Acceptance? Awareness? Experience.

It's October again and that means it is Down Syndrome Awareness Month! ...But... I don't really like the awareness part there. I think maybe I would prefer it be called acceptance month? I suppose people need to be more aware of those who have Down syndrome to understand how similar we all really are. Then perhaps they can accept them as peers. But when people are raising awareness for a cause I feel like it is usually because there is a problem that needs to be addressed. Something is wrong, people are dying, something needs funding, and research, and help! Down syndrome is not a problem. People who are unable to see those with Down syndrome as equals are the only problem. But how do we make them see that when we are raising awareness? Making ourselves appear to be broken and in need of assistance.

This past Saturday we walked in the South Puget Sound Up with Down Syndrome's Buddy Walk. It was GREAT! It was so much better than it was last year, but my favorite part was the giant groups of highschoolers they had out there helping out. For one it meant I was relived of my face painting duties so I actually got to have fun and experience all the festivities myself, which I had been worried I would miss out on. While prizes were being given out and speeches were being made, a group of football players sat over on a curb. Arden was getting wiggly so I set him down and he immediately ran over to them and started waving his arms in the air and yelling at them, as he does, and these teenage boys who you know usually probably only think about themselves. And girls. And themselves with girls, and I suppose football, well, they all turned to mush over this little boy in their faces getting high fives and yelling at them excitedly for no apparent reason.

 

Photos by : Jason Zimmer

That is how we teach acceptance!


It made me think of a newspaper clipping my Aunt sent me a while ago about an elementary school where she lives in D.C. with a program, Roots of Empathy.  By bringing a baby into the classroom regularly for the children to interact with the children witnessed the babies different moods, smiles as well as tears, making the students aware of the babies different emotions. It was a start to being able to understand and empathize. Experience will teach them to be patient and considerate of others. I thought that was AWESOME! This is how we learn acceptance too!  It made me want to set something up with the boys school where I could bring Arden in to play with some classes because you really do need to experience Down syndrome.

When I drop the big boys off at school in the mornings I walk into the building with them and stand against the wall of the gym. They sit in their respective lines behind a cone with their teacher's name on it. Ephraim still wont let me just drop them off and leave. I have to wait until the bell rings and the teachers comes to collect their class. Then I have to wave and blow kisses back and forth with Ephraim until he is out of sight. But until the teachers come out Arden does his own thing. I let Arden loose in a gym full of children grades K-5. He runs around from class to class interacting with the children. Earlier this week he ran up to a little girl in one of the kindergarten classes. She was sitting at the front of the line quietly, not talking with friends behind her in line or anything. Just facing the front a somber expression on her face as she stared down at the floor. When Arden ran over to her I was a little worried his presence was not going to be appreciated. Maybe she needed to be alone. Just as I had decided to intervene the little girl looked up at him. He leaned over closer so they were face to face, just a few inches between. He furrowed his brow as looked at her like he was trying to see why she looked so sad. Her face softened as she looked into his eyes and she then just reached out and hugged him. He hugged her back. It was just a quick hug, three seconds tops, and then he continued on to other students, waving in faces and stealing lunch boxes, but that little girl continued to look more relaxed than she had before his hug. It was then I realised what I had already been doing by letting him run wild through the gyms in the morning. They were experiencing Down syndrome. I was exposing the future to it before they have time to see it as anything else. They will know Arden as compassionate and loving, and silly, and sweet, before they learn anything about that one extra chromosome that makes him so very different in the eyes of others. I stopped worrying that the teachers might not like it that I let Arden run around free when the children should be sitting quietly in their lines waiting to be collected. What Arden is doing is much more important. He is showing the world that he is not broken. He does not need help, or funding, or research. He is Arden and he is awesome.

Happy Down Syndrome.... uuuuh.... something Month! Go love someone with Down Syndrome, and then keep doing it all year round.

