Madeleine's Development and Our Basement

About a month ago... you know, right about when we stopped blogging for a while... we decided that it was high time to take back our living room from toy clutter. We'd been tripping around Madeleine's toys for quite some time when we finally realized that we had a whole finished basement that we were just using to collect boxes and other clutter. We realized that by failing to use the basement, we weren't only denying ourselves and our visitors a chance to enjoy a relaxing time in our living room but we were also limiting Madeleine's development.

That may sound a bit drastic but let me explain. Madeleine, like her father, is extremely distractable and extremely social. Additionally, with Down Syndrome, Madeleine's impaired cognitive level makes it more important that she focus on specific tasks. (Note: Children with Down Syndrome can have drastically varying IQs ranging from slightly mentally retarded to more severe and at this point we really don't know Madeleine's IQ or cognitive functioning level. Regardless, all children's with DS have some level of mental retardation. Recognizing thsi fact, Kirsten and I are determined to provide the best opportunities for Madeleine so that she can maximize her cognitive ability.) When we kept her toys in the living room, it was common for the television to be on making it difficult for her to focus on toys and/or specific tasks. Even when the television wasn't on, the clutter caused by the large number of toys and limited space made it hard to keep the visual diarrhea from distracting her. We're blessed with the option of using our basement for play space and we decided to lay out colored interlocking sponge tiles in the basement to provide a colorful and lively environment that is also comfortable for Madeleine as well as ourselves and nurses that work with Madeleine. Here's one picture of the basement and others are posted here:

I've provided details with the pictures in Picasa but as you can see from this picture, the basement tiles look really great-- our nurses have asked if we plan to open a daycare... answer: yes, a daycare for Madeleine and only Madeleine. We're slowly working with our nurses to figure out how we can best use this space to further Madeleine's physical and cognitive development and, oh yeah, have some fun too!

That's all for tonight-- just thought I'd give some quick details on one of our major projects. We have lots more to update-- will post it in the coming days.