WEEK 19 - September 30 - October 6, 2010 - 18 weeks old

It’s Buddy Walk Week in Puget Sound! The Buddy Walk is an advocacy event in which everyone in the community is invited to participate. The Buddy Walk promotes community acceptance and awareness of people with Down syndrome. The Buddy Walk was started by the National Down Syndrome Society and has grown from 17 walks in 1995 to over 225 of walks worldwide today. More than 100,000 people participated across the world last year.

I am proud to say that this year was my very first Buddy Walk…and I can’t even walk yet! We walked all around Seattle Center and, well, I actually slept most of the walk on my Daddy in the Baby Bjorn.

My Sissy came down from college for the weekend and to participate in the Walk and we got to spend some quality time together before she had to go back to school. The day actually turned out to be really nice and I got to spend time with Kayla and the Sarbachs and Mommy got to talk to and play with Holly. We raised $1501.00 for the Down Syndrome Community. I’m really blessed to have so many people who wanted to support me. YAY! And thanks everyone!!! :)

In other news, I managed to make it the whole weekend without pooping! As a result, Mommy had to switch me from rice cereal in my bottle to oat cereal. I also got to try a slew of new flavors and try eating with…a SPOON!


Mommy started with prunes, which I didn’t much care for until she mixed in a little of my milk, then I was ok with it. I also tried pears, which I am here to tell you, I do NOT like. They’re pretty tart. I also managed to slog down 2 oz each of apple and white grape juice. Juice is ok, but it’s definitely NOT my own milk, so it was kind of a shock when I first tasted it. Mommy was trying to get the motor going, so-to-speak. She felt really badly taking me to daycare on Monday and telling them that I was potentially going to explode. They took it in stride and when I finally did have a movement, they called my Mommy so she could jump up and down and rejoice. And then I did it 5 more times that same day!! Needless to say, maybe I didn’t need to ingest ALL those things over the weekend! But..it’s started me on the path to new experiences and to starting to try to work with a spoon.
I had more adventures at school this week:

• I went on a buggy ride without falling asleep!
• I had my very first taste of a mini-cupcake for a classmate’s birthday. I’m here to tell you, cupcakes are WAY different than pears. They're really quite delicious. I hope we have more kids who have birthdays in my class!
• I played with string and paper to do “pumpkin art”…the finished product will be shown to Mommy and Daddy at Parent’s Night at school.
• Ms. Colleen came to school to play with me! I got to show her around my school and have her meet Ms. Audrey. She said I’m doing really well, but do need to work on grabbing at toys and focusing on finding my middle. Ms. Audrey was excited to have things to practice with me and we’ve been playing “toy grabbing” all week. Also, we agreed I should work more on sitting up. The day after Ms. Colleen came, Ms. Audrey told my Mom that I did a tripod sit for more than 10 seconds! I have a feeling that having Ms. Colleen and Ms. Audrey working together means more fun playtime and milestones for me!

Here I am playing in my jungle gym at home, working on looking up and when I flip over, I get to play with the hanging toys!

Mommy took a really funny video of me playing the "All the Way Up and All the Way Down" game...you can see it below!

WEEK 18 - September 23 - September 29, 2010 - 17 weeks old

Mommy and Daddy felt like this was one of the best weeks of my life yet. I got to experience so many new things and some very important milestones occurred.

Before I tell you about my week, I should share some important family news that happened this week. My brother, Brian, got engaged to his girlfriend, Alyssa! I met Brian and Alyssa way back when I was only two weeks old! I don’t remember them so much because I slept a lot at that point, but I understand this engagement thing is a significant event. My Daddy and Mommy are very happy about it and excited for Brian and Alyssa, so that makes me happy too!

This week at school, I got to sit up in a chair and play with wet oatmeal! They called it a “sensory activity”, but really I just thought it was a lot of fun…I got to make a huge mess and get it all over myself and was actually encouraged to do so! The pictures that Ms. Audrey sent Mommy and Daddy inspired them to try me out sitting in my “Bumbo” chair and, let me just say, I LOVE that chair! I can sit up well, look out at the world, and it’s totally comfortable. Mommy’s going to use it to start feeding me solids in a few weeks. Yay me!