Baby Hulk ~ Toddler Group

     Arden was too excited about starting his first day of toddler group today. After 2 failed signs I finally spelled everything right and managed to get it to all fit on the third piece of construction paper. And then he wouldn't let me take pictures!

No time to hold signs! Lets go!

     We arrived at the church where Toddler Group is held. We were the first ones there and the office ladies didn't seem to know what was happening. As the office lady was about to take me back to the class I reminded her I was pretty sure I was suppose to sign in. I wonder if my being 5 minutes early threw her off because there was indeed a sign-in sheet right there on her desk and I had been told ahead of time I would need to sign in. I signed us in and she walked us down the hall where we ran into Teacher Barb! She greeted us, made us name tags, and showed me a cubby to put my bag in. Then we played in the classroom as the other toddlers showed up with their moms, and one "nana".
     Arden was the only toddler with Down syndrome in the group. I have to say I was a little disappointed. I would really like to be able to get to know some other kids his age with Down syndrome, but the local Up With Down Syndrome group is run by an older couple whose kids are all adults now so I just don't think they even think about how important that might be to others. There was one little boy who will be 3 soon, but I think everyone else was closer to Arden's age, though I am pretty sure he was still the youngest. There were 2 sets of twins out of 7 kids in the class! I wondered if they were just preemies and needed a little extra help. One of the sets of twins I had actually met before in my babywearing group! I am pretty sure the little girl has spina bifida. I thought I saw a scar on her lower back at one of the babywearing meetings, and she uses a walker and has leg braces. She also has the best little chuckle ever. Her twin brother is the sweetest little boy I think I have ever met. He just walked right up to me and wrapped his arms around my legs and laid his head on me while I was just standing there not even paying him any attention! The other set of twins will be 2 in a couple of weeks so I believe they were the closest in age to Arden. Their names were Jane and John and I couldn't help but giggle to myself and wonder if their last name was Doe. Arden played with the Doe's the most and really seemed to like their momma. She was fun and young and actually interacting and playing with all the kids not just her own.
     We played around the room for about 15 minutes and then Teacher Barb rang a bell. We cleaned up our toys and then all came to the middle of the floor and sat in a circle around a hula hoop. We sang songs and learned signs for parts of the songs. Then we played with a koosh ball in a toy frying pan. After that it was snack time. The kids all sat down at a crescent shaped table washed hands and passed out bowls and spoons. Teacher Barb sat across from them at the center of the table and dropped little dollops of apple sauce in their bowls as they ate and passed out pieces of graham crackers. Then she passed out cups and poured in about a tablespoon of water as they finished up eating. Jane Doe kept pouring her water into Arden's cup secretly and then asking for more. Only Arden and I seemed to be onto her sneaky ways.
     After snack we all went out into the hallways where there was a line of trikes against the wall. The children were all supposed to pick out a trike and ride down to the gym but in the chaos Arden ran ahead and followed Teacher Barb's helper with the basket of balls instead. Arden loved the big gym. It echoed and he ran around yelling the whole time he played enjoying the sound it made.

     Finally it was time to go back to the class. It was sand table time. Arden was the only one there who just couldn't refrain from throwing sand and dumping it on the floor so Teacher Barb stood behind him to encourage the not so messy kind of sand play for the remainder of the time. 

       Then it was time to go! We gathered around the hula hoop one more time and sang goodbye to everyone.

"Goodbye, Arden. Goodbye, Arden. Goodbye, Arden. It's time for you to go."

     It was a 2 hour class full of fun an excitement and Arden was totally exhausted by the time we got to the car. He was passed out before we were even halfway home and took a nice 2 hour nap.

     I am pretty excited to have this become part of our week! He had a blast and I had a pretty fun time watching him get to play with other kids his age. It has been hard filling the time when his big brothers are at school. I can only read him so many books and I'm no good at the crazy wrestling play he does with his brothers. This is one day a week I wont have to worry about boring him to death.

No more PT?

