Yesterday I took Wes in for his 18-month checkup. He hates sitting on the doctor’s scale, but eventually we found out he weighs 18 lbs 4 oz. And he’s 29 inches long. He’s come quite a way from 3 lbs 15 oz and 16 inches!

Even so, he doesn’t show up on the regular growth chart. Well, technically, he’s there…just at the very bottom. He’s in the .05 percentile for weight and .36 percentile for height. Translate these figures to the Down syndrome chart, and he looks slightly better–closer to 15% for weight and 25% for height. We have a skinny midget on our hands.

I asked the doctor about potential medicine to help Wesley’s reflux, but since his spitting up isn’t acidic and doesn’t hurt him or prevent him from eating, it doesn’t seem like it would do much good. It wouldn’t decrease the quantity of spit up, anyway.

Just as we were wrapping up the visit I mentioned to the doctor that Wes still doesn’t have teeth, and what should we do? He was sort of flummoxed by that, since the latest he’s ever seen a baby get teeth was 16 months. But I know of at least two other kids with DS whose teeth came in later (17 and 19 months). We’ll give it one more month, and if still no pearly whites, then we’ll take him to a pediatric dentist for X rays.

I also need to take Wes to the hospital lab for a blood draw to test his thyroid again. Thyroid problems are common for people with Down syndrome. We tested it at 12 months, and one figure came back borderline high, so we need to see how it looks now.

Wesley is walking like a champ. And he gives you big, slobbery kisses on your cheek (or nose, if you’ll let him) when you least expect it. (Kiss from Wesley = open-mouth slobber glued to your face.) He is a slobbery skinny midget.

Now that Wesley is about eighteen months (he turns on Wednesday) he can attend playgroups at Kids Who Count, which is the program for kids with special needs in our area. On Friday I took him to his first one. It was his first-ever structured playtime.

The playroom at Kids Who Count is terrific. It’s full of lots of toys that kids don’t normally have at home, like a table of sand they can dig through, a trampoline, an indoor playground, a cage with plastic balls in it, plus a whole assortment of smaller toys. And the toys are cleaned and sanitized every day so you don’t have to worry about germs.

The playgroup Wes attends is for kids eighteen months to two years, but he was by far the smallest kid there. The first half hour is toy time. At first Wes just looked around, checking things out. After a while he started to chew on the toys I kept trying to give him, but he wouldn’t play with them.

Then it was mat time. I helped Wes walk over and the teacher handed him a mat to sit on. I sat behind him while the teacher handed out objects, like bells and Slinkys, that the kids used as they (optical communicationread: the parents) sang songs. The teacher was really good in keeping things moving so the kids didn’t get bored.

Next was craft time. They have a low table with small wooden chairs that were the perfect size for kids as small as Wesley to sit in. His feet almost touched the floor. The craft was a hand puppet made out of a paper bag. Wesley enjoyed making watching me make it.

Lastly was snack time. Wes had to wash his hands before he could eat, and I realized it was the first time I’d ever washed his hands before (rather than wiping them with a wet cloth). There were two low little sinks, and Wes liked having his hands washed. Snacks were Cheez Its Party Mix and mini colored marshmallows. He didn’t like the marshmallows, but he ate six Cheez Its. There was also a small Dixie cup with water in it, which was good practice for Wes, since he’s not good at using a cup yet. I helped him hold it with both hands and bring it to his mouth, where he chewed on the edge more than drank the water. We were the last ones done since this took some extra time to practice. Then the kids (or, actually, their parents and the teacher) sang goodbye to each other as they put on their coats and left. Wes fell asleep on the way home.

Then, on Sunday, I took him to nursery at church for the first time. There were fourteen children there, ages eighteen months to three years. I used to think the chairs in the nursery were tiny, until I saw Wes sit in one. His feet barely come past the edge of the seat. I was worried he would fall off, but he managed to hang on OK. Snack time was first, with animal crackers, pretzels, cereal, and marshmallows. He still didn’t like the marshmallows, but the animal crackers were a hit. I watched him gnaw slowly on the corner of one for a while, then I looked away, and when I looked back the animal cracker was gone but Wesley’s mouth was stuffed full. It took a couple minutes for him to gum the cracker enough that he could swallow it (still no teeth!).

He sat through a lesson, and then had coloring time. He’d never seen or held a crayon before then. I helped him hold it, and tried to keep him from chewing on/throwing it. Together we managed to get a little coloring done.

After all that, there was about 45 minutes of toy time. I left him alone for that. When I came back at the end the leader said Wesley did fine. With fourteen kids, and Wesley being by far the smallest kid there, I wasn’t sure he’d make it without being trampled/sat on, but he seemed to do OK. So I guess we’ll take him again next week, too.

The other day I left Wes alone in his room for a few minutes. When I came back:

He loves his books.

He’s doing well with walking. Once he figured out how to walk, crawling became a thing of the past. He walks everywhere. Toddles, more like. He’s still doing fine on the stairs, although yesterday he fell down a half-flight because he got to the top, pushed himself to standing, then lost his balance and fell backward. I was close by and nabbed him before he went all the way down. I credit his corduroy overalls for causing enough friction to slow him down so he slid more than fell.

Sometimes, when life feels a little heavy and it seems like all I do is clean up pools of spit-up, clean the house (and re-clean and re-clean), do laundry, and provide meals and entertainment, it’s good to pause and remember how happy our little family is. Wesley is doing great. Life is generally good for all of us. We’re happy. And the spit-up won’t last forever.

