Hugs and Kisses

Will loves to play with the mirror:)  He makes faces in it, babbles to it and licks it.  Recently I taught him to kiss himself in the mirrow and then caught him doing it on his own a couple days later.

Will may be delayed in walking and talking, but he is definately not behind in how to show signs of affection!  This kid gives kisses and hugs better than any kid his age:)  He wraps his arms around me like a little monkey, when he is in the loving mood, and holds on so tight.  It is pure heaven!  And one is never enough.  Sometimes I can't get through the grocery store because we are so busy giving hugs:)  He loves to give sloppy kisses too!  Poor Miss Lillian is often on the recieving end of these kisses because she can't run away and he just loves her to pieces.  She is usually a slobbery mess after Will comes by to say hi!  It is very cute and a little gross!

Thank You for Supporting Will's Way

We have raised over $1800 for team Will's Way for the 2011 Buddy Walk!  We still have a couple more weeks to raise even more money for DSACO but we hit the amount we needed to get our names on our shirts and are very close to hitting our overall goal!  Thank you to everyone that has registered to walk with us or donated to Will's team and all those that have supported us in many other ways.  I know I say this often, but I really mean it...it means so much to us to have the support of so many family and friends.  Thank you!

Baseball

Will has been a big baseball fan lately!  We went to the Columbus Clippers game 2 weekends ago and the Indians game this past weekend.  Both were fun although the Indians game got rained out after a 4 hour delay:(   Will loves to cheer at the games and seems to know just when to do it!

Intently watching the Clippers!  (For those that have not seen Ron's baby pictures...this is EXACTLY what he looked like!)

Almost falling asleep at the Indians game:(  Go figure!

I think some people might be surprised by the fact that we do normal, everday stuff with Will.  I think I was one of these people before he came into our lives.  The truth is that for most families with special children, their child's disability does not affect all or even most parts of their life.  It just becomes part of who they are now and maybe adds to their daily work load with therapies and appointments but does not prevent them from doing the things they enjoy.  On an everyday basis Down syndrome does not 'impact' our lives.  We do everything we did before we had Will but now we have a little buddy to share it all with! 

Getting Closer...

Will's private PT is getting ready to go on maternity leave and we are sad to see her go but so happy to see her start her own journey with her little one.  She has been great with Will even on his most challenging days!  I am sure he is not her easiest patient to deal with but she always stays patient with him when all he wants to do is throw all the toys and explore around the gym and yet firm with him when he tries to whine his way out of doing something:)  Here are some pictures of her working so hard with Will and having a little fun too!

Will does not always like to walk on the treadmill even though he gets to watch Elmo cartoons on the DVD player:(  Jen and I both try very hard to keep him excited and motivated!

Last week Will decided he would take a few steps but in the version I got on video he kept one foot planted so all he did was turn in a circle:)  For the past several weeks he has been taking one step at a time but last Thursday was the first time he has done several steps in a row!  He is getting closer and closer!