Zoe Rose Marie Thompson Biography

Zoe Rose Marie Thompson goes by many names. Princess is the most popular, however she is also known as Baby Girl and Princess Goo. The Goo comes from her excessive goo that can sometimes be seen draining from her eyes, nose and/or ears.

Zoe was a full term baby on November 30, 2003. All prenatal precautions were taken by her mother. Zoe was delivered by a scheduled c-section. Her diagnosis of Down Syndrome was not pronounced until her birth. Since birth, her pediatrician is Dr. J. Beumer in Oak Harbor at Pediatricians of Whidbey Island. Zoe is the baby with a big brother Quentin.

At birth, she was given an echocardiogram that confirmed a small ASD and small PDA in her heart. As of January 2007, these are still a factor in Zoe's health. Since birth, Zoe visits Dr. Kawabori and Dr. Schultz at Children's Hospital every 6 months to check on her heart. So far, surgery is not needed. Surgery is a possibility at age 4.

Zoe has had many ear, eye and sinus infections in her short life. During this time, she has seen Dr. A. Inglis at Children's Hospital. She visits Dr. Inglis every 3-4 months for follow-up visits, however, she has seen him many more times during the reoccurring infections. January 2005 Zoe had ear tube surgery in both ears. February 2006 Zoe had another set of ear tubes, adenoid and tonsil removal surgery. She continues to have infections, however they don't seem to last as long. As of March 2008, Zoe had both her tear ducts drained and tubed. We won't know until the end of the year if the surgery helped her chronic eye infections.

Zoe has continued to follow all immunization and blood draw requirements for Down Syndrome children. Since birth, Zoe has been on the small side. At birth 5lbs13oz, one year old 12lbs 13oz, two years old 19lbs 9oz, and at three years old 24lbs 14oz and finally at 4 years old, Zoe reached the 30lb mark.

Zoe is a Princess in every sense. She can throw a tantrum like any two/three year old. She stomps her feet, pouts, goes to a corner and whimpers and the best is the fake cry. She does not like to be told no.

Zoe began early intervention services at 4 months old with Toddler Learning Center. She continues therapy services while attending South Whidbey Primary School.

Her milestones aver as follows:

Zoe began attending the Developmental Special Education Class at South Whidbey Primary School January 2007. Zoe's Independent Education Program (IEP) took affect January 2007. She is attending classes 4 days a week. She will continue to receive Speech/Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Physical Therapy while attending class. Primary focus for her academic career is to work towards Zoe being integrated into "typical" classes when she reaches Kindergarten and through out her educational career.

Zoe has many activities that please her. She has the ability to entertain herself and be very creative. Zoe loves reading to herself and sometimes she will let you read to her. Zoe also enjoys singing and dancing as well as trying to dress herself. Her favorite songs that she follows along with hand movements are Itsy Bitsy Spider, Tick Tock, I'm a Little Tea Pot, Row your Boat, and Ring around the Rosies. She loves dress up and usually a purse of some sort is involved. Zoe's favorite activity is playing with her babies. She doesn't try to dress them yet, however she puts them in the stroller and feeds them. Zoe's favorite part is putting them to bed with blankets and a kiss.

Her primary language at 4 years is SEE sign. Zoe signs 100 words now and can say 12 words. She also makes primary sounds for the beginning of quite a few words.

Signs include:

dog, milk, stop, shoes, thank you, help, sorry, chicken, cat, more, please, socks, work, phone, cow, eat, all done, pig, book, ball, horse, Elmo, daddy, no, apple, bird, fish, baby, Quentin, I love you, elephant, turtle, bear, tiger, girl, boy, Bob, monkey, grandma, grandpa, bed, bus, lion, sorry, cookie, coat, car, nice, hat, hot, on, toilet/potty, blocks, french fries, color, red, blue, orange, hurt, cracker, television, yes, dance, in, out, on, off, Zoe, chicken, duck, Katie, Priscilla, Nicolas, swim, Tonya, ice cream, bubbles, Squidward, Mama, Patrick, Star

Verbal words include:

Daddy, Hi, Yah, Baby, Bye, Eye, Kia (Chiquita is her dog)

Zoe's verbal beginnings of words are ba.... for ball and book, da.... for dog and daddy, ma..... for milk, more and Mimi (Grandma).

Her lower jaw/mouth is weak/immature. After many years of speech therapy, Zoe now can drink out of a sippy cup and a straw. We are still working on a big girl cup. She tries and tries. Good thing we don't have carpet anymore.

Zoe's gross motor skills are very strong for DS child. She walks, runs, climbs, dances and can also do the wheelbarrow and superman very easily. Zoe is working on jumping . She is beginning to dress herself. Not always the right way, but she gets the general idea.

Fine motor skills are just now being honed. Zoe is working on holding a pencil and writing. She has an aquadoodle and etch a sketch that she loves to write on. She is a very independent little girl and doesn't like to have her hands forced to do anything. Zoe uses her pointer finger to point to pictures and pick up little objects. She is resourceful and tries to figure things out on her own first. She gets frustrated and grunts if she wants help.

All in all, Zoe is a delightful little princess that has her two boys, daddy and Quentin wrapped around her little finger. She will bring joy and smiles to anyone that works with her.