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It's Official! The Polka-Dotted Penguin book has launched!

It's official! My new children's book, "The Polka-Dotted Penguin" has launched today!  How fitting that my labor of love launches on Labor Day. The writing of the book and putting all the parts together took about a year. It was definitely a pandemic-worthy project.  I wrote this book because I wanted more books available for sharing with Evie's class for World Down Syndrome Day on 3-21 and for Down Syndrome Awareness Month in October. I'm happy to release my new book just in time for October! My hope is that this book will be used as a tool to start conversations with children about how to treat others who may look or act differently than they do. It's all about inclusion and celebrating differences.  This book is perfect for ages 4-9, or any ages who love penguins, or really anyone who loves Evie! Here's how to order: Barnes and Noble (Hardcover): https://www.barnesandnoble.com/.../the-polka.../1140115530 Amazon (Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle) :
Recent posts

Our New Book: "The Polka-Dotted Penguin"

 Dear Evie Fans, I am so excited to share with you that my new children's book, "The Polka-Dotted Penguin," is coming out soon!  I've been setting up the hardcover, paperback, and electronic versions, and I'm close to the finish line!  Evie has read it and insisted on reading it to ME instead of the other way around. I'm very ok with that.  Here's a sneak peek at one of my favorite page spreads!  The reason I started writing this book was because I didn't feel there were enough books to choose from to read to Evie's class for World Down Syndrome Day.  I also wanted a book that was an enjoyable story that featured my favorite animal, the penguin.  Making the penguin a little different from the other penguins was the start of my book.   I can't wait to share my first book with you all!  I just need to figure out how to have a penguin launch party, and then I will post further details! Hope you all have a wonderful long weekend!

Evie's Adventures in Storyland, from a sensory sensitive kid's point of view

Hi Evie fans!  Our first post-pandemic trip was to the  Storyland amusement park in Glen, New Hampshire !  Evie did well with the 2.5 hour drive--there was a lot of sing-shouting to Laurie Berkner songs on the way there.   About halfway to New Hampshire, I had the sickening feeling of realizing that I had forgotten all of Evie's carefully calculated and labeled blended food. :(   Mom of the year right here!  Thankfully, she isn't on formula anymore, and there was a super Walmart in North Conway, so we made a stop to buy a hand blender and some prepared foods for me to blend!  We stayed the night in Comfort Inn at North Conway . It was packed full of families, and had a mini-golf adventure right next to the hotel.  As soon as we settled in, I painstakingly microwaved a turkey dinner in the kitchenette, threw in some heavy cream, spinach, and cranberry sauce, and blended it all in a plastic Rubbermaid bowl.  Thankfully, Evie agreed to eat this as her lunch and dinner for the ne

Jumping and Friendship Crafts with Evie

This Youtube video was at first made to showcase Evie's first real jump on a trampoline. Then it became a video with a message about making new friends, because I was just so impressed with how Qole gave Evie the space she needed to feel comfortable enough to say yes to getting on the trampoline.   And then as we were making a paper craft about friendship, and we were pulling out different pieces of color, I was struck with how it became a teaching moment for my daughter that people of all colors can hold hands and can look out for each other. May it be so. The world needs it now more than ever. 

Evie's Double Whammy and Why I'm Speaking Up About Anti-Asian Racism

My first memory of really recognizing I was different was in 4th grade in a mostly white town.  I was riding a different school bus with my friend to go to her house.  A boy (whose name I will always remember) started chanting "Ching chong, wah wah..." over and over again throughout the bus ride.  I ignored him. I had no power on this bus . I was stunned that a boy I didn't know would tease me like that. I went home and told my parents, and my dad joked about it, saying next time I should tell him he speaks "Gobble Gobble." We all laughed, and laughing was what I needed that night.   I tucked it away in my memory, but I knew that the incident had bothered me.  My mom found out another time that I was being teased, and she took action and initiated what became a cultural immersion day in my elementary school.  In middle school, a girl in my class made sure I understood I didn't belong at her table, motioning to all the other girls at the table and announcin

Evie Plays with Potato Head

We are up to 121 subscribers in 2 months!  Please click Like and also Subscribe so that we can reach the 1000 subscriber requirement to be on Kids YouTube (right now we are on regular YouTube, in a vast sea of home videos. :)   We would love to have representation of kids with Down Syndrome on YouTube, so that other kids see that differences can be special!  Thanks for subscribing and spreading the word! 

Evie's new movie channel on YouTube!

During the pandemic, Evie and Mommy have ventured into the art of making videos.  Once we became better at it, we started a Kids' Youtube channel, called Evie the Extraordinary !  My goal in these videos is to show our audience that Evie is more alike other kids than different. Sure, her expressive verbal skills are slower to develop, but her receptive skills are all very much in tune, and it's so fun to show everyone how smart she is!  I mean, the kid taught herself to read!  Evie's favorite movies we've made so far are the Ice Cream truck episode and the Juice making episode.  Today, we released a movie about alphabet foam tiles, because that's Evie's current favorite toy!  https://youtu.be/-axg_FGjwz4 We'd love it if you'd like our videos and click to subscribe!  When we reach a certain number of subscribers and watched hours, then we can be included in Kids Youtube.  Think about how many kids will be able to see how Down Syndrome is just something th