Picnic at the Park

Today Will had a picnic in the park with Ava and Jonas and our friends Emily and Charlie. We had a good time eating and making a mess and playing at the park afterward. We found out that our friends are moving to Michigan in a couple weeks. Although we are sad that our picnics with Charlie will come to an end...we are happy for them and their new adventure and wish them all the best!

Three Little Monkeys

Although Will doesn't have any siblings yet...his cousins are pretty much his brother and sister. They just love him and fight over who gets to be closer to 'Baby Will'. He thinks they are pretty neat too and during the few moments when Will is inconsolable, Ava and Jonas are always able to make him smile:) Finally, I got a picture where they are all looking at the camera...it was very much like getting three monkeys to sit still!

Thanks Grandma!

Grandma took me shopping and got me sunglasses!

Father's Day

We spent Ron's first Father's Day weekend in Cleveland and Wooster. On Saturday we headed to the Cleveland Zoo with Grandpa Ron and Grandma Susan and had a lot of fun. It was a bit hot and Grandpa and Will got a little tired toward the end, but we saw lots of cool animals and had fun walking around. On Saturday night we had dinner with Grandma Sandy, Grandpa Jim, Aunt Maggie, Aunt Kelly and Uncle Steve. Will had fun playing with everyone and showing them all how well he can roll over and sit up (with a little bit of help from mommy!). Will never has to look too far to find someone that loves him:)

Bouncin' Around

Although our PT doesn't want us to encourage it...Will loves to stand up! He thinks he is sooo big:) And it is sooo cute! He is really starting to enjoy some of the many toys we have aquired. He especially likes to stand in his jumper and play with the toys...and mommy loves it because it gives me 15 minutes to get something done!

Down Syndrome Clinic

Will went to the Down Syndrome Clinic at Children's Hospital this week. We met with Dr. Nash, a physician that specializes in developmental disabilities and sees patients with DS in the clinic once a week. It was a good chance to have another doctor examine Will and evaluate him and also have him seen by an Occupational Therapist, which is the only therapy discipline that we have not met with yet. We had received alot of negative feedback from other families in our support group about the clinic but wanted to check it out for ourselves. We like Dr. Nash. She was very sensitive and compasionate and did a very thorough exam of Will and a thorough interview with us. She was very happy with his development so far. The Occupational Therapist did an evaluation as well. She assessed him on how well he could grab and hold objects and rated him on which types of objects he held and for how long. She was also happy with his development so far and thought he would benefit from visiting with her once a month so that we could get her feedback on what types of activities we should be working on at home. So she generously offered to fit Will into her schedule so that we could avoid the dreaded run-around with the Children's Hospital Therapy waiting list:( We like her already!!!

We do see how the clinic needs some work. We were told 3 different appointment times and informed that we should arrive 15 minutes early, only to get there and find a dark office and no one there yet. Then, once we watched the staff walk in and finally got into the exam room, we waited and waited and waited some more. We were there for over 3 hours! Poor Will missed his nap, his breakfast and went through all the daipers in the diaper bag:( So we had to beg the nurse for one! We appreciate that there is such a clinic right here in Columbus that it will be a good resource for us and Will, but can see that it is under-staffed, under-funded and under-organized. We will continue to visit with Dr. Nash at this clinic on a yearly basis and hope it gains some speed, but we are also hoping to check out the Cincinatti Down Syndrome Clinic.

We finished off the day in the heat and sunshine at the Columbus Zoo. It was hot but a lot of fun:)

First Trip to Adams Lake

Will made his first trip to Adams Lake this past weekend. My family has a little cottage on this lake and we have spent weekends and vacations there for almost 30 years. It was fun to bring Will there for his first lake experience. He loved the water and although it was a bit cold and shocking at first, he was kicking his feet and loving it by the end of the day. Which is good therapy and also very entertaining!

Will's 6 Month Pictures

Therapy

Will has finally, officially started Physical Therapy! Yipee! We had our first session two Fridays ago and a second one yesterday. It has been fun so far. We really love the Physical Therapist that is working with Will. She finds fun ways for us to play in constructive ways. I have been telling people unfamiliar with baby PT that all we really do is learn ways to play constructively. We do 'sit ups', and 'push ups' and we roll around on the exercise ball. She shows me new things to do with Tummy Time and Will pukes all over her boppy pillow :( He has already improved his sit ups and roll overs and was sitting up independently for a couple of seconds yesterday! We will go to PT every Friday for now, since we have the coverage at the moment, and continue to wait for the home-based Help Me Grow services.
Will was evaluated by a Speech Therapist recently as well. She thought his mouth posture was good and was happy with all the verbalizations he is making. She gave me good advice on how to properly feed him with the spoon and gave me some recomendations for encouraging new sounds and expressions. She also made some recommendations on Infant Sign Language books and CDs and showed me some exercises to do with his mouth and facial muscles...which he already can work quite well since he is very expressive with his little face. Will has the biggest, brightest smile but also the saddest, most pathetic pouting lip you have every seen :) :(

This past weekend we had a family wedding in Fort Wayne so we got to see many of our family and friends that live in Indiana and we celebrated Will's Great Grandma's 90th Birthday with a big party. We love Grandma Brough and hope our lives are half as full as her's has been!

(In this picture Great Grandma Brough is holding Will and Great Grandma's OLDER sister, which is Will's Great, Great Aunt Mary, is in the middle and Papa Brough is on the end.)