Just came back from teaching another Zumba class. I can’t help but love it. The class I teach on Wednesday nights is an eight-week course and will end in two more weeks. I’ll miss it, but I’m exploring options for starting other classes elsewhere. I also teach at Anytime Fitness twice a week. Next week they’re changing my schedule from Tuesday/Thursday at 9:30 a.m. to Friday at 6 a.m. and Saturday at 10 a.m.

I love love love teaching aerobics. It makes me stronger, fitter, happier, and introduces me to lots of people I wouldn’t meet otherwise. I think the best part of leading aerobics is seeing how you’re helping others be happier, too. Some people have told me they don’t know how I can have the guts to stand in front of a mirror and move and dance while a crowd behind me watches every move and follows along. But when I’m standing in front of people showing them how to move their bodies to the music, absolutely everything else is washed from my mind. Even tonight when I got to class early and was setting up I looked in the mirrors lining the entire wall in front and thought, “Oh. My. Gosh. I really could have chosen my outfit better.” It wasn’t especially flattering. But once the music started and I was teaching, it didn’t matter anymore. It was just Zumba. I feel so lucky to be doing something I love so much.

In other news, this little guy is quickly getting to be a pro at turning himself around and coming down the stairs. Here’s another video of him doing it, but you can see he initiates and does it all on his own. He’s getting super confident.

Video of Wes coming down the stairs all by himself.

He’s walking nearly all the time; I hardly ever see him crawl. He loves those feet and legs of his! He’s still a little guy, though. He’s seventeen months. but can still wear pants size 0-3 months (although he does also wear pants size 3-6 and 6-9 months, if they’re very elastic-y). His shirts and onesies are size 3-6 or 6-9 months. And his jammies are 6-9 months.

And, yes, we’re still waiting for his first tooth.

Sometimes I see other kids do stuff and it seems so effortless for them. Wes gets visits from three different therapists four times a month (occupational, physical, and speech). His physical therapist started coming last July, when Wes was about ten months old and getting close to crawling. Once he learned to crawl (11 1/2 months), she started working with me to help Wes climb the stairs. He caught on to that pretty fast. The next thing was to help Wes learn to turn himself around at the top of the stairs and come back down.

She told us to pick a single, short phrase to say to Wes every time he was at the top of the stairs so he would learn to start coming down when we said it. I chose, “Turn around.” Whenever Wes was at the top of the stairs I would say, “Turn around,” grab his legs and hips and physically turn him around and then help pull his legs downstairs.

I think we started working on this last August. Every month when the physical therapist came she asked how Wes was doing turning around at the top of the stairs, and my answer was always the same: He’s not. Not without a lot of direct intervention, anyway. Like, basically me doing it for him.

Then after a few months when I said, “Turn around,” he would actually turn himself partially (go from sitting up to putting his hands down on one side so he was angled away from me). This was major progress because it meant he was starting to connect “Turn around” with actually turning around. Then I would help him turn the rest of the way and help pull him downstairs.

After a while longer, maybe in December or so, I didn’t have to pull him downstairs all by myself; I could just nudge his legs and he would move them down on his own.

So envision working on a single skill with your baby for six months, with a lot of the time feeling like he’s not making progress at all, and then suddenly:

Video of Wes going down stairs 1. (Also check out some of his awesome standing and walking in this one.)

Video of Wes going down stairs 2.

He started doing it all by himself last Thursday. He’s 17 1/2 months old.

It makes my mom-heart proud.

Yesterday my sister took these photos of Wes while he was visiting her. Thanks, Tara!

Wesley is doing so great with walking. You can just see his little boy bravery level increasing daily. He can push himself to standing from a squat and then take steps. When he stumbles, sometimes he’ll just push himself right up again and keep walking. I’ve been starting to count his steps, and at his best I’ve seen him take about ten at a time across a room. Tonight I saw him push himself to standing in order to walk towards a toy instead of crawl to it. He’s seventeen months old, and really growing up. Still no teeth, though. His physical therapist comes on Friday and I think she’s going to keel over in amazement at his progress this month.

In other news, I learned last week that my miscarriage was only partial and am therefore still in the process of miscarrying. Four weeks and counting. I’m still pregnant, fourteen weeks now, but not with baby, just with “stuff.”

I went to get an ultrasound last week, but since my doctor’s u/s technician was sick they got me an appointment at the hospital. It was one of those full bladder ultrasounds where you have to drink 32 ounces of water an hour beforehand. All I have to say is that these might also be known as The Ultrasounds of The Devil, particularly when the technicians are running behind and you have to stand in the waiting room (because it’s too uncomfortable to sit), bouncing back and forth and crossing and uncrossing your legs for half an hour until they finally get you in and then proceed to push on your full bladder for another twenty minutes to get the pictures they need. Add to that a fussy kid who was crying for half of the appointment, and then add a bonus intra vaginal ultrasound. And to make it the very best experience ever, add the bill we got today from the hospital for $729.15.

Futhermore, the next day I went back to my doctor, and since their technician was well again I had another round of ultrasounds (thankfully sans full bladder). The verdict: Yeah, there’s stuff in there, all right.

So still I wait.

The good news is that John and I booked a week-long vacation to Mexico at the end of April at a resort on the ocean, south of Cancun and north of Playa Del Carmen. Whenever I feel down I revert to thinking of warm sunshine, bathing suits, reading by the glorious blue lagoon pool, and snorkeling. It helps.