A Day in Moxie's Life

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This post is for the A Day in the Life with Down syndrome project. The short term goal of the project is to celebrate World Down syndrome Day (coming up on 3/21) through stories about a typical day in a life lived with Down syndrome.
The long term goal of the project is to have a space in which people – especially the medical field and families expecting a child with Down syndrome – can see what life is like for our families.
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Hey there!
My name is Moxie and I’m 4 years old. My mommy is writing this for me, but I love writing myself. I especially like the letter “B”!
I am traveling with my family in Mexico now. We have a little bit of an unusual life… we live off the grid and farm for half the year, and we travel around Mexico for the other half. In the half-year that we are farming, I go to school (I especially love painting and playing and also horse therapy with my teacher).
When we are traveling, we “roadschool.” I know my alphabet and I’m learning how to read and write now. I also spend time learning songs, practicing art, making things with playdough and legos. But we also have days where we just travel – we call those “driving days’ or days where our learning is experiential. If you want to read more about, my mommy wrote a lot of posts here on it.
Back to my day!

 
We are camping in a place called Ocosingo in the highlands of Chiapas in Mexico

It’s beautiful here.
When I wake up, this is my view from my bed:
I usually wake up early and then I tell everyone I’m awake by signing “awake!”. My mommy says that I’m really warning everyone.
Then I get dressed and brush my hair. I like choosing my clothes because I love to dress up!

I have two brothers. My brother Micah is 2 years older than me but my mommy says he was born old. He’s more like 60 years old. My younger brother is MacQuinn, and we just call him “Mac”. He’s 2 years younger than me but most people think we are twins because we are almost the same size. He’s a lot of fun. Mac and I have a good time together.
We usually play together after we wake up.

I love eating cereal! Every morning I tell my daddy that I want some and he lets me set the table and pour the cereal and milk myself. I am pretty sure I could eat cheerios for every meal if they would only let me. It’s delicious! Have you tried it? You should! (but NOT MINE).

After I ate some cereal this morning, it turned out that the really nice family we are staying with here in Chiapas had made us and the family we are camping with, breakfast! So I got to eat twice.

It was so delicious. The coffee was so good that my mommy almost cried. I liked the eggs and the fresh, handmade tortillas. I call tortillas “la-la” but I sign everything else. I like to sign “egg” and “coffee”.

I don’t speak many words but I can sign a lot! I think I know at least 50 words with ASL (American Sign Language) and I learn more every day because I am FAST and I like to communicate!

So today we decided to go the river here in Ocosingo. That made me really happy because I LOVE to swim. My friends and my brothers and I built a little dam by picking up river rocks and stacking them. That was FUN.

We ate handmade doughnuts and ice cream (my daddy said something about “drug them with sugar and set them free!”) and went to the playground nearby and played.

I love sliding and playgrounds. I love them so much that whenever I see a playground, I start to jump up and down and I sign “play”. My mommy says that my name, “Moxie” suits me well because I have a lot of moxie! The higher the slide, the more I like it.

My brother Mac and I usually help each other out on the playground by pushing each other, but sometimes my brother Micah joins us. That makes me happy. I love Micah. Even when I boss him around or make him do things for me. I still really look up to him.

After we went to the river, we went home. Yesterday though, we went to the ruins close to the river instead, and I got to climb around Mayan ruins that were hundreds of years old. I just liked all the stairs. I love climbing!

But today we just went back to where we are camping and made an early dinner.
All 3 of us families ate together – the Mexican family that we are staying with in Chiapas, the Canadian family we are traveling with now, and our own family. Oh wait – that’s all of North America represented! Haha!

I usually play a bit after dinner
and then my parents let me watch a show – Dora the Explorer is still my favorite but I usually have to compromise and watch something my older brother likes too. These days, that’s usually Pinocchio.

After our show, we wash up and get ready for bed.

I love washing up. I love brushing my teeth too.
When we are clean, we head over for story time. Mommy usually reads me 3 stories of my choice. Right now, Pete the Cat is my favorite!
Well, that’s a pretty typical day in my life right now. And I think it’s actually time for bed again right now. Mommy? – isn’t Daddy telling you to put me to bed now?!
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Please visit A Day in the Life with Down syndrome to read all the fabulous posts there  – and add your own!
While people with Down syndrome are especially encouraged to participate, all allies (- friends, family, caregivers) are welcome to share. You do not have to have a blog to participate – you can upload directly to the site.
 

Meriah

Meriah Nichols is a counselor. Solo mom to 3 (one with Down syndrome, one on the spectrum). Deaf, and neurodiverse herself, she’s a gardening nerd who loves cats, Star Trek, and takes her coffee hot and black.

www.meriahnichols.com

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