Me in my Bumbo Chair!

I had some very important appointments with doctors this week. First, I went to see Dr. Patulot for my 4 month appointment. She was very impressed with me, though she had a funny way of showing it – I got shots! :) I showed her how I can sit up with Mommy holding me, how well I hold my head up, and how I have a great smile. (Of course, when she gave me the shots, I showed her how I cry too!) She told Mommy that she should start giving me some rice cereal because it will help with my digestion (I have some pretty bad reflux sometimes), and that I can start to have some juice to help with constipation! In the next few weeks, I can start to eat pureed food! I am not sure if I’m excited about this or not. We’ll have to see. In the meantime, I do love cereal in my bottle and am sort of mixed on whether juice is yummy or not! Dr. Patulot also referred us to a pediatric opthamologist because my eyes wiggle a little horizontally when I’m trying to focus on something. This is called “nystagmus” and she wants to be sure that we work on eye exercises to strengthen those muscles as well as ensure there are no other medical issues there.

My second doctor appointment this week was with Dr. Phan, my cardiologist. At that visit, they ran a wand over my chest and took pictures on a machine that looks like a black and white TV. I’m told that the process was called an echocardiogram. I just thought it was fun to look at the TV screen J. After that, the doctor’s helpers ran a test called an EKG. They attached all kinds of stickers to my body and then attached wires to the stickers to try to get a picture of my heart. During the EKG, I wouldn’t sit still, so Mommy had to hold me still so they could get the machine to work correctly.

Daddy took this picture (at the left) of me with the stickers all over me! All of this hullabaloo was due to the two holes I had in my heart when I was born. After the tests, Dr. Phan came in to talk to my parents. By this time, I, of course, was completely asleep! Dr. Phan told my Daddy and Mommy that the holes had closed themselves and the valve that was leaking seemed to be working fine! No more heart murmur! No more visits to the cardiologist! Mommy (she’s a tad bit emotional) almost cried right there in the office. Both my parents feel so grateful and relieved. I’m just glad I don’t have to go back for those tests again!

They weighed and measured me at both doctor appointments and I’m getting to be SUCH a big girl. On the “typical children” scale, I’m about 60-65th percentile for height and 70th percentile for weight; on the “kids w/ DS” scale, I’m in the 90th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height. I weigh right at 14 lbs and am now 24 ½ inches long! I’ve grown 5 1/2 inches in 4 months! No wonder I get cranky with all that growin’ goin’ on!

Since it’s been 4 months, lots of things have changed around Mommy and Daddy’s house. They thought we should record some of the things I do that they love about me most:

• When I smile, it takes over my whole body and I just wiggle from it!


• I love to sleep with my arms outstretched and often “sleep-eat”.


• I talk. BOY do I talk…Mommy says it’s her come-uppance!


• I like to play with my burp cloths and stretch them out over my head to play peek-a-boo with Daddy.


• I love to suck on my thumb and sometimes I get so excited about my bottle, I try to put my thumb in there with the bottle nipple. It makes for messy eating, but it sure makes me happy!


• I’m learning to put my hands on either side of my bottle too, but sometimes I get a little overzealous and push the nipple out of my mouth, which can be frustrating to a wee one, but Mommy thinks it’s pretty funny.


• I am fascinated by other kids crying. It doesn’t so much make me cry as I look at them and wonder, "What the heck is wrong with you?"


• I LOVE to look at myself in a mirror. Wouldn’t you if you were this pretty too?! :)

Sucking my thumb in my bouncy seat!

WEEK 17 – September 16 – September 22, 2010 – 16 weeks old

Me sitting in a Boppy at school on my first day!

Where to begin with this week? It was so busy!

