27.5 Months and Counting...

Someone asked me today how old Ty is, and I realized I had no clue how old he is in months anymore!  After he hit 2, I lost track, and had to count the months since March to realize he's 27.5 months right now!  It also made me realize that I used to post monthly updates of Ty's accomplishments, and haven't done that in ages!  I still like to read through my posts from "the old days" to see how far Ty has come, so I don't want his 2's to slip by without celebrating and freezing in time everything that he can now do...which is a lot! 

"Super Ty!!!!"

We received Ty's 6 month development review in the mail the other day, and I was floored reading his therapist's comments about his progress.  It seems like since Ty turned 2, lightbulbs have been turning on in every direction, and he is just growing and changing faster than I can keep up with! (For those who aren't familiar, children under the age of 3 receive state-funded special education services, similar to special education services provided in schools.  Each child has an individualized education plan, which is created by therapists/teachers and parents, and sets forth developmental goals, specific to each child's individual needs.  These goals are reviewed every 6 months, and a new plan is written annually.  It was this 6 month review of his goals that we recently completed.)

Anyway, reading through Ty's review, I realized that he had met every single goal that we wrote 6 months ago; looking back, they almost sounded silly that they were even targeted, because it seems like he's been doing these things forever!  Of course, his largest accomplishment has been becoming an independent walker!  A week or two after his second birthday, he must have decided that he was sick of having to hold my hands to go everywhere, because one night he just let go, and walked clear across the house to have his diaper changed.  I don't think he has looked back since that moment!  I guess that's how Ty likes to do things though...he waits until he's absolutely 100% confident in his skills, and then takes off...there's no middle ground with him!  Walking has been his primary mode of transportation for several months now, and I rarely see him crawl anymore, unless he's climbing something.  And ohhh man, does he love his independence!  This kid has no fear about walking in wide open spaces, through crowds...he just takes off, only occasionally looking back to give us a little wave!  His confidence is incredible.  We still sit around sometimes saying, "remember when Ty couldn't walk?!"

Strolling through the local apple orchards!

As far as speech goes, Ty communicates very effectively using sign language, and has an extensive vocabulary that exceeds 150 words, at the very least. He regularly combines 2, 3 and occasionally 4 signs to "speak" in phrases and sentences, answers questions appropriately using "yes" and "no" signs, and basically has conversations with us like any two year old...just in a different language! He has also really made progress with spoken language (which I highly attribute to our awesome private speech therapist that we started seeing in December!).  Imitating what we say has been something new that he's started to do, and he's starting to combine his spoken vocabulary with his signed vocabulary to speak (ex. "more bubbles please" might be signed "more", spoken "bubbles", signed "please"). Speech is an uphill battle for children with Down syndrome, and can be frustrating at times for the kids, so I am just amazed at his determination to learn and communicate effectively every day.

What made me think putting Ty's bookshelf in the same room as his toddler bed was a good idea?!
 Luckily, he finds putting books ON the shelf as much fun as pulling them off!! :)
(And yes, he will sit there and read through every stinkin one he pulls off, too!)

Personally though, my favorite accomplishments of Ty's have been the academic-type skills that he has absorbed like a sponge (it's the teacher in me!).  Some of his early-learning goals 6 months ago included being able to communicate wants/needs without frustration, starting to understand shape and color concepts, stacking blocks, etc.  In these 6 short months, Ty has met each and every academic goal, and has surpassed them by miles.  He can identify all of the basic shapes (rectangle, square, triangle, circle, oval, diamond, and star), can easily complete shape puzzles independently, and can complete picture puzzles with around 8 pictures independently, too (though he loses interest after doing about half of it!).  He can also draw a circle and lines on a piece of paper, which he absolutely loves to do!  (All of my "scribbles" from him are all circles and lines now! haha)  We are working on identifying, matching, and sorting colors, and he knows the basic primary colors pretty well (blue is his favorite right now).  My personal favorite skills have been in the area of reading, though!  Since starting his early reading programs, he has learned to read around 40-50 sight words (though I haven't actually tested what he knows in quite a while), including his own name!  He also knows about 1/3-1/2 of the letter sounds in the alphabet (lower case), which I just think is SO cool!  We do his reading programs really casually, and on his own terms, so it's been a very laid-back process, and he has just responded to it so so well.  We just wrote his final academic goals to achieve before entering preschool in March, and I'm pretty confident that he will be beyond ready by the time it rolls around!!!

His favorite spot for reading, playing on the ipad, and watching Thomas the Tank Engine!

So basically, it's no secret that we're incredibly proud of our little man!  Of course though, we have many areas that we are working on, that are slowly turning my hairs gray, and I look forward to the day when I can add them to my "brag list" on here!  Feeding is my number one major frustration for him, and is a daily battle.  His picky eating habits really limit his diet, and getting him to even touch a new food in a celebration!  It's a lonnggg slow process that we'll be picking away at for years to come, I'm sure.  We also attempted potty training recently, which is going to be a battle of the stubborn wills, between Ty and me!  He absolutely positively did NOT want to sit on the potty, and would hold it in for hours upon hours, despite the endless drinks I was giving him.  The good news is he has amazing bladder control (which is typically the opposite in kids with low muscle tone).  The bad news is he apparently inherited his Mom's stubborn attitude, and will require a miracle to let his guard down and finally cave in and do it my way! :)  I'm in no rush for that one though...as long as we have some progress by the time preschool rolls around, I'll be happy!  The "twos" definitely come with new-found independence, confidence, and attitude!!!

His new pirate undies...he picked them out himself! 
Too bad they're sitting in his drawer now!

So there's Ty in a nutshell at 27.5 months!  He has a lot of changes coming his way in the next few months, including becoming a big brother, so I know we will have many, many more adventures to share on here soon!