Last week when it was slightly nice outside we stopped at a park. Wes spent the first ten minutes like this:

I think it was because of his shoes. He’s not used to wearing shoes, and when he wears them he won’t walk in them.

When I pulled him to standing, he stood. But that was all. He tottered like he wanted to move, but his feet did not budge.

So then I put him in a swing to cheer him up. I’m not sure it helped.

I did buy him a new pair of shoes that have very thin soles. He took a few steps in them today, so I’m hopeful we can try the park again sometime with greater success.

Wesley is quite active these days. He’s walking everywhere.

Sometimes he pauses to look around.

When he’s done, he refreshes himself with nice yoga poses.

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.