Blog #Montessori

I love Spring, everything feels and looks nicer and after enduring two months of constant rain it is a joy to see brighter days and daffodils showing off in parks. In our own garden there are so many signs of new life and growth. In a couple of months it will be a wash with beautiful lilacs, pinks, whites and pale yellows. My favourite time of the year to spend time in the garden is May and June, when the alliums and foxgloves are in bloom. Maisie will finish playschool in June and we’ll look forward to summer adventures in Donegal and France before she will enter primary school in September. I’m bound to feel nervous knowing what a big change it’ll be but Maisie is already excited to go and having heard from other mums whose own kids with Down Syndrome started last year and settled so well, I’m sure she will be happy and thrive there. Whenever I mention to anyone that she’s starting Junior Infants in September she shoots her hand up and says “me too”!

Following a rare summer of gloriously warm weather we are back in a routine of school, afterschool activities, sports timetables and speech and language therapies. Maisie is in her second year of ECCE so she will start primary school next September. She has a packed schedule this year including Montessori until 12.30 daily and one afternoon at a playgroup organised by St. John of God disability services. At the latter she receives one to one teaching to support her cognitive and social skills and when I collect her there is so much laughter I wonder has she done any work at all! The staff are wonderful and I feel lucky that Maisie benefits from this wonderful service. She also adores her regular playschool, the children are friendly and she loves her spanish teacher Maria. At home she could be playing or drawing and the next thing she’s putting the toy or sketch into her school bag to “show Maria”. Edel is Maisie’s AIM worker and the two of them bonded immediately last year. It’s wonderful and reassuring to know Maisie enjoys all of these experiences and is eager to learn and engage in new experiences.

My next blog was going to be on toilet training but I’ve been noticing how involved Maisie wants to get in everything her siblings are doing, particularly when it comes to sport. Besides I don’t really want to write about cleaning up another accident for the umpteenth time. There is no magic wand and what it comes down to is patience and praise, hiding any frustration and knowing that she and I are doing our best and there will be a time when cleaning up pee will be a thing of the past. Then I know it’ll be the right time to get a dog so I can start doing it all over again! Maisie’s dad says going into see her in the mornings is the same exciting feeling he has on Christmas mornings. She is always so happy to see us and says and signs Good Morning, it’s so cute. Se also asks for chocolate buttons so maybe she thinks it’s Christmas morning too?! For me despite the challenges toilet training brings and the emotional and physical impact that comes with being a parent of young kids, those joyous moments with her really count for a lot.