So, October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month. All over the country buddy walks and other events are taking place to raise awareness of Down Syndrome. I have decided to participate by taking the "31 for 21 Challenge"! The goal is to write one blog post every day in the month of October (31 days), in honor of the extra 21st chromosome that causes Down Syndrome. Hundreds of bloggers are participating, with the goal of raising awareness and appreciation of Down Syndrome, and to offer a glimpse into the lives of those who love someone with it.
Honestly, I wasn't sure if I would have the time or creativity to write every day, but my type-A self has planned it out in advance, so I promise to have something up every day. Anything for my Ty!!! My theme for the month will be, "What I Love About Being a DS Mom", focusing on all the little things I love about my boy, of course!
Happy Down Syndrome Awareness Month!!!
Friday, September 30, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
New Videos!
I uploaded some recent videos of Ty's new "tricks"! One of him walking on the grass holding my hands (he actually walked inside the house yesterday holding only one of my hands...he's getting so steady!), one where we wanted to see how long he could stand holding on to a tree (almost 5 minutes, until Daddy made him let go all together!), and a quick one of him cruising the couch, which he can finally do more than a step or two! There are also a few other ones just for fun of his latest dance moves, and reading skills. Enjoy! :)
Sunday, September 11, 2011
18 Months...Halfway to 2!!!
Well, we are halfway past 1, and halfway to 2! Ty is very much the toddler that his age suggests these days...he is adventurous, messy, talkative, and even has the toddler attitude down. It's a blast! :-) Here is the little guy on the morning of his 18 month half-birthday, eating his new favorite food strawberries (or "bees" as he calls them!)
We were thinking of how far Ty has come since he turned 1. At his first birthday he could not yet crawl, talk, or feed himself. He has changed SO much in that short amount of time. While he is still doing his crawling method (which he is incredibly fast at doing!), he can now climb on things, pull up to stand, stand independently for short periods of time (until he realizes that he's not holding on, and then he sits very quickly!), and walk holding on to hands pretty good distances! We are working SO hard to get him walking in PT and in our spare time, and our goal is by the age of 2 (the typical age for kids with DS to walk). Thinking how much he has done in the past 6 months, I'm pretty hopeful that he'll achieve this one goal in the next 6!
His speech has just taken off so fast in the last month, that we are just amazed! He has always been vocal, but it seems like the lightbulbs have gone off recently! He is up to 15 words (most recognizable, some more easily understood in context), 8 signs (some he says with the word), and 2 animal sounds (dog and sheep). A lot of new words he uses frequently, so we read a lot of books ("boo"), and have to say no to bath time ("bat") every time we pass the bathroom! It's so great being able to communicate with him though, and for him to be able to tell us what he needs or wants. He's got the cutest voice, too!
To celebrate his half-birthday, we spent the day with a new Down syndrome playgroup called "Saturday Explorers". A friend and I organized this group, since there are very few resources for kids with DS in our state, and Saturday was our first get-together. We went on an apple picking adventure in our town, and had a beautiful day for it! We met a lot of great people, and are looking forward to our monthly get-togethers! Ty had fun meeting his new friends, but quickly lost interest once we started picking apples! He grabbed one and held it, but was not impressed! He fell asleep soon after! :)
We were thinking of how far Ty has come since he turned 1. At his first birthday he could not yet crawl, talk, or feed himself. He has changed SO much in that short amount of time. While he is still doing his crawling method (which he is incredibly fast at doing!), he can now climb on things, pull up to stand, stand independently for short periods of time (until he realizes that he's not holding on, and then he sits very quickly!), and walk holding on to hands pretty good distances! We are working SO hard to get him walking in PT and in our spare time, and our goal is by the age of 2 (the typical age for kids with DS to walk). Thinking how much he has done in the past 6 months, I'm pretty hopeful that he'll achieve this one goal in the next 6!
His speech has just taken off so fast in the last month, that we are just amazed! He has always been vocal, but it seems like the lightbulbs have gone off recently! He is up to 15 words (most recognizable, some more easily understood in context), 8 signs (some he says with the word), and 2 animal sounds (dog and sheep). A lot of new words he uses frequently, so we read a lot of books ("boo"), and have to say no to bath time ("bat") every time we pass the bathroom! It's so great being able to communicate with him though, and for him to be able to tell us what he needs or wants. He's got the cutest voice, too!
To celebrate his half-birthday, we spent the day with a new Down syndrome playgroup called "Saturday Explorers". A friend and I organized this group, since there are very few resources for kids with DS in our state, and Saturday was our first get-together. We went on an apple picking adventure in our town, and had a beautiful day for it! We met a lot of great people, and are looking forward to our monthly get-togethers! Ty had fun meeting his new friends, but quickly lost interest once we started picking apples! He grabbed one and held it, but was not impressed! He fell asleep soon after! :)
Happy September!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)