On Friday night we had a nice dinner with Sissy and her boyfriend and then packed up our cars because the next morning, we left really early and took Sissy to college! She’s going to school about two hours away and we drove up first thing on Saturday. We moved Sissy into her room, which is really nice, and gave her big kisses and hugs goodbye. I won’t get to see her for two weeks, when she comes home for the first time…won’t she be surprised how much I’ll have grown!? While we were at Megan’s school, I had to be changed and Mommy was trying to get a new diaper on me in the back seat of the car and I flipped over from my back to my front! I startled not only myself, but Mommy as well…she says she’s not quite ready for me to be mobile. Fortunately, for her, the back of the seat has a slight incline, so that helped me a little bit and I haven’t repeated this feat since. BUT…I’m REALLY, REALLY close!

On Monday, I started school for the first time and Mommy went back to work. Mommy was so sad to leave me at school, but she knows I’m in good hands there. Aunt Rachel (Lott) came to help Mommy through that first drop off. She helped carry in all the various and sundry “stuff” that comes with me to school (lots of extra clothes, diapers, blankies, etc.) and helped Mommy so she didn’t cry too hard when she had to leave me with Ms. Audrey. I LOVE my school! Ms. Audrey, my primary teacher, does all sorts of activities with us and she takes pictures of everything so she can email them to my Mommy and Daddy. I also get to play with Ms. Kathy and Ms. Elsa and LOTS and LOTS of babies. I’m fascinated by their crying and can’t quite figure out why they do that! We do tons of activities at school and I’m always very, very tired when I get home. I pretty much eat a couple of bottles, take a bath, and go to sleep – and even then I usually fall asleep on my Mommy or Daddy because I just can’t keep my eyes open past about 7:15! My Uncle Jimmy (Lott) says they must have a treadmill or something that they put all the kids on to tire us out so much. Apparently, Madison has the same issue when she comes home!

This week’s activities at school included a couple of buggy rides and my first art project! I got to use my hands and feet in finger paint – it was extremely cool and Daddy and Mommy were shocked that kids my age can do art like that! Grandpa Ward says I’m the next Picasso (whatever that means!) :)

Starting my art project...

Moving on to feet...

Look at me! I'm all done (and look at all the pretty colors I have on me!)

We had a visitor to our house this week. Ms. Eileen, a friend of Mommy’s from work, came to stay with us for a couple of days. She’s really nice and has pretty red hair. I got to play with her before I went to bed…she’s silly and makes me smile!

I also got to spend some time with Ms. Colleen & Ms. Donna this week. I hadn’t seen Ms. Donna in about two months, so she was pretty surprised at how much I’ve grown and how strong I’m getting. Ms. Colleen showed Mommy how to put me in a crawling position over the Boppy so that I can start to exercise my hip muscles and learn what it feels like to be on my knees. I have to tell you, it’s weird. I much prefer to stand on my toes over the Boppy. I push up and almost do a somersault over the top of it, which I think is really fun, but Mommy and Daddy don’t! I'm really trying hard to stand whenever anyone is playing with me. I like to push up on my feet on Daddy's lap and just stare at him and talk to him. I'm becoming quite the talkative little girl!

WEEK 16 – September 9 – September 15, 2010 – 15 weeks old

We’re back in WA and its MUCH cooler (temperature-wise at least!) than the east coast. This week has been filled with all kinds of changes and preparation for Mommy going back to work next week on Sept 20. At the beginning of the week, I got to see Ms. Colleen again. She was actually very impressed with how well I can hold my head up and how strong my stomach muscles are getting. Even though Mommy was afraid we didn’t do enough during vacation, Ms. Colleen said I had been doing fantastic! Some of the things we played were pushing up on my arms, the horsey game (it makes my belly muscles work hard!), and Ms. Colleen said I should not push back when trying to sit up because I'm over-compensating. Mom says we're gonna work on that (yikes!). We played for almost an hour before I got fussy and Ms. Colleen said that 45 minutes was really great for a baby of my age. Mommy and Daddy were so proud.

