Supplements

Grabbing a quick coffee before our big drive

Not only have we been camping in the last week, but I have driven over 1000km, visiting family and dropping kids off here and there. Felix has endured it all without a complaint and, apart from losing him briefly in the shopping centre (story to follow), it has been relatively uneventful!

Firstly, for something really exciting! We have started Felix on a new supplement (resveratrol; for those walking the same path as us), and have noticed that his speech has significantly jumped in this past week. It may be complete coincidence (I'm always a little hesitant to give the full credit to a supplement) but, his speech is much clearer and he has put five or six words together on several occasions. Yesterday, driving home from the city, he said to me, "Mum, help. Ipad not working." Aaron was with me and he checked and found that the app had frozen, so he was able to fix it for him. Prior to this, Felix would have just dropped it onto the floor of the car, or yelled out, "Mum, mum", and I would have had to guess what was wrong. Today, he said, "Dad, ABC, come on, let's go!" Felix wanted one of his puzzles out of the cupboard, and wanted Dad to hurry up and get it for him. Increased speech means he can make his demands known, and I'm celebrating his new bossiness!!  I had heard other parents say their kids also had a burst of speech when they started on this particular supplement, so I'm really pleased to see that Felix is reacting positively to it so far.

Helping cook his breakfast

Supplements can be a bit of a contentious issue within the Down syndrome community. As with everything, there are people at complete opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to what supplements/dietary requirements etc to give their children with Down syndrome. Some have completely organic diets and/or supplement heavily, and others don't do anything differently than they would with their other typical children. There is no wrong or right way! I'm a big believer in doing my own research, listening to the opinions/advice of others but, ultimately, making up my own mind and deciding what I think is best for Felix. I have probably landed somewhere in the middle (and have lovely parent friends at both ends). Felix has a daily regime of supplements sneakily hidden in his food. If they taste awful (some of them smell gross), he doesn't complain about it. Some days I feel a bit like a chemist, mixing up his concoctions and, when we go away, I have to put careful thought into making sure I have everything measured out, enough to last until we're home again. It's a bit of a tedious process sometimes but, I really believe we have seen positive results. If anyone wants to contact me about supplements (my opinion only), feel free to email me!!

I made a hammock with a sheet today. He loved hanging around!

Now....about Felix getting lost.....
Yesterday, Felix, Aaron, and I caught up with some family members and friends. We had lunch together at a local shopping centre and then headed off to have a look around. Felix had been so good with all the travelling, and being dragged around, that I told him he could have a look at the toys in the shop. He headed off to the toy aisles with his oldest brother, Daniel (26) and Aaron (16). It was a bit of a "melt my Mummy heart" moment when I found all three of them engrossed at looking at Lego together.  After promising Daniel that yes, I would buy him Lego for Christmas (yes....my 26 year old), he left to go home. I asked Aaron to watch Felix for a minute or two so I could look at something a few aisles over. About 30 seconds passed, and Aaron came up to me with a panicked look on his face. I knew straight away that he had lost Felix. He had only taken his eyes off him for a second, but he is so fast. I tried not to panic, and calmly walked up and down the rest of the toy aisles looking for him, as did Aaron and a friend of mine. None of us could find him. A couple of minutes passed and I was starting to get a bit worried, when I saw Aaron with a big smile on his face. He called me over and, there was Felix. He had climbed onto a shelf and curled up behind a large toy box and looked like he was asleep. Aaron had remembered Felix's love for climbing things and had gone back to check in the exact spot he had "lost" him. Sure enough, he was in the same place...just hidden! My heart took about an hour to slow back to regular pace, and Felix was promptly strapped back into his pram....enough adventures for that day!!

Sneaky pic of my beautiful Granddaughter, Luna. Felix loved
cuddling her too!

I could write a lot tonight. Felix has had lots of fun times with family over the past couple of days. However, it's ANZAC day here in Australia tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to going to the dawn service bright and early in the morning so I better stop writing and get some sleep. See you back here with more Felix adventures soon!