When I woke up this morning I had a plan:

1) Clean kitchen: Do dishes, clean sink, wipe counters, put away clutter, etc.

2) Water plants.

3) Do laundry: Baby laundry, whites, bedding.

4) Get through enormous list of things I’ve been meaning to catch up on for a week: Emails, phone calls, bills to pay, stuff for church calling, etc.

5) Feed family: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

6) Prepare stuff for my Zumba classes this week.

7) Exercise.

8) Lift weights.

9) Attend friend’s Zumba class.

I should have added:

10) Maintain sanity whilst kissing my goals goodbye.

The reality of today:

1) Cleaned kitchen: Did dishes, cleaned sink, wiped counters, put away clutter, etc. The kitchen was so clean I kept looking at it and smiling.

2) Watered plants. My outside plants were getting crispy and hovering on the brink of death, but now I think they’ll make it.

3) Started laundry. Got the whites in the washer, dryer, and then put away. Got the baby laundry in washer, is still in dryer. Got 1/2 of bedding in the washer. Is still there. Other half of bedding still on laundry room floor.

4) Started to get through enormous list of things I’ve been meaning to catch up on for a week. Responded to five emails. Made three phone calls. Paid one bill. Did not get to church calling stuff or variety of other Important Stuff categorized under “etc.”

5) Fed family (including John as he’s always home). John ate everything I gave him. Wes threw most of his food on the floor. I tried a new recipe for dinner, during which time Wes helped himself to the lower shelves in the pantry, dumped out a container of wheat, scattered pudding boxes, granola bars, and mixing bowls all across the floor, and then whined for my attention.

6) Prepare stuff for my Zumba classes this week.

7) Exercise.

8) Lift weights.

9) Attend friend’s Zumba class.

New To-Do List to Finish before I Go to Bed Tonight:

1) Sweep up loose wheat grains. Put away pantry items. Put away mixing bowls.

2) Put away leftover food from dinner.

3) Re-do dishes. Re-clean sink. Re-wipe counters. Put away clutter again.

4) Change out of exercise clothes I’ve been wearing since noon, thinking I’d have a few minutes to exercise, or prepare stuff for my Zumba classes, or lift weights, or make it to my friend’s Zumba class.

5) Make new list for tomorrow.

Yesterday Wesley’s speech therapist came and did an annual review. She goes down a list of questions that she asks me (“Can Wesley do…?”) and if he passes then she goes to the next question. She stops going down the list when he fails five questions in a row. She also does a few tests with Wesley (like set out three objects and ask him to identify and pick one of them specifically) to see how he responds. Then he’s given a percentile ranking.

First off, she was impressed by Wesley’s attention span yesterday. Sometimes he’s all over the place, but he sat and worked with her really well for the first half hour.

She graded him on the scale for 18-23 month olds (he’s 23 months). He scored in the 18th percentile. I thought that sounded really low, but she said it’s actually really good. Kids have to score in the 7th percentile or lower to qualify for the services Wesley receives. On the other hand, when she scored him using the scale for 24-29 month olds he ranked only in the 3-4th percentile. But that’s OK, because he has six months to improve and we’re sure he will. She said he’s functioning, speech wise, at about the level of a 17-month-old. Which I didn’t think was too bad.

Part of the reason he did well is that he hit two major milestones this week. Speech is typically harder for kids with Down syndrome to get, and for Wesley it’s been hard in part because he’s always struggled with imitation. Imitation is one of those essential developmental skills that he needs to have for speech.

He started imitating some motor skills, like clapping, in the last month or so, but if you say, “Hey Wes, say, ‘mamamamama,'” he’ll just stare at you. Or, more likely, grunt at you to get you to stop trying to make him do something he doesn’t want to do.

First milestone: This past week we discovered that if we coughed, Wesley would cough too. This was amazing to us! So now we’re often playing the Coughing Game. See below.

Now, Wesley still doesn’t initiate the game himself. That’s one thing the therapist talked about (with much concern, actually)–Wes has got to start initiating more. Not just with sound games, but with everything. She freaked out a little when she asked if Wes will point to objects he wants and I told her no. If you offer Wes something, he’ll let you know if he wants it or not. If he finds a container of pretzels he’ll bring it to you to give him one. If he’s tired he’ll come up near you and wait for you to pick him up. And if you hold something up for him to come across the room to get, he’ll hold out his hand as he walks towards you to get it. But I’ve never seen him point at something to indicate he wants it. I’ve never heard him make noise to indicate he wants something without me offering him something first. And he doesn’t lift up his hands for us to pick him up unless we hold out our hands first.

I would never think of these things unless someone pointed them out to me. It was kind of exhausting, listening to the speech therapist go over all this with me and give me assignments.

I hope that pointing to objects will be around the corner. I know it took Wes a long time to figure out how to use his pointer finger at all. It’s just been in the last couple of weeks that he’s gotten good at using his index finger to point. I think it’s because we have a star stacker toy that has a button on the top (a very small button) that he learned how to push with his index finger. He will sit for ten minutes pushing that button and making the music play over and over again. And it seems that the therapist was kind of freaked out when Wes was younger (closer to one) that he didn’t use his pointer finger at all. He’s getting it now, though, so maybe pointing to objects isn’t too far off.

