a bow.

(One unsolicited tip, when admiring a child's artwork, never ever assume you know what it is supposed to be. You will be wrong more than 75%, and have a disappointed artist. The trick is not to talk about the elephant/rabbit/robot that might or might not be under a dump truck, but instead describe what you see in terms of color and movement: 'Wow! I see that you've used both crayon and pencil here. This red area looks really strong the way it arcs across the page...and this green part is really interesting. Tell me about it.' Don't judge and say, "This is BEAUTIFUL!!" because sometimes it might not be supposed to beautiful--and you won't know when it is.) (it does help if the artist actually labels her own art work) (end of tangent)

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm please to introduce Tonight's Featured Artist, Miss Hannah Duston! These are works done during her late 11 year old phase, with a final flourish from art class, received today in her portfolio. All other pieces originate from home.

First attempt at a penguin, tape

Mosaic construction paper on construction paper, COVERED in tape. Placemat size.

glitter glue, marker, on printer paper (please note yellow line on road)

tempera paint on construction paper

construction paper with crayon and pencil on printer paper; tape.

(how 'bout those eyebrows?)

Crayon on printer paper

Pencil and crayon on construction paper, notebook paper, with tape.

pencil and crayon on construction and notebook paper, with tape

colored pencils (Wizard of Oz fans will recognize the yucky apple trees)

A self-portrait from art class. Quoting the artist, "I was really crazy that day!"

Art class self-portrait a few weeks later.

We really are so proud.

Getting back into the groove!

Okay, I've had my cake, and ate it too. And the turkey, bourbon sweet potatoes, roasted carrots and beets, mashed potatoes, gravy, and two pies. I didn't do it all myself--I did have help!

We had a nice Thanksgiving. It seems like it was ages ago. And now we're on to Advent! I even remembered to pick up some of those chocolate Advent Calendars (plus an extra one for Chris' roommate). And I remembered that today was December 1st. So Hannah had a little bit of chocolate for breakfast. And probably will again for the next 3+ weeks.

A week or two ago I reminded myself that I usually quit schooling about this time of year. Ahhh. It was such a relief to remember that I could stop! I was starting to get a little frantic about all the "things" that needed to be done. But once I realized I could add a few hours to each day by not doing school, I relaxed. It's times like this that I really really like homeschooling. (Yeah--did you get that? Didn't I just say I really like homeschooling when I'm not doing it? Well, it's true. I love having the flexibility to start and stop as necessary.) I *almost* feel like I might be able to prepare for Christmas. We don't have a terrible schedule--just a couple of parties (umm...I think it's up to 6 parties so far), a piano recital, house guests, shopping, baking and baking.

One nice thing I noticed within a week of stopping schooling was that Hannah had a burst in her reading skills. She has been reading like crazy! And doing all kinds of drawing and coloring. Now that she's got extra time, she's putting it to good use.

Today I asked her to draw a Christmas picture to send to Katie. Here's what she drew:

I just love it. I think I want to make it into a Christmas card (which likely won't happen....I haven't sent any out in years). I don't know if she has ever seen a stylized tree similar to that, but we certainly don't have anything like it in our house. (I have to confess that I snatched the picture away to scan it before she added anything else--sometimes she embellishes excessively and then the drawing becomes unrecognizable--she's much more about process than product. She did add some very nice wrapped gifts around the tree after I scanned it.)

She's also been enjoying some of those magic marker stained glass coloring books. Most of her friends who have moved on past coloring books still enjoy working on these pictures to hang up in windows.

Even I have been known to open up a set of 50 fine-tip markers and dabble on one of these pages. There is something quite satisfying about completing a picture and holding it up to the light.

Off to bed with me for now--the piano tuner is arriving early in the morning, and then we're non-stop until supper time. Good thing there are just enough leftovers to last one more meal!

Erm. Umm. Yes.

Wouldn't you think that with only one child at home I ought to be able to at least be able to write a blog post every few days? Maybe? I think so. But, I am wrong. And I can't blame the remnants of Ida, though she has made everything cold, blustery and wet (6+ inches of rain so far).

The real reason is that I have been procrastinating. I am headed to Northern Virginia tomorrow. Saturday I am giving a 2 hour presentation on Literacy in the Down Syndrome Population. Of course, I've known about this presentation for many many months. But I waited until this week to polish up my rough draft. And then I had to completely revamp my hand-outs.

But I got it done, finally! After many stops and starts (the stops were mainly Facebooking and playing Zuma, and of course, Hannah-ing). I leave tomorrow for the whole weekend! I'm hoping to catch up with a few bloggers and homeschoolers up that direction, and then spend time with college friends who live in the area. Whoohoo! I am looking forward to all of it!

James and Hannah have big plans too. Tomorrow afternoon they are going to Lunar Golf. I didn't know such a place existed, but Hannah saw it while shopping with Kate one time. It's a black-light miniature golf course in the mall. She also has convinced James to take her to the food court and get some pizza. I think she's going to try to convince him that she needs another Webkin (NOT!!!). Saturday evening they are going to the Lipizzaner Stallion Show. And of course, Sunday is Football. They like to watch together. Well. Not really. James like to watch a game or two (Cowboys), and Hannah likes to draw nearby and eat snacks.

