Sean is amazing

We've been around. Just been busy living. :) We've also been accepting a lot of challenges. Sean is now sitting up on his own for a really long time. I do still keep a pillow behind him, but that's more for my peace of mind than his actual need. And he's standing better. Hooray! Now that he's sitting for longer periods, Meredith has discovered that she can play with him. Ok ok... she's figured out that she can take toys away from him and not get into trouble for knocking him over.

It's pretty cute to watch him laugh hysterically at Meredith's antics. And I beam with pride to watch Sean manipulate his toys while he tries to figure out how they work.

He's even started drinking from a straw. His speech therapist said this was a hard skill. She said that the smaller bent straw from a juice box would be to hard for him. Well... he showed her! Do you see it? Do you!? Do you!? Meredith accidentally used a straw for the first time when she was like 12 months old. So I feel like this is huge!



I was thinking a few days ago about whether I'll tell Sean he has down syndrome or just let it be in the background. The more I thought about it, the more I'd really rather it be in the background of our lives. I mean, sure he has it, but what does that actually mean? Yes he could learn differently, have various abilities or levels of ability, but doesn't that hold true for the rest of us as well? I know I learn math way differently than most of my peers did. I also didn't learn other things as well as other peers. I also can't play basketball. So what? What does that mean?

I woud really like for Sean to feel at ease with all of his peers regardless of whether they have 46 or 47 chromosomes. So I've made the firm decision to just let it be int he background. If it comes up, I'll deal with it then. I just don't feel like it needs to be such a huge deal. I don't feel like I need to single it out in a sit down conversation like the sex talk. That is, unless they ask specific questions.

And maybe by us not making it a big deal, he won't have so much anxiety about it. Hopefully, it'll be like any other genetic trait. I can hope right? I guess we'll see as he gets older.

We took the kids the other day for get pictures taken for St. Patrick's Day. Meredith was not into the woman taking the pictures. I can't say I blame her. This chick kept putting a duster in Meredith's face. Meredith was not thrilled. Sean, on the other hand, was hamming it up.

I changed it

I changed my description of the blog & my profile. I'm not even sure anyone has even looked at my description or profile.

Why did I change it? Because my life is normal. I didn't think my life would ever be normal again once Sean and his designer genes were born. I thought my life would be all about Sean & his disability. I thought it'd be all about the "retarded child". And guess what. It's not. He's neither disabled or retarded.

This blog started out as something to help me sort out my feelings about Sean's designer genes, having two kids and everything that goes along with both. It evolved into my proving not all kids with down syndrome are created equal. And now it's evolved even further into the antics of the Scott clan. It has evolved into..... quite simply...... a journal of my life.

Sure we have therapies. We have setbacks. We have our fair share of "what ifs", but in the end my life is normal. My life is now "more alike than different." Well.... as normal as normal can be with 2 small kids.

We have been so busy living. I'm sure if you read my blog regularly you've seen the many adventures of Flat Stanley. I've been trying to keep his adventures separate from my regular blog postings. I'm trying to keep them g-rated and I really don't want to have a separate blog for him. Since he's been here we have done so much. Having him here has been a god send. It has forced me to be a tourist in my own city & drag my kids along for the ride. In doing so, I have learned that while trekking through the city was way easier with 1 kid, it's certainly not impossible with 2. In fact, once you do it a few times, it becomes second nature. Ok maybe not second nature, but certainly easier & less scary/overwhelming than it was a few months ago. Or even a few weeks ago.

Someone posted on a message board today that they were scared for how life with two kids will be because of all the "horror" stories going around. And ya know what...? The beginning of my journey with 2 kids was filled with horror stories. I have no idea if I would've had those same horror stories if Sean didn't have heart issues, if he didn't have down syndrome, if it hadn't been the hottest summer on record..... you get the idea. Any number of things contributed to my feeling like a caged & trapped tiger.

But now.... the three of us (sometimes the 4 of us) are on the move. It's getting warmer. The sun is shining longer during the day. I'm a happy happy girl. Watch out kids. You guys are BOTH old enough to be on the move. 


Fresh from the bath I love a freshly bathed baby.





First flying saucer from Carvel



Out & about at the zoo








 

Have you seen Stanley

Stanley has been a busy little guy. We were able to take a tour of a DSNY garage. Stanley got to work the controls and "drive" a truck. He had a great time. He did come a little close to being "Crushed Flat Stanley", but he managed to get out of the way of the compacter in time. Thank goodness too. He was only taking a little break and leaning against the truck. Phew.... I can't imagine having had to explain why Stanley smells like rotting garbage.










Since we've had so much snow around here, Stanley was also able to get up close & personal the the front end loader. Those tires are enormous.







Today we took a trip to the Central Park Zoo. We saw the sea lions and the penguins. Then we wandered through the zoo t see some more animals. There wasn't much to see since they all seem to be hibernating. Oh well. We made our way over to the children's zoo. We were able to feed the goats and the llamas. One of the goats thought Stanley was tasty. Poor Stanley. The cow was asleep. Seriously? Asleep? Meredith even tried to moo at it, but she wasn't budging.

















As we walked downtown toward Rob's office, we passed the Roses on display on Park Avenue. http://www.ny1.com/content/132823/park-avenue--roses--in-bloom






After we picked up Rob at work we made our way to Rockefeller Center. I think Stanley thinks wearing close to nothing is the thing to do around here. All of a sudden.... his pants were gone! Can you imagine? He was still wearing more clothes than some of the other folks visiting Manhattan today, but still. He insisted that his pants had gotten wet. Yeah yeah yeah.

We passed Cartier and looked at the diamonds.



We saw the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller. We didn't go up, but wow is that building tall.



We saw St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was beautiful inside. So majestic.







We passed Sak 5th Avenue. My personal favorite store.





We saw the skating rink. And we even passed NBC Studios.





We saw the Swarovski crystal display.



Right across the street was Radio City Hall.



This weekend we're going on a big adventure. We're going to check out the Empire State Building on Friday afternoon. We may even go check out the Intrepid museum. http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/