Yay! BACK TO SCHOOL!!!!!! The first day was Sept 3rd and I was sooooo ready for it! I still managed to get all emotional walking Ephraim up to the school for his first day of kindergarten. My nose got all itchy and everything (that's how we heartless people cry in case you didn't know)! But summer break is just WAY too long! We were all ready for a break from each other. Before we headed out to school  I took all the first day of school pictures of the big brothers. 

 Arden snuck into Nolan's shot looking like Chucky...

...So I was more than happy to oblige when Russell asked me to take pictures of Arden for his first day back to Physical Therapy today! Made him a sign and everything! He was pretty excited to get his own sign and knew exactly what he was supposed to do with it.

As we waited to check in for PT we ran into another mom with a 2 1/2 year old little boy with Down syndrome. He wasn't yet walking. I felt guilty telling her when she asked, that Arden wouldn't be two until November as he was excitedly running down the hall to go find his beloved room of fun. Ms. Annie was amazed by his progress and how strong he is. After she bragged about him to all the other therapists as they passed by, she told us she didn't need to see us anymore! Just a quick visit every couple of months so we can see how he is progressing! What!? I mean I know he is doing awesome and all that, but we love Ms. Annie! We missed our appointments over the summer!
     I guess, in the early intervention program, once they are established in walking they just send them on their way.
     Instead of PT Arden will be starting Toddler Group next Wednesday! Apparently it is kind of like preschool and sounds super fun.  I guess I'll be making a new "first day"sign! This feels more like a real first day of school anyways. I hope he loves it just as much as he loved PT.

I hope everyone had a great summer and hopefully now that I only have one child to entertain during the day I can get back to this blogging business!

Sleeping Russell ~ The Kicking Gecko

It has been a while since I have been able to get good enough material to post about Sleeping Russell. I suppose I could have posted about the baby black widows in the bed after an egg sack burst, but I just didn't feel like I could paint a good enough picture of Sleeping Russell bouncing around in the center of our bed in a Spiderman (coincidentally enough) type crouch, wild eyed and whisper yelling about "BABY SPIDERS EVERYWHERE!" ....Well... I suppose that wasn't too bad of a picture painted... I just wasn't feeling it at the time. I'm not really feeling it this time either but recently my Mom stopped over at the blog to read about Baby Hulk, but never actually got around to it because she got caught up in the tales of Sleeping Russell so for my Mom.

Last night...

Sleeping Russell says:
"It's kicking!"
"What is?" I say as I watch him fumble around with the sheets at the bottom of the bed.
"That lizard thing you're getting." he replies, sitting back on his elbows to look at me.
"What lizard thing?" sorry, you are mistaken sir. I am sooo not getting a lizard!
"You know, that one you're trying to catch, what is it... a gecko?"
"A gecko? And it's kicking?"
"Uh huh! ........MEOW!"

Okay Sleeping Russell... Okay...

Baby Hulk ~ Two Weeks

I wish you could see what I see.

I wish everyone could know Arden like I do. To me he is not a special needs child. He is only as different as his big brother Nolan, who knew his entire alphabet at age 2, is different from Ephraim, who at age 5 still cannot write his whole name (it is a tricky one).

For almost two weeks my sister-in-law visited with her family, and at one point at the beginning of her visit I realised, I think Arden is a special needs baby to her. I don't remember what it was that made me think that, maybe she seemed uncertain or overly cautious, maybe it was nothing at all, but it made me think that she saw that he was different. Suddenly it stuck me. All my friends and family I have, I see often. They have seen Arden and have interacted with him regularly since his birth. They see him the same as I do. He is just a little ball of cuteness with fat little starfish fingers and potato feet. He is our beautiful boy with pretty soft curls. His lovely sometimes grey, sometimes green, mostly brown eyes. He is our sometimes ginger. He is Baby Hulk. We know him and we see him.

