One More Sleep!

It's the green 'Where's Wally!'

Yesterday, Felix had one of his therapy sessions. The Speech Pathologist and the Physiotherapist came to our house to check in and see how he was going. He was a little bit shy at first, but he quickly warmed up and started showing off all his new tricks. The Speech Pathologist brought 'Mr Potato Head' for Felix to play with, and we did lots of talking about body parts, and where to put his eyes and his arms etc. We were all really impressed with how well Felix managed to push Mr Potato Head's arms into the correct hole, even though it was really small. At times, it took him a little while, but he persisted and was successful each time. He correctly identified the body parts when we asked him to pick up a particular one too, which was great.

Not too sure about his nephew playing with his ipad.

The Speech Pathologist was curious to know what words/sounds Felix was able to make, so she got him to play with his hammering bench, and focussed on the words 'in' and 'out'. Much to my surprise, Felix said 'in' nearly every time and made a sound very much like 'out' when he took the blocks out. After that, I blew some bubbles and we all said the word 'pop' over and over. Felix was shown how to point his finger and pop the bubbles whenever he could. The Physio used the bubbles to try and get Felix to work on his balance. He's fantastic at balancing when he's walking, or looking straight ahead or side to side, but looking above his head and reaching for the bubbles was pretty hard. He tried for quite a while to pop the bubbles while he was standing. When he lost his balance, he got straight back up to try again. After a while, he realised that sitting down was much easier though, so he happily sat and giggled while he popped his bubbles.

Today we took Felix for a ride on his new little tricycle, which has a parent handle so we can push him. He thinks it's fantastic. It has a little cup holder so he can have a drink whenever he feels like it, and a toy mobile phone attached for him to play with. A lot more snazzy than anything I ever had as a kid, that's for sure (although my Dad did help Santa fix up a second hand bike for Christmas once and, as a result, it was the most popular bike on the street on Christmas Day!). We took one of the dogs for a walk at the same time, and Felix loved being able to reach out and pat the dog while we walked along. He loves the sunshine and the trees, and was constantly pointing out different things along the way. It was quite warm today so Felix needed a hat on, which proved problematic in the wind. Nathan had to run back a couple of times to pick it up as it blew away. I think Felix was thankful it kept blowing off because he hates wearing hats, so the wind did him a favour!

This is the way you squash the cat...

Well, tomorrow is the day we have been looking forward to for a really long time; it's Buddy Walk Day! We have everything ready by the front door for our 5.30am departure in the morning. All up tomorrow, we will do about 9 hours driving there and back, but we wouldn't miss it for the world! It looks like being a beautiful, warm day; absolutely perfect for a walk. I am so excited to be part of such a wonderful community of people, all joining together out of love and support for those with Down Syndrome. Last year we enjoyed watching dance performances and singing by some of the kids, and I'm really looking forward to that again. The crowd was really involved and the kids were all so enthusiastic! We will be meeting up with some beautiful people who are coming into the city to walk with us and celebrate Felix's life. We are really thankful to all of you who are coming in to be part of our special day tomorrow. Can't wait to see you all.

That smile, those eyes :)

Every now and again, I look at Felix and I feel overwhelmed with emotion. I look at him and marvel at how incredibly gorgeous he is. Today was one of those days. I was up in my room when I saw a little shadow moving up the hallway, and knew Felix was on his way up to see me. He walked into the room and tears welled up in my eyes. I looked at his mop of sandy brown hair, all shiny from the bath he'd just had, and that beautiful smile, so huge that those unique almond shaped eyes narrowed completely, giving them a slanted shape. Perfect! We couldn't have asked for a more precious little boy. How does that saying go? 'I never knew I wanted a child with Down Syndrome until I was given one!'  How very true..and we wouldn't want him any other way!