Days of Elijah Day 6/7/8

December 7-9, 2010

Ok, maybe a bit of the "Ground Hog Day" syndrome has set in. Or maybe I'm just tired of having all these blog posts floating around in my head, or maybe I don't like being days behind on blogging. :-) At any rate, I'm combining a few days here. Hope you don't mind. All of these photos/videos are from Day 6.

Our visits continue to go well. The morning visits are more enjoyable for Pat and I as we can spend the whole time outside. One of the very sweet things he's been doing is holding my hand while Pat pushes him in the stroller. And he is holding on, not just me holding his hand. When I have to let go, he reaches back for my hand. So sweet!

He continues to improve in his ability to be close to us. What I mean is that at first if we were just holding him (not giving hugs), he had a tendacy to try and push away our chins or pull at our faces a bit. This is VERY normal behavior for an institutionalized child and from what I've read, his behavior is very mild. I've seen his nannies show him a fair amount of affection (very rare as well) so this has really helped him adjust to being close to us. Now, when Pat carrys him, he signs Mama and Papa on Pat's face. It's very cute!  I'll try to get a video of it tomorrow.

Now, we just need to figure out a sign for his name. Question for anyone with a fair amount of sign language knowledge. (Michelle or anyone else?) Any thoughts on a sign for Elijah? I know the masculine signs are at the top of the head/above the eyes I guess. If we made his name sign as an "E" at the top/side of the head like where the horse/deer sign is, does it mean anything else?  I would hate for his name to be a bad word in sign language. LOL Let me know asap so we can start teaching him. Maybe this will help with transition to his new name too. Thoughts??? This is all new to me.

Let's see what else...rambling a bit here. One thing we are adjusting to as parents is the fairly typical hyper-laxity of a child with Down syndrome. He can squirm out of our arms like nothing. I've been thankful for the snowsuits, so at least we have a "handle" when trying to keep him off the ground. And when we are walking and decides he wants to go a different direction, his leg goes out at 90 degrees and he goes - most often doing the splits in the process! :-) At least when we are home, it won't be such a big deal to keep him off of the floor/ground, but here, kids don't sit on the ground or the floor. Trying not to get hollered at by the nannies! But we did see a quick glimpse last night of him crawling on the carpet.  That was good to see!

We are enjoying our new apartment and the extra space. Once we have things finalized, I'll tell you all why we need it. :-) Can't wait!  We have exciting news for the kids, but they must be out and about somewhere. Better tell them first before I tell all of you. Sorry, lots of secrets tonight. LOL Tomorrow I'll be able to share more. Oh! Tomorrow! Separate post for that! I'll leave you w/ some photos of our love-bug.

Out strolling with Papa

This is his concerned look b/c of the flash.
Check out the outfit...pink with lace no less...sigh...

He had fun playing with the 2 pieces of the kitchen set. Having "tea".

But mostly, the little plastic frying pan was best for banging in the wagon and making lots of noise. He's a very typical little boy!

Squirming his way through



Just to prove he did make it all the way through! :-)  Great therapy for him!



This is little guy is going to miss his Papa!