I was sad to realise that she probably didn't see what I saw, but of course she didn't. She had only met him once before when he was about 3 months old! This is how the rest of the world who hasn't been lucky enough to interact with him on a regular basis, will see my amazing Baby Hulk.

Luckily we had two weeks. Two weeks for Arden to show a family that he was only as different as anyone else. He doesn't need special treatment. He can play rough and tumble with his cousin and brothers. He is sneaky! He will throw your caramel coloured carbonated sugar water all over the carpet and make you look bad (he actually got my tea today). He is fast and wild and just like any other little boy.

I wish everyone could spend two weeks with him. Two weeks to see what I see.

Two weeks, to see what she saw.

Babywearing ~ FWCC

I entered into a contest to "be a face for Calypso wraps." They wanted you to make a photo collage of the steps of an FWCC or a kangaroo carry. I went into it knowing in the end it would be a popularity contest, but I thought I would give it a shot! But then one person, who was in last place with 20something votes the first day, suddenly shot up to first overnight with over 400 I realised I was in over my head! I don't feel comfortable going further than my friends to ask for votes and apparently one person asked for votes in the big babywearing group of 28,000 members! And it wasn't even on a Spam Wednesday! But I love my entry and have decided to run with it. I want to make more!  I want to make them part of this blog! Starting with my competition entry! The Front Wrap Cross Carry or FWCC. And this way I can add written instructions as well!

Step 1- Find your middle marker and bring it to the center of your chest.
Step 2- Bring the ends around back and cross them making an X across your back.
Step 3- Bring the ends over your shoulders.
Step 4- Put your baby in the pocket you have, legs coming out the bottom (newborns can stay froggy if they prefer).
Step 5- Pull the back up to baby's shoulders.
Step 6- Create the seat pulling the fabric up between you and baby making sure it goes from knee to knee.
Step 7- Pull the ends coming over your shoulders strand by strand to get everything good and snug.
Step 8- Bring the end from your left shoulder across baby's back and under baby's left leg.
Step 9- Cross the other end over baby and under opposite leg.
Step 10- Secure ends by tying a square knot behind your back.

I hope I can find time, at least once a month, to make collages to show you different carries. I really enjoyed making these... okay... now that the contest is over... I totally didn't even make the collage my wonderful friend did. I just said "Oh yeah, I like that! Can you make that bigger? I love it!" Hopefully she loves me enough to help me take the pictures. Perhaps I can figure out the collage making on my own... perhaps...

Wait! Let Me Explain!

This blog was created so I could stop feeling like I had hijacked the blog  Hot Toddies of Washington   with posts about my chromasomally fancy son, Arden (aka: Baby Hulk). My lovelies, Buttons and Stitches had slowed down on their posting frequency and the blog was becoming nothing but Baby Hulk posts. The blog started as 3 lazy housewives and I turned it into a blog about Down syndrome! I took a few of my hair and makeup posts from the Hot Toddies blog and then I added a smaller side blog of mine documenting the shenanigans of my sleep-talking husband Russell (aka: Darling Husband. See what is happening here? With the pseudonyms it might get confusing if you go digging in old posts. There is also a Mr. Grey (my oldest son Nolan) and Lumpy (my middle son, Ephraim). So sorry for all the confusion.)
I am excited to add a section about babywearing, something I am pretty darn passionate about, and who knows what else will come of this! Wish me luck as I get this page up and running!

Corrie (the blogger formerly known as Pru)

Baby Hulk ~ Test Drive

Just in my last post I said Baby Hulk was his PT's first baby with Down syndrome who hasn't needed orthotics. Well, I spoke too soon because the very next week she brought them up. And then the next week she got out the box and tried some on him. Finally last week she brought out a pair and said she wanted him to try them out to see if they would do anything for him. He works his toes too much. He grips the ground with his little toes for balance and Ms. Annie wanted to see if she could stop that with some orthotics, forcing him to use his core more for balance. We brought them home and then promptly all caught the plague and died. Mr. Grey brought home some horrible stomach virus from school. Everyone was throwing up even poor Baby Hulk. The first time ever and I am sure he had no idea what was going on.

