Birthday Week- Day Two

Since the week started off with a birthday bash, we knew it would be hard to continue the excitement through Thursday (Brett's actual birthday).  Therefore, we thought we would try something Brett hadn't done before...

Fishing!!!

Before we could get down to business, Brett had to check the windspeed and direction.

He was pretty excited when we caught our first fish.  It wasn't a keeper, but Brett didn't seem to care.  He was ready to take it home. 

Brett had so much fun he passed out 30 minutes after we arrived.  While, we weren't able to out do the party, it looks like we got close. 

It's My Birthday...Week!

It's Brett's birthday week!  We started off the week with a small party with the grandparents.  Brett has begun to get overwhelmed when surrounded by people (think pouty lip, screaming and a blank stare), so we decided to stick with something small.

Aunt Dana and I put together a picture frame to showcase Brett's first year.  FYI- since Brett was born on May 5th, we went with a Cinco de Mayo themed bash. 

  After church, Brett admired his deflated balloons.

Then it was time for gifts!

What's in that bag!?

Shorts!  My favorite!

Even though I was very thankful for the new clothes, Brett lost interest pretty fast.  In all fairness, the tissue paper was very colorful and made some neat sounds when he grabbed it. 

It didn't take long for Brett to perk back up when he saw some cash.  The money always goes straight to a savings account, but Brett still thinks cash is a great gift.  Who knows, since we got that $5 birthday gift card from Babies R Us in the mail last week, we may have to head to Babies R Us to let Brett pick out something.  We will have to remember to send them a thank you card too!

Now that I think about it, I don't think it's the cash Brett loves some much.  I'm pretty sure it's the card the cash comes in.  It took longer to go through the three cards Brett received, then it did to open all of his gifts. 

Once we read, and reread, all of Brett's birthday cards, he had his eye on a nice blue box from across the room.  

Once we got it open we found Brett had a new friend- a sock monkey!  We have yet to some up with a name for his new pal and are taking suggestions.

The day ended with cake, ice cream and a nap (for almost everyone).  We will have some pictures of the cake debacle later this week.  Stay tuned!

We had a great day with our families and want to give a huge "thank you" for all the birthday loot!  I'm most excited that I don't have to buy new clothes for Brett's pictures this week. 

Easter Festivities

Happy Easter!  Brett's Easter excitement started a few weeks ago with a DSG event.  Brett wasn't a fan of the Easter bunny and was in a hurry to get off his lap. 

At the DSG event Brett was able to meet Rachel Coleman of Signing Times.  He was a little star struck.  This was his first celebrity encounter and he wasn't really sure how to act.  Hopefully, he'll be able to take his eyes of the next celebrity he meets long enough for a picture.    

The Easter fun continued today with an egg hunt at the church. 

So many eggs!  Where do I start? 

Here is a nice blue egg. 

Oh wait, I see another egg I want.  Orange perhaps (Brett has professed his love for the color orange)!?!

Pink, even better! 

After the egg hunt was over, we headed out to meet the Easter bunny.  Brett still wasn't real impressed with the guy, so I jumped in to stall the tears.  Take note, the pink egg traveled with us. 

Finally, we headed to the gym for some dancing. 

Brett decided it was time for a rest and sat down with some eggs.  However, the eggs were not enough.  He gave the other kids some pretty good "share with me" eyes and they handed over a spoon.   

Unfortunately, no one told Brett the spoon was only for pretending and not actually eating. 

Somewhere in the confusion Brett misplaced his pink egg and was left with a yellow.  Not quite the same, but Brett was still excited to show it off.

Don't worry, we found the pink egg just before we left and Brett has been playing with it all afternoon.

Some Advice From Dad

First off, make sure you save before you close a blog post... if you dont, you have to retype it again.

Secondly, when buying a house... take everything you can get when closing.

Erin and I bought our house a couple of years ago.  The couple that lived in the house before us had a 2 year old daughter.  While going back and forth on closing the sale of the house it was mentioned that they could leave all of the child proofing items in the house for us.  Like a dummy, I told them to go ahead and take that stuff with them.  I could just imagine every time I tried to open a drawer or cabinet having to fight some child lock.  Sure enough, a few days after closing on the house we find out that Erin is pregnant.  Needless to say I was a very happy individual... up until this week.  Brett decided that he would start crawling, which is an amazing thing and makes me smile every time he wobbles across the floor... but it also made me realize that I now need to go spend a hundred bucks or so childproofing the house.  So, in closing, I would like to say that if you have the opportunity to get something for "free"... take it.  You never know when something as simple as a child lock will save you some cash.

