So over it...

I am struggling with the weight of other people's judgements and comments when I take Luke out in public. Often people are great, and there is not an issue. I get lots of compliments and smiles, and Luke is so smiley and friendly that people interact with him a lot.

But I also get the not-so-nice comments. Like the other day at the optometrist, when a man and his wife came in to the waiting room. Luke LOVES men, so went straight over and put his arms up to be picked up. The man scooped him up and bounced him on his knee. Then he got on the floor when Luke brought him a toy car, and played with him for ages. It was lovely...until another lady in the waiting room commented on how friendly Luke was to the man who was playing with him. At this point, the guy's wife piped up and said "Yes, most of them are like that."

All I could do was blink back the tears. Luke is not a 'them' who is friendly because he has Downs. My other kids are social too. He is a person, not a syndrome.

I get people saying something offensive or insensitive every week. This has only started since he is bigger and the facial features of DS that he has are more noticeable. How do I cope with this without taking it to heart or saying something that makes me sound like a b***h?

It's getting to me.

On the good side, Luke has passed his eye test, and won't need testing for a couple of years. Yay! One less appointment to be getting to :)

Brothers

This is actually the last photo I took. Ben was minding his own business, having helped himself to a can of creamed rice from the pantry after school. Note the gorgeous bowl he is eating from.
Also note the little brother, who is obviously fond of creamed rice, recognises the tin, and as his mother is starving him, moves in for the kill!
Luke finds the strangle hold useful for subduing the big brother in the pursuit of food!
A brief respite as he eats a mouthful that the big brother has been kind enough to share :)

It obviously takes a bit to get Ben's attention!

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!