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.

Help for Haiti

If you're considering donating funds to help out the relief effort in Haiti, you might want to send them to Doctors without Borders. They do amazing work and are often in areas where others fear to tread.

Doctors without Borders, Haiti update

(I am not affiliated with them, just an admirer and donor)

Happy New Year!!! (better late than never)

Here are a couple of shots of our New Year's Eve plus a little movie of moments. I'll keep it brief because little A's sleep has been rough on me lately and I'm tiiiiiiiiiiiiired. But I can't let this opportunity pass to say that 2009 was the craziest year of my life. I'm inspired and impressed by the introspection and thoughtfulness of many of the New Year posts I've read. I would like to reach that same level of profundity but it's beyond me. I'll have to settle for knowing that 2009 has changed me irreversibly for the better and we're all entering 2010 with love, hope and more faith.

Our evening was low-key with just the 4 of us. We had a wonderful dinner of bouillabaise (sp?) preceded by a Skype to my brother and family in the middle of the country. After dessert (pie and ice cream) we looked at pictures of 2009 and years past. Then fireworks, sparklers and bedtime. Little A was asleep pretty early but Little T's head was just hitting the pillow at midnight.

King of New Year's Eve

And the Queen

Festive Table

Mmmmm dinner (is this starting to seem like a food blog????)

Some highlights... more experimentation with iMovie

Happy 10 months old

Our lovely A is 10 months old today. Alot has changed in those 10 months. My physical labour morphed into a labour of the heart. We went through a tunnel of fear and grief out to a great view with lots of giggles and love. Happy 10 month day little one. You are some kind of magic.

Love Mom

Christmas Update

I hope all of you had a great Christmas. Thank you to everyone who came by, thank you to everyone who hosted, thank you to well-wishers who drop by this blog and a huge thank you to everyone for the insane amount of presents for the kids. There is enough stuff here for another two Christmas's. We know we are lucky and we are striving to pass that message on to the kids.

On the Monday before Christmas, I took little t out to buy something for someone else, for someone who may not get any presents. Our local Christmas Bureau accepts new gifts for kids. Families who need the service can come and 'shop' for what they need. Little t busted out his piggy bank and put in some of his own money and I made up the rest. He chose a Nerf sword which he wanted to play with. It was interesting. I could see he really wanted it but he understood the whole exercise was to give it away. Thanks to friends N & L for coming too. I'm glad we did it. We need to do alot more of that I think.

Baby A proved herself to be a real party girl. She would not settle down for bed on Christmas night because there were new people around. When I went to pick her up, instead of rooting for milk as she would normally do, she pulled her whole body (and mine) toward the door and toward the party. She can't stand missing anything. I took her to the pediatrician for a check up on the 29th and she thought the waiting room was another party. Why not? There were kids, toys, books and a nice lady greeting everyone. When she's excited she lets out a James Brown yelp and that's what she did all week. Party, party, party.

I'm pretty exhausted so we're keeping things low key for New Year's Eve and Day. There will be a good dinner of course and hopefully a walk or two. We will also look through our pictures of 2009 to reflect on the year and share our hopes for 2010.

Here are some shots of our fun times. Up above, the kids are wearing their nisser hats. Nisser (pronounced something like Nissa) means elf in Danish. Down below we see baby A eating a good book in front of the Christmas carnage. Mmmmm book.

Here's little t on Christmas Eve in front of our tree.

Finally, here is baby A on her first Christmas, playing mostly with wrapping paper. This is my first experiment with iMovie. She normally smiles more than this but I didn't get nearly as much footage as I would have liked. Anyway, despite her serious intent, she's having lot's of fun.

Christmas Parties

December has been a busy month for everyone here. I suppose that applies to everyone who will read this. We're still putting the final touches on Christmas here. FF and FM are in town as well as Auntie A and Uncle V and we will have a wonderful dinner for Christmas Eve with riz a almande for dessert, followed by songs and gift exchange. The adults drew names this year to keep things under control. Christmas morning we'll have breakfast and then open the gifts from my family. Christmas dinner will be pork roast with crackling and red cabbage (very Danish). We've invited a few friends over for that so things should be lively.

We will miss you all greatly.

Here are some festive events we've been to recently.

All four of us at LS & WH annual Christmas fondue. It's rare to get all of us in one shot. Time for a professional I think. Check out baby A's YSL dress. My friend got it at a thrift shop. What a little fashion plate. She loves parties too!

Arrrrrggghhhh, Little t with pirates at the Science Centre's Christmas party.

Little t with Santa at the Science Centre's Christmas party. After hanging with the pirates he couldn't resist having his face painted as a pirate. Hard to believe.

Little t's pre-school Christmas party. He hasn't asked why Santa doesn't always look the same but then again, Santa is not the main event at our place.

Little t 'singing' along at his school party. The kids are all wearing reindeer hats they made.