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!

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...