The big news this week was that I started to sleep in my own big girl bed in my own room (a crib), rather than the bassinet in Mommy and Daddy’s room. Actually, it was harder for Mommy than it was for me (she didn’t sleep so well the first few days)! I sleep really well in my big girl bed…through the night and usually 10 – 11 hours a night (from 7:30 or 8 p.m. to 5:30 or 6:00 a.m.!!)…because I can spread out. I love to sleep with my arms outstretched.

As a reward for my big girl status, Mommy and Daddy and Sissy took me to brunch! Actually, it was Sissy’s last Sunday morning at home for a few weeks, as she leaves for school next weekend. At brunch at Jay Berry’s Café here in Renton, the owner commented about how totally adorable I am (and my parents agree!)…every other week when we go in there, she says how big I’ve gotten and how cute I am…my parents think I’m pretty much a rock star wherever I go!

I also learned how to sit in my jumper seat this week. Uncles Kevinommy gave it to me before I was born and it’s taken until now for me to hold my head up strong enough to be able to sit in it. I LOVE to sit in it and play with all the spinny and hangy things on it. I also love to sit in it and watch my Baby Einstein videos! The music almost always puts me to sleep, even though I’m sitting up. I can’t wait until my toes can actually touch the ground!

I had some pretty fantastic visits this week… I went to work with Mommy for half a day. She had some meetings and I was pretty good, though I did start talking part of the way through her first meeting and continued until the end of the third meeting! I also got to go spend some time with Kayla and Ms. Holly. We went to lunch and did some shopping. Kayla and I were pretty good – we pretty much slept through lunch so Mommy and Ms. Holly got to actually eat! Mommy did learn a lesson about strollers on this outing, though. The lesson? Always ensure there is a stroller in the car! She had forgotten to put one back in the car after our trip to NY, so she ended up having to carry me around the mall for 3 hours. That said, Mommy had a great time and hopes we can all go shopping again.

One of my biggest days this week was when I went to school for the first time to start to get acclimated to everything. I met Ms. Audrey (my teacher) and met some of my classmates (Benjamin, Christopher, Uma and Lola) and found out that when one of them starts crying, ALL of them start crying. Mom is hoping I don’t pick up on that (so is Ms. Audrey!), but I was really good and didn’t cry. We all went for a buggy ride around the facility. Though all the other kids were finally silent, I talked my way through the ride. I told Ms. Audrey about the fishes in the front lobby, about the play castle in the two-year-old hall, and about the car-seat area near the infant hall…I had her laughing by the end because I was so loquacious and everyone else was just sitting and watching! Mommy left with Ms. Audrey saying how much she can’t wait for me to join the class. I know Mommy is going to be sad to leave me, but I think I’m going to like it in my class a lot!

Mommy and I also made more baby food this week. Though I’m not ready to taste it, our garden is ready for Mommy to make it! Mommy says I’m going to really love all the things she’s made. (At least she hopes so!) We made baby food carrots, zucchini, and a tomato-potato-green bean soup. I hope I like all this stuff because Mommy made a lot of it!

The hardest part of my week was that my oldest dog, Jesse, was really sick. Mommy and Daddy took her to the veterinarian (and I got to go too!) because she had a really high fever and was so sick she couldn’t walk. After a couple of days of her being in the hospital and a lot of fluids, the vet couldn’t tell us what was wrong, but Jesse was better and they let her come home. I don’t like when she’s gone…none of the dogs lick my hands when Jesse doesn’t show them the way!

All in all, this week has been really focused on me getting ready for school. That said, I still met some new folks. This week I met Ms. Ettie and Mr. Dave. They came over for dessert one night and I had such a nice time with them. They were so nice and brought me some fun socks and a toy elephant that I LOVE. I felt a little bad because I puked on Mr. Dave’s shirt (sorry, but he didn’t seem to mind too much). But I didn’t on Ms. Ettie. She is a daycare worker and she really knows how to play with babies! I’m looking forward to next week when I actually get to branch out on my own at school during the day. (Mommy is very nervous about this! Please wish her well…off I go to daycare!)