Hot Cereal

The other day, A was playing on my bed after our morning nurse and she looked up at me and signed 'eat'. This is not too unusual as she often hurries me along through my tired, slow morning movements. Then she signed 'cereal' and then 'hot'. Her signs are of course imprecise so I did a double take before I realized that she was asking for hot cereal, NOW!

Of course, she got her hot cereal with grated apple and raisins as fast as possible. I'm so proud.

A Mail Day is a Good Day

Here is little A admiring her Valentine card from Auntie M. She is quite pleased as you can see.

She is doing well. Her gross motor development is her weakest area overall but we have refocused our efforts to include crawling again and I think it's helping. We're using the stairs. She can't sit back and start scooting and it's easy to incorporate a few times per day. The crawling focus was prompted by a book I picked up and some families I ran into who use the neurodevelopment approach. There are at least two camps on this topic. One says although crawling is important, any movement is progress. The other says that if they replace crawling with scooting or some other creative method of getting around, there will be neurological damage. I know there are lots of 'typical' kids who don't crawl but perhaps for kids with an extra chromosome, it makes more difference. I don't know. I did spend a little time trying to find out but it seems that there is no proof either way. So! we are trying more crawling because it's not going to hurt. If you have been through this debate and have any comments, I'd love to hear from you.

In the speech department, we are having lots of fun. We recently started with a speech therapist and she had us do an inventory of A's language. She has about 15 spoken words and 50 words including signed words. This means, I'm the bottle neck. If I had 100 signs I'm sure she would too, so I'm trying to step it up. We're using the signing time series and it's perfect. Both kids like it and it's not too annoying as far as kid stuff goes.

Sleep is better although I hesitate to get too excited because things are always changing. There are teeth coming and I know that is part of the issue but we also get some long stretches. She is sleeping in the play yard porta-crib in our room and we've turned up the heat at night. We also night weaned and moved the morning nursing time to another room to distinguish when the day really starts. One or more of those changes is helping and although I'm curious which was the key, I'm not willing to experiment to find out.

We are spending more time at playgroups lately. There is one nearby with a nice structure including free time, snack time, book time and singing time. She eats things there that she will not try at home and she loves the whole scene there. It's good for me too.

Oh yeah, I cut the tiniest lock of hair from her bangs this week. It was in her eyes all the time. I always feel a pang cutting hair. Especially the first one.

Hey, You eating that?

Sleep is improving, thanks for asking. I hesitate to say we have it conquered because as you know, if you don't like what they're doing, it'll change and if you like what they're doing, it'll change. For example, after quite a few nights of 7 hour stretches (yay, yay, yay!) she slammed us twice with 4's and 5's. This wouldn't be so bad except we get confident in a pattern and we start to stay up late. Always a big mistake for me.

In other development news, we see the IDP consultant about once per month. We've seen a physiotherapist twice and we now go every two months. We are grateful for these services, but I do worry that the physio especially is not frequent enough. Both times we've gone, they have pointed out subtle but important adjustments I could make in our daily habits; how we pick A up, how we guide her to change positions, how we help her with supported standing. The worrier in me has been surprisingly quiet so far in this journey but it's peeking out a little now as we see the delays more. I found an excellent book at the DSRF library. It's called Time to Begin by Valentin Dimitriev. There is an updated edition in the 2000's. It's been really helpful. It's easy to read and very practical and it's armed me with more knowledge and vocabulary for the professional visits. It is WAY more useful than the book that arrived with the diagnosis. He is also very upbeat about the possibilities for people with Down Syndrome.

So, we are working on leg strength by doing soft-kneed standing. We are working on hands and knees position and we are working on moving from lying down to sitting. A doesn't like the hands and knees exercises at all. She always wants to be grabbing something and investigating. I think this is great but it's hard to get through the stuff we're supposed to get through. I try to keep it opportunistic rather than drill-like. There are days when I just want to play. So we do.

