It's Cold Outside

All smiles at the park

Felix loves it when Nathan has a weekend off work. He always comes up to our room for a snuggle in bed with both Mummy and Daddy, which he really enjoys. Nathan goes to the kitchen and makes Felix his porridge and a cup of coffee for the two of us, then brings it up to the bedroom. This is the one meal of the day which we don't let Felix spoon feed himself; we don't really want porridge all over the bed. He eats his breakfast very quickly and then always tips up our coffee cups to see if he can get any tiny drops of coffee from the bottom of them. After he's eaten, I always take him to the toilet because if I leave it too long he will do something stinky in his nappy. It's SO much easier now he's happy to use the toilet!

A bit tricky to walk with shoes on

This morning I decided to go to the shops fairly early to buy a few birthday presents for some of Felix's little friends. I took Felix with me because usually he likes to get out of the house for a while, even if it means sitting in the pram for an hour or so. I really wanted to look for some interactive books to buy for the kids. The problem is, Felix really loves books. This is a wonderful thing at home but, when pulling book after book off the shelf to look inside and see what they are like, it's difficult to have a toddler who wants to do the same. He got really grumpy. He was pulling at the straps of his harness in the pram to try and get his arms out so he could reach the books on the shelf. When I finally handed him a fairly sturdy looking board book so he could look at it, he launched it across the shop! He didn't want to look at the book I chose. He wanted to get out and help himself. Needless to say, I made my selections as quickly as I could and exited the shop. He certainly wanted to crush the stereotype that children with Down Syndrome are 'happy all the time'.

Snuggled up from the wind

Nathan suggested taking Felix and the dogs over to the park again today. The older boys were already over there, running around with their friends. It was freezing cold, but Felix really enjoys being outside, so I rugged him up in a big thick coat and we headed over there. I had put shoes on Felix's feet because I didn't want his toes to go numb from the cold but, because he has only just started walking, he struggled to do it with shoes on. The shoes, combined with the long grass made it very tricky. I admire his persistence though; he really tried hard to steady himself and take a few steps, but in the end it was easier for him just to crawl. After a while I took his shoes off and he was relieved to be able to get up and walk a bit more. It must have been really cold on his toes because after about five minutes, Felix came back over to me and tried to put his shoes back on his feet by himself. I think we all enjoyed sitting by the heater when we went home again!