Life with Dad

I just wanted to give you an update on John. He continues to do pretty well in his daily activities. John hasn't settled into a routine yet but he is moving toward that direction. About the only thing that we can count on at this point is that he will sleep 7 hours during the night beginning at either 10:00 or 12:00 which has been very good for all of us. As he is beginning to sleep longer at night, he is beginning to stay awake longer during the day which makes my day a little bit more involved with him but that is alright with me. I enjoy seeing him awake and active. As long as he is awake, I try and keep him stimulated. I will either sit him in the swing by the window so he can look outside or I'll give him his tummy time or I am sitting him on my lap and talking to him. Whatever we do though, it almost always involves music. Music is probably the number one thing that gets a reaction from him. I'll have to get a video up soon but he is beginning to smile and coo with the music almost as if he is trying to sing along with me. This just melts my heart and makes me glad that I have this time with him.

As far as his feeding is concerned, he is going through about 12-16 oz. of breast milk per 8 hour period. He still has a little bit of trouble latching onto the bottle nipple at times although he doesn't seem to have any trouble with this when he is overly hungry so I suspect that this is more just baby play than related to Ds. He asks for his bottle about every 3 - 3 1/2 hours and will down about 4 oz. in one sitting. I can remember when he used to have to be woken up to eat. Now he will let you know when he is hungry.

His tone continues to increase especially when he is at rest. I have noticed that he doesn't go quite as limp as before when he goes to sleep. He still has head lag and still lays like a frog (external hip and shoulder rotation) so when I lay him down, I try to either lay him on his tummy and position his hands up by his head or I will lay him on his side. By laying him on his side, his hips stay a little bit closer to neutral position. We still work on head control during tummy time or while he is sitting on my lap.

He continues to enjoy his jungle gym on the floor. He has really gotten a lot of use from that. The other night we saw a news clip of Gov. Palin in a Wal-Mart store talking with people as she was at the check-out. We noticed that one of her items was a jungle gym similar to Johns. Now I am sure that she probably didn't get the idea from this website but if she did and she is reading, we want to wish her the best with Trig and tell her that we think Trig will thoroughly enjoy that toy. I credit that jungle gym for assisting us in Johns progress. So, if you are lurking about out there, it is a privilege to have your readership.

My parents came up to see John last weekend. They hadn't seen him since his birth and it was good to be able to share him and his progress with them. This is a learning experience for all of us as we learn his abilities and his differences from other children. But all in all, I think they went away with an appreciation for where he is in life and how the Lord has blessed his life. Thanks Dad and Mom for your visit. Come back anytime.

Don't forget that October is Down syndrome Awareness Month. My admonition to you is to learn something about the syndrome that you didn't already know. Feel free to post them here for us all to read. Learning from each other is one of the goals of being connected. I know that I have learned some things from the blogs that I visit.