Poor thing :'(

So for almost the whole first week we had the orthotics, they sat in my bag untouched. I was a little unhappy with the whole idea of it anyways because we just bought Baby Hulk a new pair of shoes, and the orthotics didn't fit in them! I was going to have to buy him another pair of shoes just to try these orthotics. We weren't even sure he needed them! Finally, Sunday, 2 days before we saw Ms. Annie again I forced myself to feel well enough to go find a pair of shoes. We went to Target. We needed shoes that didn't have too thick of a sole. That is asking a lot out of boys shoes apparently. All shoes for boys past a size 3 must have 1 inch of sole. I was so mad I went the next aisle over and we tried on some hot pink patent leather mary janes... yup... I put my baby in girl shoes. And then I laughed put them back and left. We did a quick run into the Kohls next door and before I even got to the shoe section Baby Hulk had fallen asleep in my arms, there was nothing there anyways. We went home empty handed.


Monday Baby Hulk had his 15-18mo wellcheck and had to have 3 immunizations, one of them being DTaP. As an adult I have had it and could hardly raise my arm! The rest of the day he was dragging one leg a bit, he wouldn't bend it. I wasn't taking him shoe shopping again while he was limping around.

Tuesday morning a couple hours before PT we ran to another Target and success! A pair of cute cheap shoes that work with these blasted orthotics!

$12.99!!! (Darling Husband says this is how you take shoe pictures.)

He fell asleep on the way home and slept until it was time to go to see Ms. Annie. The orthotics went on and he went straight into his carseat! A week to try them out and this was his first time actually wearing them!

During PT he walked funny in them. His butt stuck out a lot and his feet were far apart, his toes turned in. He looked a bit like a duck. She tried to work with him trying to get him to tuck his butt and move his shins more over his feet but to do this she would grab his thighs. I had to remind her he had just had shots the day before when he cried out and then she felt bad and we pretty much played with bubbles the rest of our time there.

I'm not exactly happy about these orthotics. I hope he doesn't really need them. They are a lot of work to put on him and I have a bad habit of conveniently forgetting to do things I don't like to do. We will see how this week goes. He wore them for about 45 minutes yesterday. I haven't put them on him at all today. It is hard for me! We don't wear shoes in the house. Putting shoes on my baby just to hang around the house may take some getting used to.

So here's to hoping these abominations are unnecessary and we can go back to being awesome, and uninhibited by footwear. FREE THE FEET!!!

Baby Hulk ~ Walking

We decided it was official around a month ago, at about 15.5mo. Baby Hulk is walking. He is the earliest walker either Barb (Early Intervention), or Ms. Annie (PT) have ever seen. I don't know about Ms. Annie but Barb has been working for 28 years. Before Baby Hulk the earliest walker she had walked at 18mo. I am so proud of this dude it is ridiculous, but I feel like I can't really talk about it. I can talk about it with my friends with typical babies but when I bragged about how Baby Hulk was his PT's earliest walker, I think I made another mom (Tsunami's mom) feel bad. I didn't mean to! I am sure if Baby Hulk had a heart surgery to recover from and the set backs Tsunami had because of infantile seizures, he wouldn't have been walking so soon. I didn't even think it would make Tsunami's mom feel bad, Tsunami will be 5 this summer and walks, but she got a bit defensive when I was doing my proud Momma bragging. I have kept my Instagram bragging to a minimum because I have a lot of followers who also have a child with Down syndrome, many close in age to Baby Hulk. I know the stress that come from seeing other babies close in age to yours doing things that your baby isn't doing. It makes me nervous. I often start to write something about his achievements in Instagram posts and then end up just posting a picture with no caption because I am afraid it will make someone feel bad. Now I am making more and more friends with all these other parents, friends in real life, friends on Facebook.  But I am excited! I want to shout it from the rooftops!!! Baby Hulk is WALKING!!! But I am afraid I will make someone else feel bad!