Eating is going well but there is a shift. She is no longer content with baby mush. She's figured out that we're eating more interesting fare and she wants it. She's grabbing it right out of my hand. It's great but she often gets distracted by the self feeding and she's eating less as a result. I'm sure it'll change but feeding times are a little long right now.

Elimination communication is going well for solids. We hear the signal and head to the toilet. She knows what to do. I'm still amazed by this but so happy. I spent part of last week upgrading her diaper supply. We're using cloth and I was combing craigslist for more. We found 12 brand new organic cotton prefolds for $35. We should be good until she's done. EC for liquid is still pretty casual. I try once per day after the morning nursing session. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. We still reinforce the pssssss sound when she goes in her diaper but I'm wondering if a sign would work better since visual learning is easier.

In the fine motor department, her pincer grip is starting to show up with all those finger foods. We don't see it much elsewhere but she's definitely working on it at the table and as she spends so much time there, I'm not focusing on it otherwise.

Communication has been interesting. She signed 'milk' at six months but didn't really do it consistently and she hasn't picked up any new signs. I was explaining this to another parent at a playgroup and suddenly she signed for 'milk' (which sometimes means 'tired') and it was unmistakeable. Then at a birthday party, T was feeding her some yummy bread. She turned to look up at him and said 'Dada' and then did the 'more' sign. It's not wise to get excited by one demonstration of progress but hey, it just happened and it was pretty cute.

For those of you unfamiliar with the age range for developmental milestones, here are a few to give you an idea what to expect. This is from the above-mentioned book. Sorry for the formatting. I did it in word and pasted the source in here so it's a little wonky.

	Children with DS		“Normal” Children
Milestone	Average Age in Months	Range in Months	Average age in Months	Range in Months
Smiling	2	1.5 to 4	1	0.5 to 3
Rolling over	8	4 to 22	5	2 to 10
Sitting alone	10	6 to 28	7	5 to 9
Crawling	12	7 to 21	8	6 to 11
Standing	20	11 to 42	11	8 to 16
Walking	24	12 to 65	13	8 to 18
Talking, words	16	9 to 31	10	6 to 14
Talking, sentences	28	18 to 96	21	14 to 32

On the cuteness milestones, she broke the monitor, so we only know she's off the chart.

Sleep and other stuff

We've been sleep 'shaping'. I suppose some would call it sleep training but as you know I cannot do the cry-it-out thing. I physically can't do it. Sometime just after Christmas, A went from waking once per night (manageable) to three times (not). If she would co-sleep, it might have worked but I had to get up, go down the hall and often it takes me a very long time to get back to sleep so I wasn't doing very well. Anyway, our new plan was to try to eliminate the 2am feeding by sending in T with water. She wasn't crazy about it but she adapted pretty well. Everyone was worse off for a week or two but things are moving in the right direction. That's the main reason it's been quiet here on the posting front. I really should be sleeping now. That's the daily choice; get to bed right after the kids do or have a bit of adult time. Too often, I let sleep lapse and well.... this blog has its name for a reason.

A is doing well. Lot's to talk about there but that will have to be another post. We had her 2nd physio session (we go every 2 months) on Thursday. We're working on the hands and knees position and teaching her to get from lying down to sitting up. Eating is going very well and she's mastered clapping. There's nothing better than coming into her field of vision and getting a round of applause just for showing up. (I apologize for my annoying voice but she likes it)

Here she is at a party, trying to grab her Dad's wine glass. Are we in for trouble or what?

In little t news, there was a fall down, head bump with stitches adventure. It was a rare sunny day and I struggled to get outside with both kids between naps and feedings. It took about 20 minutes of uphill battle to get them both ready to get out. We walked along together breathing in some fresh air. I was so excited to leave the building. Tor ran ahead a little bit and A was on my back in the ergo. We were heading to a trail but while still on the road, I looked back to ensure an approaching car was not heading our way. I kept walking with my head turned and tripped t who had slowed to wait for me. He fell headfirst to the pavement and it wasn't pretty. Lots of blood and tears. We weren't far from home and we rushed back to clean it up. Luckily T was there and he helped me. Thank God for skype. We skyped my mom, Grandma R, a nurse and she advised us that he needed stitches or at least a steri-tape thingy so we headed to the doctor. He was very brave and it's healing up nicely. We have been very lucky. We hardly go to the doctor at all.

