Kamikaze Kid Strikes Again

"Let him feel what it feels like to fall off", they said. "He'll get used to it & will learn that certain things have an edge", they said.

I listened to the therapists & this is what happens.







So much for getting him that big boy bed. It'll be an acrobatic free for all at night.

Doing the Friday Dance

It's Friday. It's time to shake off the funk I've been feeling and put the week behind me. It's time to finally do what my gma tells me to do. Give myself a big hug and look at what I have accomplished.

It's hard. Hard to really acknowledge that I had a hand in doing something positive. I don't lie when I say I'm hanging in there. I am really just hanging in there. I struggle everyday to find a balance between patience, carefree parenting and "wow could you just leave alone for 5 minutes?" And lately I've been in a serious mommy burn out funk.

But tonight I followed my gma's advice. After allowing a later than usual summer like evening, I watched. I watched my kids smile and learn. I watched them play in a way they weren't able to before. I looked around and saw what I had manage to accomplish. Not without help of course.

In a few short months we had managed to create a whole new life and almost settle into it like it's been our lives forever.







In just a few short weeks I have taken the advice of another mom whose son also has down syndrome (you can find her blog here ) & worked really hard on meeting Sean where he is. Yes yes I'm still pushing him to reach new heights, but not with the same hardcore vanity I once was.

I'm pretty sure that boy is mocking me, but I can't prove it. He knows how heavy he is getting & that I'd really like him to walk. I'm pretty sure he's running laps at night in his crib.





Let me tell you that it's been so hard for me not to get frustrated. I know he can do it, but he can't. Does that even make sense? I know that it's the path from the brain to the feet that gets Sean every time and I feel powerless to help him figure it out. If you know me you know how much I love to feel powerless.

I'll post an Early Intervention, therapy, what is Sean doing now? post shortly.

Sweet Strawberry Saturday

It was one of those nice days where the sun that wasn't supposed to shine does. Where you watch your children picking strawberries for the first time and think "aaaaahhhh". 

 





Me carrying strawberries farmer style.










Yes. She ate that many.

Skyping with Great Ema

We love Skype. We're able to keep in touch with our families and no one feels like they're missing to much. Obviously it's nowhere near as good as being together up close & personal, but..... It helps the kids (especially Meredith) feel like they haven't just left their entire lives behind. Their emas & epas are still close. 

Buzzy's Big Adventure

Since Buzzy's arrival, he's had quite the adventure. He endured lots of night time snuggles and plenty of daytime ones too.

He went visited Rob at work and Meredith showed him the fountains. She even told Rob & Buzzy how the work.

Buzzy went to Discovery Place where he learned about  biodiversity and visited the rain forest.

Buzzy got adventurous near some of the plants and got trapped. Poor Buzzy. He did learn a very valuable lesson though.

After the museum we shared some cookies. 

Buzzy also went to the Nature Museum . 

He was totally scared of the big owl, but we let him know the owl couldn't get him through the glass. 

Buzzy was really happy at the Nature Museum. He was able to pretend that he was a bear in the wild. 

I don't know about any bears in the wild that live in tree houses and then Buzzy kindly pointed out that Pooh Bear is one such bear. Thanks Buzzy. 

Buzzy learned about Pesach (Passover) and all of the customs surrounding the holiday. 

He learned about Easter . We read the book about Easter that Aunt Kelley sent us and dyed eggs. 

It's been great having Buzzy here over spring break. We're sad to see him go back to school tomorrow. 

Happy Passover & Happy Easter

Wordless Wednesday