To be fair, Baby Hulk kind of HAD to learn to walk. His big brothers do not go easy on him. They wrestle with him, and drag him around, he has to keep up! He climbs on them and pulls their hair. He takes their toys from them and steals their food. They are his big brothers and they keep him on track. He had to learn to walk so he can run, whether he needs to run from them or after them I am not yet sure but I will know soon enough because this boy can move! Ms. Annie hardly had time to admire his perfect crawling before he started walking, and I really think he has his big brothers to thank for that. They don't do gentle just because he is different, or because he is a baby. He is their brother and they will treat him as such. Because of that he will continue to thrive! ...It he wants to keep up!

  But of course, this means more trouble for me...

Baby Hulk ~ And the Winner is...

It is World Down Syndrome Day! March 21st. The 21st day of the third month. Symbolizing the 3rd copy of the 21st chromosome that is Trisomy 21 or Down syndrome. I just can't let it go by without making a post of some kind!

This morning, while the boys and I were in the car taking Mr. Grey to school we talked about what makes Baby Hulk different. He has Down syndrome. He has 47 chromosomes and we only have 46. Well for a 5 and 6 year old this is just not okay! Having more means you win! So congratulations to all the winners out there! Today is your day to celebrate!

You hear this business about children leaving an imprint on you, changing you. Well Baby Hulk, I recently discovered, took this literally. He HAS changed me. Instead of leaving an imprint on my heart... he left on on my ribs. With his butt. I am guessing he did this in the last 4 months of his 9 months on the inside because he had his butt shoved so far up in my ribs I was constantly doing a gangsta lean to try give my poor ribs relief and a few days ago I discovered my ribs don't match! They are warped on the right side where his butt was! Today I understand though. That was him winning.That was his victory lap, his touch down dance. He said "I WIN!" and he left his mark. No one else in here has ever had this many chromosomes and no one else ever will!

Baby Hulk is always winning.

Baby Hulk ~ Great New Steps

I know, I know. This is the most horrible I have ever been at being horrible at keeping up with posts! It has been since his first birthday that I have made a Baby Hulk post, I believe, and he is 15 months old (as of last Saturday) now! That is far too much time with way too much having happened for me to even remember it all! I wish I had at least written it down somewhere but alas, I have failed even myself!

At some point in time Baby Hulk has started crawling a real hands and knees crawl. Now he is such a pro at it he speeds around the carpet like a giant, yet adorable, scurrying cockroach. A better comparison would be a bird. He will tuck his head and scurry across the floor a few feet, pause, look around, and then tuck and scurry again, like a little bird. Run, stop, look, run, stop, look. It is pretty hilarious.

For months, I have been hearing of all the teeth my friends' babies are getting and for months I have had the pleasure of receiving many a gummy grin from my toothless wonder. That ended a couple of weeks ago (2/15) when Darling Husband stuck a finger in his mouth (probably to retrieve something he wasn't supposed to be eating) and felt a little tooth poking through! I was actually really sad about it! There is no oh yay how wonderful! A tooth! I know it is that way for some but for me it was just rubbing it in that my baby, my last baby is growing up. It is saying goodbye to those sweet gummy smiles I love so much. Just this past Saturday (3/1) he cut his second tooth and then the biting began. That first one came in so nicely we didn't even know it was happening! No drooling, no fussing, nothing! Nothing until just now actually. As I was beginning this paragraph on teeth Baby  Hulk cruises on over, and starts trying to climb up onto the couch with me. I pulled him up and he went straight for my shirt. I see the time, 11am, naptime. He wants to nurse to sleep. I put him to my breast and there isn't even a test suckle, just straight to the chomp! I pull him back and say "no biting" he looks at me like there is something wrong with me and starts wiggling, trying to get back to my breast. I try to latch him back on again and this time he bites so hard I yelled. And then told him no. I think my yell along with the no really upset him because he has never cried when I have told him no before! But he starts wailing and of course what have we been doing to sooth his crying? I nurse him! So what does he want? The boob! I feel so bad for making him cry that I bite the inside of my mouth hoping he is just giving me a test bite and will maybe bite twice and then start nursing but nope, he bites, bites again, bites again and then bites HARD! All while still crying. So then I start crying because I am sad that he is crying and of course it HURTS!!! and then Lumpy who is my sweet sensitive boy, starts crying because Baby Hulk and I are crying and we are all just a snotty crying mess! I finally just wrapped him up in a woven wrap and jiggled him to sleep, tightly tied to my chest. I have no idea what I am going to do when he wakes up if he keeps this biting thing up! I do not remember it being this horrible with the big boys. I guess it is a good thing one of the new things he is doing is drinking from a straw. Before that I was his only source of hydration!

