We Have a Walker:)

When I found out what it really meant to have Down syndrome and that all Will's milestones would be not only be hard for him, but very delayed it really bothered me.  Smiling, sitting, talking, crawling, walking, clapping, teething, pointing.  All the things you excitedly call grandma to tell her he did.  All these things that just happen one day to most typical kids.  They take a lot of work and patience for Will.  At somepoint I accepted Will and I's fate but in my head I have still set goals for him.  The range for a child with Down syndrome to start walking is 18-36 months and so I unofficially decided that Will's goal was age 2.  I feel very proud that he met this goal and that he was walking on his second birthday:) But I am even prouder of all the work and progress along the way.  It is amazing and agonizing watching him try so hard for so long.  It was even harder to watch much younger typical kiddos do it overnight.  Hopefully someday that pain will go away...for now though...we have a walker!

Will's Birth-Day of Fun!

Birthday Boy!

Will had a very fun day!  He got his kitchen this morning and is very curious and excited about it!  The dishes and food are yet to come:)

We went to the indoor play place and played with all kinds of fun stuff!
http://www.fireflyplaycafe.com/index.html

Notice he has the same toy in all the pictues!  He wouldn't put this foam star down!

Then we got cupcakes for our afternoon snack:)  http://www.bluefrostcupcake.com/

(Signing 'all done'...then he realized what this really meant and he was not happy!)



Then we went out to dinner with the Brown family and Uncle Ricky.  Will opened up his dishes and food when we got home.  I think they were a hit!

We had one tired little two-year-old by bedtime.  We all had a very fun day:)  More partying tomorrow with Gaga and Papa Brough!  Cheers:)

Happy 2nd Birthday Will!

It has been 2 years since this amazing baby boy came into our lives!  At times it is so hard to believe that it has actually been two years and that we made it this far and at times it is hard to remember what life was like without Will.  He has changed our lives and opened our eyes and already made us better people.  I love him more than I ever knew was possible and I can't wait to see what the next year holds for him!

Happy Birthday William Alan!

Green Toys

I'm so excited about Will's birthday gift!  He is getting a play kitchen and toy dishes.  It's a very 'manly' kitchen and dish set:)  The dishes are made by a company that makes toys out of recycled milk jugs...
http://www.greentoys.com/cook.html
Pictures to come!

What Will's Up To

Sorry I had to take a little break after all that daily blogging!  We have been enjoying the last of the nice weather and getting ready for Will's big birthday!  Will has been doing great with walking and is choosing walking over crawling now!  He is getting very steady and walks most everywhere at home.  He even went up and down a couple steps at school using a teacher's hand!  He also thinks he can do this at home even though our steps are a lot different:)  He is doing very well at school and all of his therapies.

At the neighborhood park.

Picking out toys from the catalog for Santa's list with Ava and Jonas:)  He pointed at everything!

Opening an early birthday/Christmas gift from his Aunt Cindy.  He loves his new racetrack!

Hanging with Grandpa Ron!

Working hard at using my utensils.  I am getting so good I have been eating cheerios in milk!

...but sometimes this is still easier!

Shifting Perspectives

We went to the 'Shifting Perspectives' exhibit at the Dublin Art Museum last night and I am so glad we did!  It was a great display of beautiful photographs of individuals of all ages, races and walks of life doing ordinary, everyday things.  They all also happened to have Down syndrome.  If you live in Columbus you should go visit it this week since it is only here until Friday.

http://www.dublinarts.org/

We also met a really nice new family there with an adorable little guy.  It is always nice to meet new people that have a different story but are walking in our shoes:)

Will needed some convincing that this whole dress up thing is a good idea.  So I gave him a KitKat and he was onboard!