It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

I can't believe it's only December 4th.  It feels as if our holiday season started last month when the first foot of snow was dumped on us, and it hasn't slowed down since! 

Holidays this year are a lot more fun, now that Ty is aware of the world around him.  I caved on the day before Thanksgiving, and started to decorate the house for Christmas.  Ty was amazed by all of the boxes and decorations, and happily unpacked our bins and threw my fragile holiday items across the room.  That was the day I learned that toddlers and holidays don't necessarily go hand-in-hand!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, which we spent with Eric's family.  Ty was stylin' in his little Chaps sweater vest and khakis...the signature little boy holiday outfit!  I was so excited for Ty to participate in Thanksgiving this year, and eat the meal with the rest of the family.  I shouldn't have been surprised, however, that not only did he spit out everything, including his all-time-favorite mashed potatoes, but he shoved his rejected food down the front of his highchair, so his perfect little sweater vest had nice big smears down the front!  Ohhh, Ty-Ty!  Thank god for little Ella (Ty's distant cousin, who is a few months younger), who also showed her true colors at the dinner table!  The two of them couldn't escape downstairs fast enough to go play in peace!  The rest of us had a great meal though, and Ty did have fun with his cousin!

Our Christmas tree made an appearance the weekend after Thanksgiving.  We put on the Christmas music, busted out the ornaments, and went to town.  Ty glanced at the tree, but for the most part, didn't really mind having this massive, bright thing in his living room!  (In fact, he has yet to try to climb on it, which amazes me).  I did convince Ty to help hang a couple of ornaments, but he was especially interested in his handmade ornament from daycare last year.  He crawled around with it for quite a while, and I'm pretty sure it's found a home under the couch now.  It was a nice little family event though, and probably the most interest Ty has taken in the holiday so far!

 

Yesterday, we attended a holiday party at the Down syndrome playgroup that I help run.  The special guest was Santa, of course, who was gracious enough to come spend his Saturday afternoon with a bunch of kids!  I honestly wasn't sure how Ty and Santa would get along.  On one hand, I have his beautiful picture from last year where he's sitting happily on Santa's lap, and they are both smiling from ear to ear.  On the other hand, I am all too well aware of Ty's fiesty side, and had visions of him biting Santa's arm, or pulling his beard off.  (His unbearable teething pain yesterday morning kind of gave me insight as to how the visit would go!)  After sizing up Mr. Claus from across the room, Ty decided that he was not interested, and not only wouldn't sit on his lap, but refused to look at him period.  It was the classic Santa-toddler standoff.  Poor Santa was on the losing side of that battle!  It's a good thing that Santa watches him year round to put him on the naughty or nice list, because that one encounter was most definitely not a good impression!

 

I love these little holiday stories, though.  Having a spunky little toddler keeps me on my toes, and ensures that I never quite know what is coming next!  I am soo looking forward to Christmas morning, when Ty will definitely take an interest in the new toys that are just for him (or so I think, anyway!).  Now if only it would snow...just a tiny little bit...it will most definitely start to look a lot like Christmas!

What I Love About Being a DS Mom # 10

Birthdays

I'm not just talking about yearly birthdays, I'm talking about little monthly birthdays!  Ty is 19 months old today, so this is the 19th time that we have had the opportunity to celebrate Ty's life, and all of his little achievements.  I know it seems silly to acknowledge the passing of another 30 days, but I have yet to let the 10th of the month go by without lots of hugs, kisses, and pictures of my boy.  It's a montly reminder of the constant gift I have in being his mother, and how far he has come, despite the obstacles that try to slow him down on occasion.

Every month since he was born, I have posted a snapshot of Ty's progress at that point in time, so it only seems right that I do the same today!

Being 18 months old has been a huge turning point for Ty's development.  Every day he has done something new, that we can hardly keep up with all of the progress he is making!  At our PT appointment in early September, we all were frustrated.  Ty still was not crawling on his hands and knees, and was leaning against surfaces to stand, instead of engaging his abdominals and working for it.  He also refused to bend his knees, so any steps that we could get out of him were stiff-legged "Frankenstein steps".  We ended the appointment on a discouraged note, and I started to worry...like I always do right before he busts out with a new skill!  Three days later, Ty began cruising furniture like it was no big deal.  A couple of days after that, he was walking long distances holding our hands, taking beautiful, smooth steps while bending his knees.  And to top it off, he succeeded in walking while holding on to a push toy...all by himself.  It was like he had taken every exercise, piece of advice, and motivation that we had given him, stored it up until he felt confident, and just burst out with all of these skills at once when he was good and ready.  That's how he does it though.  Now, he pulls up to stand everywhere, walks across the living room with his shopping cart, and stands by himself really well (for 10-20 seconds anyway).  We are just waiting for that first step!  During PT today, we thought he might do it, but sat instead.  It will be one heck of a moment when it happens though!!!

Generally, as I've been told by every therapist and development resource I have referenced, kids focus on one developmental area at a time.  Last month, Ty's language made a huge leap, and he gained many new spoken words and signs.  Since walking has entered the picture, language has taken a back seat for a bit.  That hasn't stopped him from adding a few to his vocabulary, though!  New words this month include blocks ("bocks"), up, nice ("bice"...though he draws out the "i" so it sounds like biiiiiiiiiiiiice).  One of my favorite aspects of this development, is that he can now request what he wants.  He tells me when he is hungry, or when he wants water.  Or if he's bored, he'll request a particular toy (usually a book!) when I ask him what he wants.  Communication is an amazing thing!

A few other firsts have happened this month, too.  Ty got his very first black eye this week, generously given to him by his little friend Jack (by accident of course!).  He looks like such a tough guy!  On Friday night, he attended his first Friday night high school football game, which he loved.  He wore his huge smile throughout the whole game, danced to the music of the marching band, and clapped when the crowd got going.  Since his uncle is one of the assistant coaches, it's a good thing Ty appreciates a little football! 

18 months has been quite the adventure.  I can only imagine what the next 30 days has in store for him!  Happy 19 months, Ty-Ty!        

    

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! :)  

Happy September!