We celebrated Catalina's 2 months at the Omaha Zoo. It was a HOT July afternoon, but it was "member appreciation" day at the zoo, so we just had to go. The kids saw the movie "Tornado Alley" at the IMAX (Mateo is fascinated by tornados), and Francesca wasn't sure what to think when the lights went out, but Abuelita was able to calm her down with popcorn! We received free passes to ride the train, and although the whistle startled Catalina quite a bit, she was a trooper. We only had one small mix-up when leaving the zoo at closing, which involved a radio transmission to all zoo staff looking for the lost abuelitas and 2 little girls in strollers, but the good thing was that Mateo and Mommy got a free ride on a golf cart. All-in-all a great, memorable afternoon.
This was Francesca's first time riding on one of the carousel animals that moves up and down. She was a little uncertain of the whole thing once it started moving, but I kept singing "Up! Down!" and she loosened up and enjoyed the ride... so much so that when it was over, she sat down on the carousel floor and refused to move. Some would mistakenly call this being "stubborn," but I say it is a classic example of her expressing her desire to do something in about the only way she could at the moment - a classic protest. As her Mommy, I feel it is my job to help other people understand that she is not "stubborn" (and often you might hear someone say that people with DS are stubborn), but she does need people around her who are willing to try and understand why she does what she does - what she is looking for or trying to accomplish or trying to express at the moment that an adult might be trying to direct her otherwise. I'm rambling, but I guess what I am trying to say is that Francesca is darling and that she knows exactly what she wants!
Cesca also loves to be outside... and she LOVES to play in the rocks and dirt. Her new favorite is to climb into our yet-to-be-planted garden and dig around in the dirt. Here's what she looks like when she's done. 
She walks independently very well - a huge goal we had for her that we hoped to see her achieve before baby sister is born. And she is really starting to talk/vocalize more clearly using many more initial sounds to express herself. For example, she now says "ma!" and signs more when she wants something more (music, food, water). Other words she has:
Mateo and his classmates put on a series of short puppet shows. Here's the program!
Receiving his certificate
