Sometimes I think that I don't give Leo enough credit. It's not that I think he's dumb, I just, well I think that sometimes I set the bar low, so I won't be disappointed. Also, I don't know quite what to expect of him. I like to think that he's high functioning, and all signs so far seem to point towards this, but I don't want to get too comfortable. Will he keep going at this trajectory? Will he have some huge plateau and just stop developing at age five? Maybe that sounds silly, but I just don't know. Maybe it's a protective measure--if I expect little or nothing, then whatever I get is gravy. For years I've been reading about how parents of children with Down syndrome celebrate the little victories, the tiny accomplishments. It's really true. So I've just come to expect little things. And of course, to celebrate them.
Well, he is just full of surprises. And never ceases to amaze me, really.
Two recent things:
1) Leo is very interested in opening packages (making it impossible to put any presents under the tree this year but that's another story). Last week a box arrived for me. It was a small box containing shoes that I was not sure I was going to keep so I didn't want to bother to opening them. Well Leo had other plans. We've received a few gifts via the mail recently so I'm sure he thought it contained something for him. I told him that No we weren't going to open the box right now, and proceeded to begin my evening coming home ritual of hanging up coats, unpacking lunch boxes, going through kids' papers, starting dinner. It was after a few minutes that I realized Leo was being suspiciously quiet. There were no pleas for "Dora" (which is usually the first thing he asks for when I pick him up from school.
That's when I spotted him. He had gone into the junk drawer to retrieve a pair of scissors, which he had seen me use (bad modeling) last week to open a package. Before you call Children's Services on me I keep those scissors way in the back of the drawer but yes, it is troubling that he reached them (note to self, move scissors). There was Leo, sitting on the mud room floor, attempting to open my shoe box with the scissors. He had thought through the opening process and realized he would need a tool, knew where said tool was, and got it. His attempts were quickly dashed by me, but I still thought the whole thing was pretty great.
2) During the weekend's playing in the snow fun, Leo wanted me to pull him in the Red Flyer wagon. There was way too much snow for wagon pulling, so I explained to him that it would not be possible to pull the wagon because it would get stuck in the snow. That's when he climbed out of the wagon, bent down and began digging the snow out from under the wheels of the wagon. Again, he thought through the problem and thought up a solution (that's him, pictured above, trying to dig the snow out from under the wagon tires).
Leo, you are quite a guy.
