Wesley turned fifteen months old last week. I took him to the doctor yesterday for his checkup, and he was pretty unhappy to be there. Between the nurse and the doctor, Wes was measured for length four times because he kept twisting and trying to roll over. Then it took about five minutes to weigh him. Once he’s on the scale he has to hold still until the scale settles on an official weight. He kept reaching for the nurse, reaching for me, trying to leap off, trying to escape any way he could. Finally a second nurse came over and distracted him by telling him how cute he is. Then the scale slowed enough that the nurse took a close guess before taking Wes off. To top it all off, the poor guy came away with four shots, two in each leg.

On to the stats. The computer was down, so the doctor couldn’t pull up the Down syndrome growth chart. Instead he went away and came back with a book that has a chart in it that he used to generally figure out where Wes is.

Weight: 16 lbs 10 oz
Height: 26 3/4 inches (this started at 21 inches and went as high as 28…hence why they had to measure him four times)
Head circumference: 42 cm (16 1/2 inches)

This puts him in the 10-15% for weight and 5% for height. On the charts for normal kids he doesn’t even show up. At his 12-month checkup he was 15.95 lbs and 27.5 inches long. I’m not sure what happened to his length; did he shrink? I guess it wasn’t very accurate last month. I have to think that after four measurements his most recent length is probably more accurate.

At every checkup the doctor gives me a paper that says “What is Going on at (age).” I know Wes is doing great, but whenever I get these papers I read them and always go, “Wow! Kids can do that at this age???” It amazes me. Like, “Children at this age usually can walk well, walk backwards, and crawl up stairs.” We’ve got one of the three; he loves those stairs. Also, “They will scribble spontaneously, recognize themselves in the mirror, and find an object placed out of sight.” I’m not sure he does any of those things yet; possibly he might look for something out of sight. Then there’s, “By now your baby should have been weaned from a bottle to a cup.” We are far from that. The kid still drinks formula as his mainstay, but he’s eating more big-boy foods, like PB&J sandwiches. He’ll eat about a fourth of a sandwich if I tear it into small pieces for him to pick up. I also feed him a lot of prunes and yogurt and oat bran to help with constipation. And he likes graham crackers for snacks. Beyond that, though…life’s a little limited when you still have no teeth. If he is still toothless at 18 months he’ll get some X rays.

Last week I made chocolate chip pancakes. I made them for me, but Wes was eying them, so I popped him in the booster seat and gave him some. The result?

One of Wesley’s favorite pass times is playing with his burp cloths. I don’t know why they fascinate him so, but sometimes he can be playing with one quietly for a long time. He also likes the dishwasher. I have to be sure to push the dishes inside so he’s not pulling out plates and knives. And the other day I found him bent over with his mouth on the surface, sucking up the water that had accumulated there. No idea how clean/not clean that water was, so I pulled him back, but he kept going for it. So now I have to make sure the dishwasher surface is dry before he plays near it.

Tonight we took Wes to the annual Christmas party for families who have kids with Down syndrome. It’s sponsored by the United Angels Foundation, which did a terrific job making it an enjoyable night.

Santa was there. We woke Wes up especially to see Santa, so when he finally got to sit on the jolly man’s lap Wes was still kind of groggy and serious.

But we managed to get a smile out of him.

(Here’s Wes on Santa’s lap last year when he was 2 months old. He must’ve been a smidgen groggy then, too.)

