Easter Fun

Playing at the park with Isaiah

We are missing our four oldest kids this Easter Sunday. The house seems so much quieter than most years with only the youngest four here for our Easter egg hunt this morning. It's great to have a huge family, but we certainly notice it when some of the kids are missing!

Are they all for me?

We have, however, had a really fun day so far. We started this morning with an Easter egg hunt. It was the first time Felix has been old enough to participate in collecting the eggs and it was gorgeous to watch his big wide eyes when he saw all the eggs scattered everywhere. He picked up a few and put them in the basket and then tried to put a couple in his mouth, foil and all. We enjoyed watching the older 3 boys (15,13 &12) racing around the house to find eggs too. I think they were more excited than Felix was.

Since Felix started eating solid food, we have tried really hard to give him a healthy diet to develop good eating habits early. People with Down Syndrome can have thyroid issues, making it easy for them to put on weight, so we wanted Felix to develop a taste for healthy food early on in the hope that he will continue a good diet into adulthood. This being said, we have rarely given him sugary food and when we have it has only been a taste, but today was an exception!

This is as chocolatey as I get!

Breakfast for Felix this morning consisted of a small chocolate egg, a little chocolate bunny and a hot cross bun! I was hoping for a photo of him with chocolate covering his face and chocolate drool dribbling down his chin, but he was surprisingly self controlled. He ate his chocolate very carefully and barely even got any on his hands. I was a little bit disappointed, but also very proud of him that he didn't gorge himself. I'm still waiting for the sugar rush to kick in!

Walking practise

This weekend has been an opportunity to experience some more new things with Felix and to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. Yesterday, Isaiah and I took Felix across to the park with his ball and the two of them spent a while rolling it back and forward to each other. Felix is getting very accurate with his rolling now and will concentrate for a long period of time on the game. He was a little unsure about the grass on his bare feet at first, but after wiggling his toes through it for a while he became more comfortable with it, and before we came home he was practising his walking with Isaiah holding his hands. He easily puts one foot in front of the other now and barely depends on any support for balance. It's very exciting to see him try to walk, but sad to think that in the next 6 months or so he will seem so much more grown up.

Enjoying the dirt

Cuddles for Aaron

After our Easter egg hunt this morning we took Felix out in the backyard with all four of our dogs. He loves all of our animals and doesn't seem worried at all by the big dogs rushing around him. After only a few minutes of them being a little bit too excited to see Felix sitting on the ground (the fact that he still smelled like chocolate probably didn't help), they calmed down and stayed away from him so he could crawl around and explore.

Dog treat? Yes please!

I'm a bit of a clean freak and have an aversion to dirt, but this morning Felix decided that I needed a lesson in 'Lighten up Mum' so he started playing in the dirt outside. He had a great time picking up sticks and experiencing new textures and sensations. He ended up covered in dirt and dog hair and had a great time. He joined the dogs when they lined up to get a dog treat, but I drew the line at him eating one of them!

After his big play outside, Felix had a nice long soak in the bath. Having a bath is still one of his most favourite things to do. There is so much opportunity for him to learn while he's splashing around. He seems to be going through a phase of wanting to experience different sensations with his mouth. His latest thing is to put his face down close to the water so the bubbles stick to his chin and his tongue. When he lifts his head up he always has a big grin. This morning when I let the water out of the bath (with him still in it), he laid down flat on his stomach and put his mouth near the drain and felt the water rush around it as it disappeared. He thought that was hilarious!

That's better...all clean!

I'm looking forward to so many more Easters with Felix. I have a feeling he is going to be waiting in anticipation for the Easter bunny every year for a long time to come. Holidays have always been something special to our family and with Felix now a part of it, they can only get better!