It Was Halloween. You'll Just Have to Trust Me.

As much as I would love to regale you with adorable photos of our Halloween (consisting of a neighborhood Halloween parade straight of out Norman Rockwell followed by trick or treating on our street on a blustery evening with the backdrop of an exquisite autumn sky), I cannot.

I forgot to put the memory card back into my camera.

I KNOW!

Oh well. You couldn't take photos of Ellie squealling "Mommy I'm having fun! I LIKE trick or treating!" No, but snapshots of those little moments are sealed in my mind forever, thankfully. And there will always be this.

Leo still hasn't mastered "Trick or Treat," preferring to greet his candy bearers with an enthusiastic "Happy Halloween!"

Nobody seemed to mind.

In other news, we made it! 31 for 21!

I want to say how much I enjoyed finding some new blogs through this fun and worthwhile exercise and once again thank Tricia for orchestrating it all. I like to think with our combined tenacity and creativity we're making some kind of difference out there, in terms of raising awareness of Down syndrome.

And I think it's safe to say that blogs have saved me a little, saved my sanity at least. It goes without saying in our busy little lives that sometimes it can feel like you're the "Only One." But I think we can all agree that is the farthest thing from the truth.

We're all in this together.

Thanks for following along this month and I hope you'll stick around!

The Fish Makes Progress

Leo today, "helping" me rake. This boy could eat a Popsicle outside in January, I swear (and mark my words, he'll try to).

Leo did SO well at swim class today. I haven't talked about it much here because, well, it's been a little rough at times. It's his first "independent" class in that there is no Mama or Mommy in the pool. Leo is a fish and LOVES the water but I think it's been a little shocking to him to be in there without one of us. Also? They work him hard in this class. He swims the length of the pool and uses a tiny floating noodle for support which means he's essentially treading water for forty-five minutes. But every single veteran mom I've talked to at this particular class says her child has learned to swim here so hey, that's good enough for me.

The class is for kids with special needs and each child is assigned a 1:1 aide. The last two classes he's had wonderful aides (they're all volunteers). Today he was paired with a father-daughter team which Leo adored. Have I mentioned he seems to have a thing for teenage girls? He hugged and kissed (or at least tried to) Miss Alexandra at the end of the class.

I watch Leo the whole time through a little room off the pool. I actually think it's the lifeguard lounge but no one has said a word about it being a problem. I have to, otherwise Leo will see me sitting on the sidelines and either cry or try to escape to me. But if I'm not there? Out of sight out of mind, it seems (though I'm sure that's not really the case).

Leo does better each week and today, did great the first thirty minutes. After that, I honestly think he just got tired (it's technically an hour class but once everyone gets in the pool it's really more like forty-five minutes, still pretty long for a six year old though, when you think about it). So after those thirty minutes in the pool today he did what he's prone to do, which is climb out of the water, sit on the edge with his arms firmly crossed and a stubborn "No way I'm DONE" look about him.

His aide today, Leon's dad (another member of the Club 47) was pitch perfect with Leo. I watched as he talked to him (couldn't hear what he was saying but there was obvious negotiation going on). Leo still shook his head and adamant NO. Then Leon's dad pointed to the rainbow striped beach ball that was bobbing by and Leo's eyes lit up. Yesss. Now we were back in business and Leo slid effortlessly back in the pool. They then proceeded to practice swimming toward the ball and Leo dog paddled toward it and it was all kinds of wonderful.

After class I thanked Leon's dad profusely and commented on how amazing he was with Leo.

"Oh I have a bit of experience with the stubbornness," he laughed, giving me a knowing look.

Sometimes? Sometimes it's just such a relief to be around people who GET IT.

Halloween Begins: Parade at Leo's School

I feel like it was just last week that it was last Halloween. This year I took Ellie to the parade at Leo's school for the first time and she loved it (what's not to love about five hundred "big kids" all dressed up?).


Aferwards we joined Leo in his class for a party. Obviously they take their celebrating very seriously.

Today the kids were precious and adorable and I thought what I think often, which is that this is all going by entirely too fast.