Speaking of drawing, Hannah picked up this book at the library:

(Ooh! You just witnessed me cleverly segueing into the deleted portions of my last post!)

I think she did a really good job following the directions in the book.

Here are a couple more. These are actually pretty small drawings--about 3 inches tall.

Hannah's theater class finished up today. They primarily work on acting skills, but at the end of the 8 week session they put on a short skit. Hannah had the role of the Queen in a very short and humorous production of Sleeping Beauty. Here she is practicing her lines with me. Two things of note in this video:

1. She makes a classic Down syndrome move with her hands and giggle when she got excited about nailing her first line "yeahhhhhh!". It's something, to me, that is really a bit endearing, yet goofy.

2. At the end, she tries to get me to come next to her so we could say her last lines together, since the entire cast says the last lines simultaneously.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

She did a really great job at the performance this afternoon. Her friend Clare was the Princess, and they were quite silly together. Here's one for the Royal Family Album.

I am really thankful for Hannah's friends. They are so accepting and they genuinely enjoy being with her. I know that's normally how friends are, but I remain amazed at how kind and generous they are.

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Breaking News!!! 10:50p.m.

I just got a phone call from one of the first moms who responded to my Worst Down Syndrome post. We've been corresponding for months as she's journeyed through her prenatal diagnosis. She has had a very difficult pregnancy, and tonight she will deliver her sweet baby boy via C-section. He will be nearly a month early, and hopefully his Daddy will make it to the hospital in time!

Right now she is alone at the hospital in Southern California. Please pray for her, the baby, and the doctors. I will update when I hear something.

UPDATE: William Leonidas was born November 12 at 10:07 p.m. Pacific Time. He weighs 5lbs 15 oz. and 18" long! He's doing well, but is needing a little O2 to keep his oxygen saturation up. Mom is doing well--she sounds good!

Concrete

Well, we do know that kids with Down syndrome have difficulty with abstract ideas. But Hannah is a regular Amelia Bedelia. She is so literal, so concrete.

Here are two examples from a finish-the-picture book she's been working on:

Sometimes I'd love to be inside her brain and really know what it's like in there! But we really have fun with what comes out of that brain.

Sweet girl(s)

Today Hannah spent nearly all morning coloring and drawing. She was at it for hours. She received a new set of crayons from Kate when we were in Minnesota. Crayola decided to get a sense of humor! We had a good time reading some of the new crayon names:

Banana mania

Canary

Electric lime

Eggplant

Unmellow yellow

Inchworm

Shamrock

Outer Space

Wild Blue Yonder

Neon carrot

Beaver

Tickle me pink

Fuzzy wuzzy

My personal favorite: Manatee

Hannah's best: Macaroni and Cheese

She worked for a long time on a picture of Giselle (from the movie Enchanted). It was for Daddy.

I told her that it was time to finish up to get ready for lunch.

She sweetly said, "But first I have to write a love note to Daddy."

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We had a small going away party for two of Hannah's friends this afternoon.

(this picture is from March at the Hair-Cut-a-thon)

These sisters are in our homeschool girl's group, and they are soon moving to Texas. They have their own in-home baking business: The Pattycakes. They make delicious cakes for holidays.

We went into the city for ice cream and to give them their Don't-forget-us-we-love-you-lots gifts: monogrammed aprons for their business. They looked so cute in them! I wish we had the chef hats to go with the aprons! After the ice cream we all went to another friend's house and the girls caught baby toads and found newly hatched birds in a nest. It was a great afternoon!

The Circus

Hannah is hopeful that she'll be able to go to the circus tomorrow! It's one of her favorite things and she's been talking about it for months. She drew this picture a few days ago. I love how she thought of the trapeze artists' hair hanging down, and it's the first time I've seen her draw a good approximation of an animal's back leg.



But, clearly, she's not well yet. This is how I found her in the late afternoon. Asleep on the floor with a fever. Hopefully today will be the day where she feels better!

Drawing

I don't think I've mentioned that Hannah is an avid artist. She LOVES to draw and to color. She hated it as a preschooler, but somewhere around age 5 she fell in love with crayons and markers. There is not a day that goes by without colors or paper. She really likes coloring books. When she gets a new one, she won't begin to color in it until she has read the entire story. I don't think I ever realized there actually is a story in most coloring books until I had to listen to her read one once. If she had her way, she'd have access to paint every day as well. We only paint about once a week...I'm so cruel.

Her love for drawing and coloring is great because she is always happy while waiting (doctor's offices, restaurants, meetings) or in the car. Like most homeschoolers, we also have a period of time on most days where we "car-school".

A few days ago she drew these, which are good examples of the things she likes to draw. (click to enlarge if you like)

Hannah on a horse. I like the reigns which go all the way around the horse's neck. Hannah is very detailed with ears--these are so big the riding helmet couldn't fit on her head!

"Monkeys swingin' on the vine."

"Madeline's house, covered with vines."