More Adventures

Painting with his friends

For the first time in quite a while, the sun was shining yesterday. I took the opportunity to spend most of the morning outside with Felix. I took his painting easel out on the grass and opened up his paints, which he thought was wonderful. He really loves painting, and spent a really long time concentrating on creating his work of art. The dogs played near Felix, while he was painting, and sometimes came and sat next to him. In between painting, Felix gave them cuddles and big kisses. The dogs took advantage of that by sneaking in a couple of big sloppy licks, right on Felix's mouth....totally gross!!

Exploring the bush

About a week ago we had the opportunity to go out in a 4WD to explore some of the country side nearby. We saw so many kangaroos; a lot of them giant, red ones, hopping along in the bush as we drove past. It was an awesome experience for Felix. He really loved seeing all the animals and, even though he sees sheep all the time now, he still got excited to see them out of the window, often signing 'sheep'. Every so often, we stopped the car to have a walk around. Felix explored the scrub, walking up and down the hills, picking up sticks and squatting down to look at things on the ground. He even got to see an old gold mine, which he thought was great. He kept wanting to walk back inside of it, but the massive drop at the end of the tunnel was a bit of a worry, so we had to keep a close eye on him. I love seeing him outside, experiencing new things. It is the best kind of therapy for him!

Concentrating

I took Felix to his Early Intervention class at Down Syndrome SA on Wednesday. Since our move, it's now only a 400km round trip instead of 800km, which makes it so much easier! Felix hasn't been to EI for so long, but he walked in like he owned the place! He was totally at ease with all of his little friends there and was completely comfortable to walk away from me and play. He loves the big ball pit they have there, and spent a lot of time diving into it and throwing the balls around. He didn't particularly want to sit still during the song time, which is quite unusual for him but, after 2 1/2 hours in the car, I could appreciate his need to stretch his legs. He did enjoy popping the bubbles we (the parents), were blowing. We were encouraging the children to make the "p" sound, by saying "pop", but Felix preferred to say "bub" for 'bubbles' which I was really pleased with because I love him using the words he knows how to say. Later, we held feathers in our hands, and blew them off (again using the 'p' sound). Felix didn't get that concept at all. He just wanted to pick up the feather and throw it into the air to watch it float to the ground.... typical boy!

Clever at climbing

Today we spent the morning at Kindergym. Felix is getting braver and much more confident all the time. Today I noticed that he wanted to try all the different activities that were set out, instead of just sticking to the things he is familiar with. He played on the inflatable jumpy castle and slide, which he loved last time, but he also climbed some wooden frames and ladders, played with a hula hoop and rode in a little car. He played in the ball pit and found a giant ball which he pushed around for a while. He had lots of fun inside some tunnels, even laughing when other kids started crawling in behind him. He still quickly crawled away from them, but he did it with a huge smile on his face and then went straight back into the tunnel again. So different from the Felix we used to know, who had to check the tunnels thoroughly to make sure there were no other children around. I'm loving watching him come out of his shell.

Loving Kindergym

Tonight, I loved watching Felix wrestle with Isaiah and Aaron on the floor. He was laughing so much as they played with him. He has enjoyed catching up with most of his older siblings over the past few weeks, and it's obvious how much he misses them when they're not around anymore. We have found him asleep on the spare bed in his room after they have left. It's sad, but beautiful at the same time. He and his sock cat are still inseparable at bed time. I'm sure he knows his big sister gave him that, so it's his way of keeping her close to him. All the kids are so important to him, and I know he will continue to look up to them as he grows. He's a very lucky little boy to have so many people who love him so much.