It has been a bleary-eyed month so far but I've had a few moments of clarity. One of them came on a day where I had had a good sleep the night before. Little t and I were playing soccer in the downstairs room while A was napping. Suddenly it hit me. These days I am spending with both kids are so fleeting. In September he'll be going to school everyday possibly for full days. I'll miss him so much. I must do my best to soak it all in even when I'm so tired I could collapse. My official maternity leave is done in March but I will try to take the summer off as well. How could I miss it? Yes, it will be tight but these times are not coming back.

How's she doing? 9 months old!

You would be forgiven for thinking life revolves around little t around here. However, baby A certainly directs her share of traffic. Being a baby is pretty involved and although she is far more even tempered than her older brother she certainly expresses herself and ensures her needs are met. In fact, our days are structured around her needs as much as possible with interuptions for big brother's school and swimming lessons.

So for everyone who asks, "How's she doing?", here's a summary.

Food: She's loving it. We're adding more texture now. She still favours zucchini and other squashes. She also loves swiss chard of all things. She likes carrots, turnips, lentils, green beans, peas and most other veggies. When offered apple or pear, she screws up her face and looks completely disgusted. It's quite funny. She does like sweet potato so I don't think it's an aversion to sweetness. Not sure what's up there. We are offering finger food too. She still grasps with her whole hand so it's more of an exercise than an actual nutrition input.

Sleep: This area has been quite a struggle but things are improving. I'm a believer in attachment parenting. I like to keep the babies close. A was in a co-sleeper in our room until recently but I noticed that she seemed to sleep more soundly when I wasn't there. It's almost as if she senses my presence and thinks it's party time. So with some reluctance, we moved her bed into the office. After a lousy week of adjustment, she is down to one waking per night which is much more manageable than the 3 or 4 that had been happening.

Elimination: No problems. She's very regular. We have started elimination communication (EC) which means we pay attention to when she's eliminating and we learn the signals and acknowledge it. Thanks to my sister for inspiring us on this project. When she's passing solids we bring her to the toilet right away and most of the time she finishes the job there. When she's peeing we make a sound and change her right away. Sometimes we catch the pee but that's pretty advanced and the goal is more to make her aware that we are aware and to get her used to the toilet early. We're using cloth diapers so that also helps her awareness.

Communication: Here is where she has surprised me. We've been using signs for awhile. Around two months ago, she started signing for milk! She is not consistent about it and sometimes when she does it, she really means she's tired but she is unmistakably following our lead and trying to communicate with her hands. The surprise is that she had made this connection earlier than her brother who is no slouch in the communication department. I'm trying not to get too excited because she doesn't do it all the time and she hasn't picked up any other signs but I still think it's pretty cool. She's pretty clear with vocals too when she's hungry.

Movement: This is probably where we see the most delay. She is certainly not as strong as her brother was or her cousin is but we do see good progress. She sits well. We are working on getting her to move from tummy to sitting and from tummy to hands and knees. She has started to scooch backwards on her tummy and sometimes gets some good distance if she's got a rug under her.

Overall, we aren't as concerned about each milestone as I thought we would be. We're seeing progress and a huge curiosity. She wants to grab everything (especially my glasses) and she's really interested in books. She knows who we are. I think she knows her name, her brother's name but not her parents' names yet. She hasn't had too many babysitters but when she does, she misses us.

We're all in love with this kid and super grateful that she eats well and has no health issues. We're just enjoying this age and this time and learning to trust that all will be well.

Here's A attempting to use the sippy cup. Still a work in progress but pretty cute.