Posts by Shannon Kerin

I’ve always been a fairly active individual. I used to run for myself – for my health, to clear my head, to listen to great music, to greet the day with exercise, to feel my heart beating. It wasn’t until Hudson was born that I chose to run for someone besides myself. Hudson was born…

I’m learning many things during the shutdown/quarantine, but one of the biggest pulls I didn’t expect was the ache due to missing our time at the playhouse. We’ve been going to GiGis Playhouse Deerfield since Conner was like, 2 weeks old. Fast forward a year and we haven’t seen our family in 2 months. That…

Children with Down syndrome often have a tendency to use one hand or the other in play, versus using both hands together. For example, they might use one hand to try to put a puzzle piece in a form board, without using the other hand to stabilize the form board. They need frequent reminders to…

Movin’ On Up One of the main goals in development is to move up against gravity from floor activities such as rolling, crawling and sitting to become a stander and walker. This includes going from belly to hands and knees, getting to a support to pull up to kneeling, and finally coming to stand. For…

We have a little boy, his name is Conner and he was born March 15th, 2019. We had a birth diagnosis which sent us into a million directions, both mentally and emotionally. We were fortunate enough to meet Jill Rabin at the hospital. She was just so excited. If any of you have met her…

When you first walk into the playhouse you are greeted with a beautiful mural sharing words of encouragement, empowerment, and hope. In the center of the mural is the quote “you are exactly where you are meant to be.” After two years of hard work and dedication, raising the funds and support to open a…

Yesterday, I went to check my phone to track my twenty one year old daughter’s location as she headed back to college early in the morning. To my surprise, she had left the security of the state highway and was on a two-lane rural highway on a terribly foggy morning. I called to see if…

Tummy Time…so important and yet so many parents feel it is a major challenge for their little one. The start of my physical therapy evaluation for an infant includes a question about tummy time tolerance.  So often the response is, “well, we are trying, but they hate it”. So many factors go into why a…

Finn is lucky enough to not only have an amazing big sister (check out her blog here: https://gigisplayhouse.org/deerfield/2019/10/16/in-the-eyes-of-a-super-sibling/) but two awesome older brothers too! The blog below was written by his oldest brother, Owen! People often look up to great leaders, great historical figures, or great sports players; I look up to someone who I…