Oh and by the way... Brett has his own style of "army" crawling.

Enjoy the Video.

-Dad

"Self-Feeding"

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted.  Brett has changed so much over the last few months.  He is learning new things everyday.  He is sitting like a champ and can now transition from sitting to his stomach.  My guess is he will learn to go from laying to sitting in a matter of days.  He's trying his hardest to crawl, but isn't getting very far.  He's can get on his knees and on his hands, but hasn't figured out how to coordinate the two.  It won't be long though, his buddy Isaac is a pretty good teacher.  

We have really been working on Brett's oral skills lately.  The "experts" don't recommend sippy cups for children with Down syndrome, so Cody and I brought home a cup to teach Brett to drink from.  A month later, Brett was still chewing on the rim of the cup.  We have now transitioned to a straw.  Brett had it figured out in a matter of hours.

We've also been working on self feeding.  We've worked with biter biscuits, yogurt melts and puffs.  The yogurt melts got stuck in the roof of Brett's mouth and he was breaking off chunks of the biscuits in a matter of days.  After some choking on large pieces we eliminated the biscuits from his diet.  

Brett has done fine with the puffs, but his OT suggested we work more on using his fingers to eat instead of fisting his food.  Day 1 we tried cottage cheese.  After 10 minutes of "self-feeding" Brett had a lap full of cottage cheese and his belly was still empty. 

Day 2 was mashed bananas (notice that we removed his highchair cover after the cottage cheese incident and have not put it back).  I'm not sure Brett was much of a fan.  He preferred the veggies and cheese he was getting from his grandpa. 

Tonight we decided to try another approach.  Pudding!  I thought the cottage cheese was bad, but I didn't know what messy was until today. 

I felt as though Brett did a good job picking up the pudding and getting it in his mouth.  That was until I took off the highchair tray and found this. 

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope to get some newer videos of Brett up, so check back soon!

The Results are In

Today was Brett's 9 month checkup.  9 months, really?  Yes, really!  Things started off great.  Brett was measure and weighed and Cody and I were very excited to see that Brett is finally starting to catch up with his peers. 

You see, children with Down syndrome are often smaller than their counterparts.  Even though Brett's length was in the 75% when he was born, he quickly began to lose steam.  At his 6 month checkup, Brett was <3% for height, weight and head circumference.  For this very reason, Brett and all his buddies get their very own growth chart.  On the modified chart Brett ranked 32%, 56% and 53%, respectively.  The strangest part of this is people constantly baulk at how big Brett is.    

Today, Brett's stats changed significantly.  When plotted on the Down syndrome chart, Brett ranked the following:  69% for length, 75% for weight, and 55% for head circumference.  However, that's not the big news.  Brett's measurements actually made it onto the standard growth chart.  His length fell into the 20% and his weight at 19%.  His head was still in the <3%, but I'm sure it will eventually catch up. 

Once we were back in the room, Brett was poked and the nurse checked the iron levels in his blood.  There were a few frowns, but no tears.  Once the nurse left, Cody and Brett examined the needle stick

Brett quickly decided that the needle stick and blood rushing from his finger weren't so bad.  I'm sure he will be showing his wound to his friend Skyler Thursday in class.  Chicks dig blood, right!?

The appointment flew by and it didn't take long for the nurse to come back in.  This time she came with a needle.  We didn't anticipate Brett getting any shots this visit, but we were wrong.  This needle stick brought with it the poutty lip and tears. 

After a few hugs from dad and kisses from mom, Brett was all smiles again.  Until...

we placed him back on the table to finish getting dressed.  The memories and tears quickly came flooding back!

Brett's Turn to Play Host

It was Brett's turn to place host Saturday night.  Blaine was coming to visit!  It was Blaine's mommy's birthday, so his parents were headed out to celebrate.  As much as we would have liked to stay and play with Blaine, Cody and I wanted to celebrate too!  Therefore, we enlisted the help of Cody's parents.  They were very excited to have not one baby, but two to entertain. 

(this is Blaine, such a doll!)

When Blaine arrived, Brett was shocked.  "Who is this kid?," he wondered.

I think Blaine was wondering the exact same thing!

The boys had a busy night and they were both exhausted.  It didn't take long for Blaine to fall fast asleep. 

 

We were so glad to have you visit.  Brett is already asking when you can come again.