Then the Sparkly Pals performed. They’re a Utah dance group of kids with Down syndrome. When Wes is three years old he can join if he wants to. Now, you just try to tell me that these kids aren’t cute:

I rarely look at Wes and see Down syndrome in him. But after being in a room with lots of kids with DS running around it wasn’t hard to see the same features in Wes. He really is part of a special community, and what nice people are part in that community! We had such a good time tonight chatting with other parents and meeting their children. We listened to their stories of the various physical challenges their kids have faced and still deal with–multiple open heart surgeries, being on oxygen until they’re four, needing a gavage feeding tube for months or years, sleep apnea problems requiring a c-pap (oxygen mask–try forcing that on a two-year-old!), acid reflux requiring surgery to make the esophagus one-way, leukemia (which is more common with DS) and radiation treatments (the kid’s only eleven)… I could go on and on. Wes is really thriving. He has been blessed with excellent physical health and a strong body. People commented on his good muscle tone (because he can close his mouth all the way without his tongue hanging out) and how great it is that he’s crawling, standing (a little), and so active. Wes is doing great.

Today while we went to Salt Lake a wonderful family in our neighborhood looked after Wesley. When we came home and I went to pick him up their son said that Wesley was out shopping at KMart with his mom and grandma. So I went home empty-handed (which was fine–more of a break for me!). A little while later they dropped off Wes and, lo and behold, he had new shoes! He’s never worn shoes before, but doesn’t he looked very manly in them?

Wes will turn fifteen months old next week. He likes to walk when we hold onto his hands and help him. It makes him break out in a great big grin every time. And when he’s standing up with our help and we let go, if he doesn’t realize we’re not holding him up anymore, he’ll stand there for a few seconds all by himself. Today for the first time we saw him pull himself to standing and then let go of the object he had been hanging onto and stand for a few seconds. He’s getting braver, I think. The average walking age for kids with Down syndrome is about two years old, and I think Wes will come out ahead in that area. Especially now that he’s got these stylin’ shoes to sport everywhere he goes!

This week Wes had an IFSP checkup where his therapists review how he has progressed over the past year and set goals for the next six months. He is doing so fantastic and progressing so readily. His physical therapist (who works on gross motor skills like crawling and walking) just comes once a month, and each time she comes she’s blown away by what he’s picked up since she saw him last.

Right now Wes can climb the stairs in a flash, and when he gets to the top he turns himself around and sits up and clasps his hands in front of him and smiles down at you with a super big I-am-so-proud-of-myself-Look-what-I-can-do grin. We have to help him turn around and slide down the stairs. He’s getting better at letting us help him slide down (he does a lot of it himself, but we still have to help him initiate the movement), and it will take longer for him to get the turning around part at the top of the stairs. But he’ll get it.

He’s mastered the art of throwing toys. It’s like a game; he throws, and then fetches. He can also roll a ball or toy to you, and he loves to play peekaboo. He loves it if he’s holding onto something like a blanket and you try to tug it away from him. It makes him smile really big and even giggle. While he’s really great at playing independently most all the time, when he’s tired he can use a good snuggle.

Some goals that the therapists set for the next six months:

– weaning off the bottle and drinking more from a cup. Wes likes to put cups to this mouth, but not for the purpose of drinking. I’ve tried sippy cups but he doesn’t get how to suck out the liquid. A therapist pointed out that I can remove the plastic filter in the sippy cup so it’s easier to drink from (but also not spill-proof anymore). I’ll try that.

– walking! Wes will be an early walker. This is funny to say because I remember how my brother and his wife were broken up that their son didn’t walk until he was 13 months old, and they felt like he was lagging behind in everything. So I guess I should clarify that Wes will be early in the world of Down syndrome, where the average age for walking is about two years. Wes is pulling himself to standing and likes to walk with help, but it will be a bit longer until he can do it on his own. BUT I really can see him walking in the next several months. He continues to amaze us all.

– better pincher grip. Wes just recently (in the last week or two) refined his pincher grip enough to where I can set cereal or pieces of food on his booster seat and he can pick them up and put them in his mouth. This was super exciting to me! Before, he could hold larger things like graham crackers, but now he can maneuver smaller things into his mouth. So he’s got the basic pincher grip, but the therapist will help him refine it even more.

