connecting the dots

I have been acting like a crazy woman lately stopping "strangers" in the street to introduce myself, my family and baby Owen. But we all have a common denominator because these "strangers" also have a family member with DS. At the newsagent I stopped mum Gale and her 28 year old (gorgeous) son James (who had just had highlights put through his hair) Gale took one look at Owen and just melted into familiarity and warmly swept him up for a cuddle. James was a little unsure of cuddling Owen (fair enough James those teeth are just as menacing as they look) it was wonderful to hear James talk about Masterchef, football, ten pin bowling, saving his money to buy a house and that he had just been to his Drama class. It was awesome to meet a family with an older son with DS, Gale had some sage words of advice about inclusion in school and we exchanged phone numbers. At Macca's on Saturday afternoon Col told me to turn around and look at a very cute little girl poking her head over the top of the booth seats and smiling at him - she had Down Syndrome too ! ( in our town Owen is the only child with DS under the age of 10 ! so seeing another young one with DS is a big deal to us. I turned around to look at her and then looked at her parents who were looking right at us. I did this little charade of acknowlegement and with big smiles crossed the room to talk and introduce ourselves. Glenn and Janeen had two of their daughters with them Tian is 3 and has recently been adopted and Olivia is 10, both are just beautiful, both have Down Syndrome. What a great family, full of laughter and hope and joy. Olivia is just inspirational - reading novels, writing, spelling, going to sleep overs and birthday parties and managing her Gluten Intolerance herself -by always checking with an adult if the food at a party is gluten free before eating it! WOW, she just blew me away but it was her beauty that rocked me. Tian is just a sweetheart, she is blossoming in this family. I left Maccas smiling like a lunatic because it is wonderful to be a part of the Down Syndrome family - I have longed for a sense of connection and community all my life - and it took the 47th chromosome to find it.
Thankyou Owey, you are my light, love you baby, MUM XXX

my boys health update

Randall's appointment with the Pediatrician went well and he is growing at 1cm per month. It seems his white cell count was low due to a recent virus and the thyroid and phospate levels were due to a growth spurt.

Cyrus had an ENT appointment on Friday he has had 3 monthly check ups due to fluid in his ears. He currently has glue ear and may need grommets (Owen is getting having them put in in just 24 days time)

Owen is starting to crawl on hands and knees just a few "steps" and then he flops onto his belly but I think he did about 4 of those steps in a row today and it made my heart fill with joy.

Today there is no struggle with the 47th chromosome, none at all, infact there is just happiness and love for this lovely, perfect, funny, cuddly little man.

struggling

Do you ever find your self struggling with the 47th chromosome?
I am finding it difficult at the moment, I am not really sure what has set me off, maybe its the delays, maybe its some of the quirky behaviour, at times I feel I am just not equiped to do "this"?

Also there are a few other things going on at the moment, we have just found out Cy needs glasses (very long sighted) and Randall has swollen lymph nodes and got some strange results in a blood test (white cells, thyroid and phosphate abnormal) so we are off to the Ped today for him.

Sometimes I think you just don't get paid enough to do this job - being a mum.

how do you teach sign?

someone recently asked me how did I teach Owen to sign? I have not had any training or support, I haven't read how to do it, I have just followed my own instincts and I wonder what others do ?

When Owen was about 8 months old I started reading to him before bed and I read the same 2 books every night they are a really simple one animal/item per page


I went on to the Auslan website and found some of the signs for the animals or items in the book at first I just did Dog and Duck and Cat. I read the book with Owen sitting on my lap, the book in front of us and use my hands over his and make the sign or I would do the sign with my own hands (for example duck is hard to do with a hand over hand).

When he watches Playschool or his Your Baby to Read dvds, or when I sing nursery rhymes I would do the same thing, hand over hand signing.

I really think for Owen it was the sensory input that was most valuable in learning the signs, I mean I know the visual is important but I really think it was feeling the sign that was most vaulable. Now that we use sign to communicate Owen can learn a sign very fast (recently he learned "poo" in one day. At the moment I am not learning any more new signs I have hit a hump, we know about 40 and it meets our needs in the day. Owen also sayes just 5 or 6 words I am also working on him verbalising more and sharing baby babble back and forth with him.

Cheeky Monkeys and a Hat

There are three cheeky monkeys in our house but it is the middle monkey that is the most mischievous, I love the first photo where you can actually see him plotting to take Owens beanie and the last photo you can see his delight at Owens reaction!

MIA

No posts and no photos recently because I have been sick with vertigo for the last 10 days. It was probably a virus but I realise that this crisis in my health is probably a reflection of the constant day to day stress I put myself under with little time for friends, time out, hair appointments etc. The vertigo was completely debilitating all I could do was lay in bed, if I got up I was staggering and bashing into furniture and the walls and the nausea was overwhelming. Randall was calling me "Future Mum" - because I would have to have someone to support me to walk to the toilet! My partner Col looked after the boys, the house, the cooking and me (and I am a pretty awful patient), but he had to go back to work last week so my mum flew from Adelaide to look after us all, she left yesterday. I am running on about 90% of normal just the ocassional dizzy, nothing debilitating. Back to fulltime parenting tomorrow !

Here comes the sleep train

One nap a day has shifted things big time.
Owen is waking just once a night now and woke at 6.30 this morning !!! and I can put him down at nap time without nursing him (he is just so tired he falls asleep with just a little patting) YAHOO fantastic. I feel a million bucks.
Its a job to keep him awake at 10 o clock but with a quick snack and a drink he can get through until about 1130 (he is having lunch at 11am. I moved Cy's nap too now his going down at 12pm (was 1pm) and waking at 2.30pm an hour earlier which means he is sleeping through the night without the antics.

Owen has found EYES are for poking ! I ask him where are your eyes and he points to my eyes and then his own eyes (well sometimes its his ears) and he goes back and forth back and forth sometimes poking both my eyes one after the other as if to say, and you've got two of those ! Very cute. Photos to follow