This morning, Aaron (son #5), Felix and I got organised early, and left to drive the 200km to see Noah, and his beautiful sisters, Summer and Harper. Three Grandbabies in one day....I am one happy Granny!!
Felix has always been so good in the car. He never cries or gets upset...he's just happy to chill out and enjoy the drive. Now that he is talking a lot more, it's a lot of fun because he tells me what he can see out of the window. Today he was excited because he could see the moon even though it was daylight. He pointed to the left window and said, "Mum, see moon", and then pointed out of the right window and said, "Mum, sun!" Very observant, I thought.
Unfortunately, Felix has inherited my dislike of emus (possibly because of my reaction every time I see one). Today we saw about eight of them out in a paddock. They were fairly far away, so I felt brave enough to stop and try and take a photo. I said to Felix, "Can you see the emus?" He responded by trying to escape from his car seat, shouting, "No, Mum, no!!" Can't say I blame him. I jumped back in the car as quick as I could once they started moving!!
Felix loved spending time with his nephew and nieces today. Being the youngest in a big family, and having a ten year age gap between him and Aaron, Felix is a lot like an only child. Having nieces and nephews so close in age to him is just perfect. Although he is their Uncle, they are more like siblings to him. Hearing them all play together is music to my ears. I absolutely love it! I'm so thankful that he will be able to grow up with them. Thankful for him that he will always have family, his age, to interact with and share things with and, thankful for them that they will always see people with Down syndrome as "no big deal". Felix has been in their lives since the minute they were born so to them, Felix is just Felix. |
| Uncle Felix and Noah |
I took the boys down to the beach this afternoon. There was a special event on down at the foreshore, so I thought it would be fun (and it's an excuse to go to the beach...Felix and I both LOVE the beach!) There were giant kites floating up in the sky which Felix thought were amazing. He didn't quite know where to point first. For half of the time we were there, all I heard was, "Mum, kite!" That was until he saw the helicopter giving rides to people. It would go up in the sky, circle around and then come back in to land again. He couldn't take his eyes off it, so the repetitive phrase became, "Mum, yellow helicopter" over and over again. Joel (son #2) and I decided to take Noah and Felix closer to where the helicopter was taking off and landing. We sat on the grass, and the boys happily sat for ages, chatting and pointing. Felix would sometimes say something to Noah in jibberish, and Noah would answer him as if he knew exactly what he was saying. It melted my heart just a little bit!
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| "Mum...yellow helicopter!" |
We spent the last part of the afternoon on the playground. Felix could play on a playground for hours...literally! For a kid with hypotonia (low muscle tone), who tends to tire very easily, he has boundless energy when it comes to climbing, sliding and swinging. I was exhausted after ten minutes but, he was still going strong two hours later. Watching his dexterity and strength, I'm always reminded again of the prognosis we were given before he was born. The Geneticist told us he would, "probably not walk or talk or be able to feed himself" (among other things). Today I marveled at my perfect little man confidently navigating the playground, keeping up with the other kids, and having a wonderful time. He makes me so proud!
After exerting all that energy, I was sure that Felix would fall asleep on the 2 1/2 hour drive home because it was close to his bedtime. No... he happily munched on his snacks, pointed out the occasional sheep or cow, and played on his ipad. He's such an easy kid!
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| Felix's newest niece; little Harper |
Well...I hope you've all left a carrot out for the Easter bunny, and he leaves you something yummy! Enjoy your Easter celebrations tomorrow!
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