I remember when Wes was little someone (another parent of a child with DS) telling me that the nice thing about having a child with Down syndrome is that you get to have a baby a little longer. At the time I couldn’t see how that could be a positive thing (maybe it was because I was sleep deprived at that start?). But now I can see what she means. Wes is fourteen months old and, while wildly accomplished as far as I’m concerned, is still a lot of a baby. And I love it. I see my friends’ kids, who are younger than Wes, and some of them seem so old and grown up. I’m glad Wes is what he is.

In addition to throwing toys (he’s got a terrific arm), Wesley’s other Great Talent is stacking. Sort of. He’s still working on the accuracy point, but for the past month or two he’s really taken to assuming that everything is a shelf and that he can put toys on it.

This week we got him his first set of blocks, and we’ve been working on the stacking business (see video below). Have you ever seen a baby so proud of doing something right?

Wes stacking blocks

Wes loves loves loves to stand up. He likes to stand and play. He’ll try to pull himself to standing using anything he can as a prop:

His car seat…

His toys…

Even things taller than himself, like this desk.

His therapists have been coming and going and all (he has three) are happy to see he’s doing so well. Yesterday the speech therapist brought a toy that has three skills involved with it. The baby has to put the ball in the top of the toy, push it down, and then retrieve it when it comes out the bottom. After watching the therapist a few times, Wes started putting the ball in the top himself, and after a few more times he figured out how to push the ball down. He was really enthralled by the toy and the therapist was very impressed by how quickly he understood how to work it. My baby’s a smart boy.

Wes is crawling like a maniac and has discovered every nook and cranny of the house. Plus every trash can, every tissue box, every book on the shelves…pretty much everything I don’t want him in.

He’s also really great about climbing the stairs. A little too great. The other day I answered the phone in the kitchen (which is around the corner from the stairs). I was away from Wes maybe a minute and a half before I realized I had left him alone in the living room, and when I rounded the corner, there he was on the stair landing, sitting and looking down at me with a big grin. He doesn’t know how to get himself down the stairs yet (we’re working on it), but once he gets that he’ll be safer on the stairs by himself.

I took Wes to the hospital lab for a blood draw to get his thyroid checked. People with Down syndrome frequently have thyroid problems. The test checks two things: free T4’s and TSH. I don’t exactly know what T4’s are, but apparently they’re something to do with the thyroid that attaches to proteins, and free T4’s are ones that don’t attach to anything. TSH stands for Thyroid Stimulating Hormone. The results: Wesley’s TSH looks fine, but his free T4’s were a little high. But the pediatric endocrinologist said that this is not uncommon for kids around 12 months of age. Wes will have to get another blood draw in 4-6 months and be tested again.

Last week I took Wes for a walk outside. Because it was a chilly day I put him in a blue bear jacket that was a gift to him when he was born. I remember looking at it, and looking at him (barely four pounds), and thinking, “He’s never gonna fit into this.” Well, it took a year, but it fits him now. I think it’s size 6-12 months.

I enjoyed the walk and the scenery, but Wes was sound asleep by the time we got high enough to see a nice view of the valley and mountains.

It is hard to discipline Wes because he doesn’t seem to get that I’m disciplining him. I always tell him “no” when he gets to pulling at the trash can bags, but what do you do when all he does back is smile at you? And then go for the trash bag again?

Wes and the trash can

Wes loves our cats. They encourage him to move.

Wesley’s idea of recreation

Wes can open drawers. And smash his toes in them, too.

Wes discovers the drawer

Wes had a little trouble on the kitchen floor in his sleeper jammies.

Wes slip and slides on linoleum

In other, non-Wes-related news, I taught part of an aerobics class at BYU yesterday and it was so much fun. The teacher was impressed and got my number for her sub list. It was my first time teaching a class, and the class at BYU is huge. Teaching aerobics is one of those things that even though you think you like doing it, actually doing it is the real test. And I’m glad to discover that for me it is 100% fun. Now I know that I will keep doing it and loving it.