Something else the therapist wants us to help Wes do is to pretend feed stuffed animals. She brought a stuffed bear, a plastic cup, and a plastic spoon. She told Wes the bear was hungry and showed him how to put the spoon to the bear’s mouth. Wes didn’t get the idea of feeding the bear right off. But–and this surprised us–after a few minutes he started dipping the plastic spoon into the empty cup and putting the spoon to his own mouth, like he was pretending to feed himself. I don’t think I’d ever seen Wes do anything pretend before. And a little while after that he would put the spoon to the bear’s mouth (or, his face, anyway). I only just started helping Wes use a spoon to feed himself this past week. I put a little yogurt or baby food in a bowl, help him grip the adult-sized spoon, and keep my hand over his to help guide his hand to the bowl and up to his mouth. He gets the basic idea of using the spoon, and his coordination will get better over time so I won’t need to guide him so much.

Second milestone: The other great thing Wes is doing that involves imitating sound is shown here (sorry it’s dark):

Is it his first word? I’m not 100% sure, but the speech therapist thought so. Because he can say one word he scored better on the speech review. Also, while the therapist was here Wes dropped his plastic cup on the kitchen floor and said, “Oh oh.” He makes the sound “oh” frequently, so it may have been coincidental, but the therapist thought maybe it was intentional. It’s hard to know. By the time Wes is 2 1/2 they want him to be able to say five words.

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.

1. Purchase Red Baron frozen pizza, preferably on sale.

2. Cook said pizza according to directions on box.

3. Notice that pizza is considerably sparser in toppings than picture of pizza on box, e.g., there are only six pieces of sausage on entire pizza when the picture shows fourteen.

4. Call Red Baron’s customer service number on the back of the box.

5. Give nice representative codes from the box over the phone.

6. Receive coupon in mail for free Red Baron pizza.

Voilà!

This afternoon I took Wesley to the Parade of Homes. The very last house we visited had fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. When Wes saw me eating one he made his “more” sign, indicating he wanted some too. I was surprised since I’ve offered him cookies before to no avail. Now I know he really likes chocolate chip cookies. I was lucky to get much of that cookie, and when he was done I had to wash his chocolatey hands in the home’s kitchen sink. I guess he has a sweet tooth after all.

We (I mean, I) got lost while driving at one point, but it had a nice ending when we stumbled upon the LDS Mt. Timpanogos Temple. I haven’t been there since its open house years ago, before its dedication. Handily enough, the stake center next to the temple had an event happening, so its doors were open and we (I mean, I) could use the bathroom. Then we (and I do mean we) went for a walk around the temple grounds.

Wes surprised me by wanting to hold my finger as we walked.

He was amazed by the size of the temple.

A video of Wesley on temple grounds.

After we circled the temple we sat on a bench out front. Wes is teething.

Wesley’s really good at smooches. Here he’s planting one on my cheek.

When I asked him if he wanted Mom to take more pictures he made his “more” sign.

He is a happy fellow.

So here are some scintillating happenings in our household of late.

1. Wesley is getting his second tooth. And he turned 21 months old today.

2. John was laid off last month. He’s writing a novel.

3. I’m trying to save money but don’t feel successful yet.

4. I teach Zumba four days a week and can’t live without it. I love teaching but sometimes I like to drop in to other Zumba classes to relax a little in the back, unnoticed.

5. When I teach Zumba I’m a walking billboard for Zumba. I saw one of my students today outside of class and she was like, “Wow, it’s funny to see you in normal clothes.” I.e., she was shocked to see me A) not dripping wet with sweat, B) not sporting a sexy headband to absorb the sweat, and C) not wearing clothes trumpeting the Zumba logo all over.

6. I signed up for the Freedom Run on July 4th. This week my goal was to run three times a week (instead of just once like I have been) to get ready. There’s one day left in the week and I still have to run two more times. Hmmmm.

7. Walk into our house and you’ll notice the trash cans are on counters and bathroom doors are closed. This is because Wesley cannot, canNOT resist the temptation to take the lids off trashcans and root through their contents. Ditto with bathrooms and toilets. Yesterday I got home from getting groceries, set Wesley up in the kitchen with some toys, went back out to the car to bring in more groceries, and came in to find Wesley had disappeared. I wondered where he was–and then I heard the water pipes from upstairs. In the minute it had taken me to go outside and come in again he had abandoned his toys, gone upstairs and beelined for the master bathroom (door was open), popped open the seat cover, and flushed away. I’ve also seen him using the bowl-like protective cover for the toilet brush like a drinking cup.

8. I have five hanging baskets (mostly petunias) outside the front door. One of them has already apparently died, but I keep feeding it water in hopes it will miraculously spring back to life again. Seeing flowers die depresses me greatly.

9. I’m reading The Host by Stephenie Meyer, and John is anticipating the release of Brandon Sanderson’s new novel. Wesley likes books, too, mostly to turn the pages and to stack them on top of each other.