The Things We Do

At some point, Leo developed a bit of an obsession with "Hey Diddle Diddle." He has several books that feature the little diddy. He was overjoyed when he discovered all the versions on YouTube (this one is my fave, it's old school (from what I recall, anyway) "Sesame Street"). And of course, I downloaded a few interpretations for him from iTunes (seriously, what did we parents do without technology? KIDDING).

This morning, however, he demanded to watch "Hey Diddle Diddle" on TV. He was dressed and had finished his breakfast, so we were pretty much golden. But there's that tricky gray area between breakfast and the bus where Leo can sometimes teeter toward crabby. Sometimes I feel like I'm walking on eggshells to keep him in a "good" mood before the bus arrives. Most days, picking out what he's going to bring on the bus is a perfect distraction (yesterday it was the pink Dora umbrella and Ellie's Disney Princess clock (shh, don't tell Ellie). I can only imagine what the bus driver and aide must think of Leo (and me). But as I've said, whatever gets you on the bus, right?

So in the midst of a teetering on angry Leo moment this morning, I promised him I would find a "Hey Diddle Diddle" movie, fairly confident that Google wouldn't make me out to be a liar. It's not that I get Leo every little thing that he asks for, not at all, but honestly, he asks for very little. And I get kind of excited when he expresses an interest in something. And making him happy? It's not only priceless, but so very easy. And you can't say that about everyone, that's for sure.

Talk Talk Talk and GO TO SLEEP

I can't get over how much Leo has been talking lately. It's truly a language explosion. I mean, I'm talking stories here folks. Long, detailed tales...of what, I'm often not sure. Poor guy. I can sometimes tell by context, but often, as I've said before, it's full on charades around here. But I love that he's talking as much as he is. To me, that in itself is huge progress. I know we'll get there. And do I even have to explain how exciting it is when I do figure out what he's saying? And really, bless him for being the most patient person I have ever met. He rarely gets frustrated with his slow mommy.

Ellie on the other hand is at the other far extreme. She will.not.stop. Isn't life funny?

Speaking of Ellie, I just returned from her room where, at a little past 9 p.m. she's informed me she can't go to sleep because she's "tendering (pretending) her room is a school." This involves piles of stuffed animals with books in front of them and stuffed animals on her bookshelf which seem to be doubling as bunkbeds. Boarding school, perhaps? Oh and also? She can't go to sleep because she has the hook-ups.

It's hard to get too mad when she also keeps busting into my room to tell me "Mommy I just luff you!"

Sweet dreams to all. Eventually.

Hi

I'm sputtering out. I hope no one is disappointed in me. I'm going to really try to go out with a bang and get my act together the next few posts, honest.

And I'm having a hard time concentrating as right now Ellie is up there clanging around in her room, dropping Little People behind her bed and then demanding them to be retrieved and having long conversations with her stuffed animals. Every few minutes she opens her door and calls for me. Some nights are fine and she goes right down. Some nights, no.

So.

Does anyone have any questions? About anything? Down syndrome related or no?

Help?

:-)

Fail

I missed posting yesterday. My first fail of the month. Gah. I'm not even going to get into the excuses because I'm pretty sure no one here really cares how tired I was last night. I'm going to try to post twice today so that will still be "31 for 21," right?


It was another beautiful fall weekend here. Seriously I just want to bottle up these days that are just so bright and clear and mild with just the perfect touch of appropriate chill to the air, the backdrop of everything being glorious changing leaves. I. Love. Fall.

I do not, however, love the raking of those glorious leaves. I managed to rake most of the backyard and then there was a bit of a logjam getting the leaves from our backyard to the curb. See above. Hopefully this year I will get them to the street before the snow arrives.

As I mentioned, Leo was a little under the weather all weekend so he was extra cuddly and at times, a little extra cranky. Sunday afternoon after a busy morning of playing Chuck it with Ruby outside, Leo, Ellie and I piled into bed for some quiet time (since there would be no napping). All I can say is thank you Nick Jr. for the Halloween marathon. It was just what the doctor ordered.

In bed Leo asked for a snack and then announced that he wanted an apple. Since I had just brought him grapes (inhaled in five minutes) and then a banana, I told him he could get his apple. So he disappeared downstairs for a few minutes and returned with not one, but three apples, one for Ellie and one for me too (though neither of us had asked for one). That boy. Even when he's crabby, he's a sweetie.