Today during sacrament meeting at church John and I looked down at Wes, who was sprawled across both our laps, dead asleep, and John whispered, “When did he get so big?”

It’s true. Wes was 3 lbs 15 oz at birth and so small you could pretty much hold the trunk of his body in the palm of your hand.

He’s still small for his age–he wears about size 12 month clothes (and we have to roll up his pant legs twice) even though he’s 22 months old –but he has definitely grown.

I was carrying him out of church today and he felt like a load of bricks on my hip. I think he weighs about 20-21 lbs. Which, as you parents know, is the magic number for moving the kid from the backward-facing infant car seat to the front-facing BIG BOY car seat.

I bought him a front-facing car seat a while ago when I saw it at CostCo at a good price. The outside of the box said the child needs to be 22 pounds to sit the seat facing front. OK. Wes is really close. So we got the seat out of the box to see what it was like and to see how Wes fit in it.

And then I looked at the actual instruction booklet, which sneakily includes more details than the outside of the box. It says the kid has to be 22 lbs AND 34 inches tall.

Wes is only 30 inches. Which is a huge improvement from the 16 inches he was at birth, but it’s taken him almost two years to put on those 14 inches. How long will it take him to get an extra four inches???

Also, when will he get more teeth? We’re extremely proud of his current two teeth. We waited a long time for them. But Wes is going to be 2 in less than two months, and how many 2-year-olds do you know with only two teeth? Alas, another lesson in patience. He doesn’t mind, in any case. He can still eat pretzels, and in his mind, this is all that matters.

I read the other day that if your child is 18 months old and doesn’t say a couple words in addition to “mama” and “dada” then he or she is probably speech delayed.

I thought, “Wow! Kids at 18 months can talk?” This was astounding to me. Since Wes is my standard, I forget that he’s not the standard for “normal” kids. Wes is nowhere near talking. But he knows three signs really well: 1) more, 2) please, and 3) snack. The essentials, you know.

I wonder when he will talk. Wes is really excellent at some things. Like physically he’s strong and athletic and loves to move and run (which is unusual for kids with Down syndrome; they usually tend to be more lethargic because of low muscle tone). He has a terrific attention span and keeps working at things even when he can’t get them right away.

But the one thing that it’s obvious he’s slower at is imitation, especially imitating sounds. I guess this is why it took him 19 months to learn his first sign, even after I’d been doing that sign to him for over a year. With sounds, we can’t get him to imitate at all. He’s really great at watching you make the sound, though, if that counts for anything. He’ll often smile at you, too, because he thinks you’re funny.

But he babbles and talks to himself (makes sounds) when he plays, and his speech therapist says that at least that’s something.

I just know that his increase in height and weight is only one indication of how much he’s grown. I was looking back at our blog posts when Wes first joined us and, wow–both he and we have come a long way.

All I’m asking for now is four more inches, just four more inches…

No, Wesley didn’t get beat up. He just found the canister of cocoa. I guess I’ll have to be more diligent about closing that pantry door.

Wes is at that age where he is into EVERYTHING. Like baskets.

And he’s like a little rocket, zipping from one exciting thing to the next without pausing. Therefore, our living room (and rest of the house) frequently resembles this:

It’s exhausting trying to keep the house in perfect order, so I save my energy for when I know we have company heading over.

This week we spent some time in Park City after one of John’s interviews and visited the Olympic Park. A few highlights.

Future bobsled driver?

We took a guided tour that included a handful of tourists who were obviously parents/grandparents based on how much attention they gave to Wesley. When they were taking photo ops at the bobsled, they insisted Wesley get in for a picture, offered to take the picture for us, and waved their hands wildly and made funny noises to catch his attention. I tell you, you can’t be inconspicuous with a baby. Especially with Wesley.

We also watched the aerial jumpers practice. In the summer they use a pool with bubbles (to pad the landing). Can you see the ski jumper in red pants doing a flip?

The tour took us to the top of the ski jump. I decided I’m too afraid of heights to be a ski jumper. Do you see how STEEP and HIGH and ON THE EDGE A MOUNTAIN this is? I’m just saying. Good thing that wasn’t one of my great life ambitions.

A family photo in the mountain heights.

Lately I’ve been finding Wes in tight spaces, like cupboards and baskets. I’m not sure how he manages to fit. (P.S. We’ve cut his hair since these pictures. It was a matted mess.)

And who says money doesn’t buy happiness?

Also, check out this video of Wesley’s latest new joy: making himself dizzy.

Wesley is cranking out new skills like crazy. Earlier today I looked over and he was kicking his Winnie the Pooh ball! His physical therapist has worked on kicking with him twice (she comes just once a month), but I haven’t worked very diligently with Wes between visits. Somehow, he still managed to get it.

His dad was so excited about the new skill that tonight for about a half hour he played soccer with Wes in the living room, kicking the ball all over the place.

Today I was talking to John while sitting on the living room floor when I noticed a toy under the couch John was sitting on. It was one of the rings for Wesley’s stacker toy. I had been wondering where it had gone.

In fact, as I thought about it, lately a lot of toys have gone missing. I had been wondering if, like the clothes dryer monster that eats socks, maybe our home has a toy monster somewhere, sucking up toys when we’re not looking.

Then I had the genius idea to look under all our couches. Under the other long couch I found a DVD and three bug-shaped rattles that go with the bug sorting jar. Under the love seat I found the lid to the bug sorting jar, a board book, and a cat toy. Then, under the chair, I hit the jackpot:

The big money in this find is that red and white toy remote control. I have been looking EVERYWHERE (with the obvious exception of where it was) for this toy for weeks. Wesley is obsessed with remote controls and phones, and I love this toy because when I give it to him I don’t hear a peep from him for fifteen minutes, at least.

Thank you, toy monster, for spitting back out Wesley’s toys.

Wesley clapped for the first time yesterday.

We’ve been trying to get him to clap for what feels like forever. I’ve seen kids a lot younger than him clap and I’ve always wondered, “Why the heck can’t/won’t Wes do that?” Just last week one of his therapists was visiting and when she learned he doesn’t clap yet told us he needs to learn how to do that.

Lately Wes and I have been playing a game where he puts his hands on mine and he pushes my hands open and closed. I say the words “open” and “close” as our hands move. He likes to direct the motion, and he laughs when we go really fast (and end up clapping).

Just yesterday, for the first time, he started waving his arms and hands around like crazy with this goofy expression on his face. It took me a second to realize, “Hey! He’s clapping!”

Check out this video. It shows off not only his new clapping skills, but three other tricks he’s recently acquired.

I’m really proud of him. The longer you have to walk to arrive somewhere, the more you enjoy your destination. I’m really enjoying Wesley’s progress because it takes a lot, sometimes, to get there!

I’m excited, too, that he’s learned a new sign: “please.” We just realized this week that when he’s rubbing his tummy he’s saying “please.” I think he must have learned this from our time spent at playgroup, because there when the leaders ask if the kids want something, parents are supposed to help the kids say “please” (I take Wesley’s hand and rub it in a circle on his chest). I guess you never know what things your little people are going to pick up without you realizing it.