Wordless Wednesday

Guy Fawkes

The Evidence

Here he is! Yay!
And there he goes!

Yesterday he took his first step- from standing against the wall to his dad. Usually he just leans, but yesterday he took a step! Couldn't be more excited or proud :)

Luke can stand up! It's official!

After surprising his daddy on Friday by standing in the middle of the lounge floor, away from any possible supports, when Neil turned around, Luke crawled outside on Saturday, and stood up on the concrete patio as I was walking towards him. It took every ounce of self-control I have to continue walking calmly towards him, fighting the urge to either run screaming to catch him in case he fell and hit his head or scream and clap loudly because he is so clever!

So we now know how he does it- he goes from the spiderman crawl position, and using those abs, just stands up, bending from the waist. Very clever. I am so excited that I have been modelling this move maniacally and repeating "Stand up, no hands!" and raising my arms in the air to prove it. I must look like a loon ;) (As if I am not...)

I will try to catch him in action soon, but you know how it is with kids and cameras.

Oh, and Ben has another strep throat which requires a third round of antibiotics-sigh- but hopefully he'll be better soon.

The Beginning of the Barbecue Season

Last night we had our first barbecue tea. I defrosted the sausages and had the chops in the microwave and decided to bath the kids before we ate, as Neil was going to cook the meat when he got home. Ben and Emily were all excited to be having sausages (!) for tea.

When the time came for the meat to be cooked, I overheard Ben excitedly telling Neil that we were having sausages. To which Neil replied, "No, we're just having these chops. There aren't any chops". Cue Ben's exclamations of frustration and disgust: "But I hate chops and MUM said we were having sausages". "Well there are no sausages here Ben". At which point I piped up that we were having chops AND sausages, which were on the bench, ready to go. "No they're not" said my ever-loving husband. I cast a disbelieving eye over the bench, ready to blame him for a poor effort in looking, but no sausages.

Then the penny dropped. That b****y dog! We all race outside, to discover fragments of plastic wrap and polystyrene all over the lawn, but not a scrap of sausage anywhere. I hate that animal!!!

Luckily I had more in the freezer, so all's well that ends well.

On a similar note, I have had Emily scrubbing coloured pencil off my window sill this morning and Luke throwing nutella sandwiches across the kitchen, and it's only 9.30am!

Oh, and earlier this am, Neil turned around and there was Luke, standing in the middle of the floor, standing up all on his own! We have no idea how he got to that position, but he can obviously do it, sneaky little monkey!

The Future

I often worry about the future and what it may hold for Luke. I don't want him to be lonely. I want him to have friends and be happy. Just like the rest of my kids. But for some reason, I worry about it for him. With the others, I just assume they'll be ok, be independent and productive and happy and all the rest of it. I know that is not particularly logical, and that they could be miserable and lonely too, but that doesn't stop me!

I also know there are lots of people with DS who live independently and are very happy. But who am I to let reality get in the way of my worrying? I want Luke to live in his own place, but I have never lived alone, and have no desire to. So I worry about sending Luke to live alone.

Anyway, I have a solution. Or rather, Vanessa and I have a solution. Vanessa is the mother of Luke's friend Aidan, who I am about to introduce you to. We all met in therapy at the Champion Centre- and Vanessa and I get on like a house on fire. Meeting parents whose child has the same syndrome as yours is a strange thing. You have something in common, but it may be the only thing you have in common. However I have found a real friend in Vanessa, and I expect many other mums I have met and will meet there.

This is Aidan. He is about 3 months younger than Luke. He is also the youngest in his family. Like Luke, he is a mover and a shaker! We love Aidan.

Here are the boys just hanging out together.

Probably getting into trouble together (and we suspect there will be plenty of that into the future!)

This is one of Aidan's favourite pastimes. Sorry Vanessa, but I had to put it in! :)

So the plan is that the boys will be friends throughout their lives. And no we have not consulted them, and no we are not planning to! They may like to go flatting together, and get up to boy stuff together. Like trouble. And I am happy with that, it gives me some respite from my worry. Luke has a friend who will 'get' him, who will not judge him, who is on the same level as him. This is the beginning of a beautiful thing.

Which is not to say that there is no competition between them, or actually between their mothers, as to who will walk first. Because there is. And that's normal too!