Okay, happy thoughts! No need to dwell on that! I got him to sleep so we will deal with these new teeth when he wakes up!

Next on the exciting new list of things that I can remember! My baby is almost walking!!!! He is walking really. I think he would have it down by now if he really wanted to but some days he just doesn't seem to care to try! Then he will have days like today when he just practices all by himself! He has been going down the hall where we have 3 steps to the sunken in back of the house and he climbs the bottom step, turns around sits on it, bottom on the step, feet on the floor, then he stands up and takes a few steps, plops down and crawls back to the step to do it again. Tuesday though, that is how I know he is holding back. Tuesday we had our Early Intervention Birth-3 annual review. We were all sitting on the floor in my living room discussing all Baby Hulk can do, and what we would like to see him doing in the next year. Well all these people around in his space and none of them were paying him any attention! He decided he would force us to pay attention to him when he stood up, from the middle of the floor, with nothing to hold on to (that was new!). Then he walked probably a good 10 steps across the living room to Barb, (one of the EI ladies we see weekly) climbed into her lap and then patted her on the breast and said clear as anything "boob". We all cheered and he got lots of kisses and the attention he had been craving.

I am most proud of his walking and his few words. He says "dat" (that) when showing me things. He says and signs "all done" when he finishes eating, he still wont say "Mama" but says "Dada" pretty often. Well... he yelled "Mama" at me duriing the nursing fiasco but it was like the first time in 3 months he has said "Mama" with meaning and always when he is stressed out about something! Darling Husband gets "Dada" for play! Clearly "boob" is a new word, I was going for "nurse" and using the ASL sign for "milk" but  his brothers call nursing "the boob," "do you want the boob, Baby Hulk?" Oh well. I am still proud of him. Also I like that he obviously listens to his brothers. I am sure I will not be happy about things they teach him eventually too but for now their interaction makes me happy. A lot of his words go with a certain routine. Like "dat" came about from a frequently played out scene. He gets something he shouldn't have and puts it in his mouth. I say "what do you have?", he pulls it out and shows me and I say "can I have THAT?" So then he started taking whatever was in his mouth out and saying "dat". Then after he hands it to me I would say "thank you". Thank you is another more recent word that he now says after you have taken something he hands you. I am all for a polite baby!

I really do need to get better about making these posts, if not for you, then for myself. I need record of all these amazing things he is doing! Especially with how quickly it all seems to be happening! I have the worst memory when it comes to things like this. If I don't write it down I forget. I hate it but I need these blog posts and photographs to stimulate my memories!

Sleeping Russell ~ Just a Day at the Kite Races... maybe?

It's been a while since he has had anything good to say and then tonight our tiny conversation was so completely all over the place I really have no clue what could have been happening in his dreams!

Sleeping Russell says:

"Have you found the gate?"
"What?" I ask.
"Did you find a spot for your kite?" he asked.
wait.. I thought we were talking about a gate "...No?"
"You'd better hurry up and find one or you'll be stuck inside forever."

I think it happened something like this...