"Hey hey boo boo" or Alexi see's a bear!!

Holy wow has this spring been busy!  We've been workin' hard in therapy, fighting a crazy stomach bug, swimming, camping, bear spotting, and working!

It's hard to believe it's not even June yet.  Alexi has been working very hard toward crawling and for the first time we are seeing her take a bit longer to accomplish a goal.  It's a little bit of a reminder that progression has a different schedule in this household than in some others.  We are seeing other kids her age crawling, and working on walking.  It's kind of a reality check in ways.

 Until now, we knew she was going to progress at her own pace, but considering that she was early and has a disability, her "pace" was so impressive that it kinda slipped our minds.  You see, she's so darn cute that there's nothing "different" about her in our eyes.  It's weird, to be able to talk about something (DS) to so many people every day of our lives, and yet forget about it at the same time.  It's really something I just can't explain.

I've always thought parents were crazy for complaining that their children grew up too fast.  I mean heck, I always thought the sooner they get older, the sooner they have fun toys, or the sooner they can cut the grass!  I can now appreciate where these parents are coming from and feel a bit lucky that Alexi is hanging on to each stage a little bit longer.

So no, she didn't reach Dad's goal of walking by 10 months (which was set before we knew she was going to be born 10 weeks early or has DS,) but she is making us some of the happiest parents in the world.  Who wouldn't love to have this cute baby stay "a baby" just a bit longer???
 
And I can't talk about progression without celebrating how well she's doing in other areas.  She is doing GREAT with her eating and is seeming to understand some words and signs!  She is definitely learning how to "work those eyes" to get dad to do just about whatever she wants, too.  Can't say I'm proud of that, but you try and resist...It's hard!

 Okay so enough about all that stuff, lets get to the bear!  Alexi went on her first real camping trip this past weekend and loved it!  She was checkin everything out and havin a great time hanging out with some new people.  We hadn't been there long when I heard mom yell over to me, "Kevin! Bear!!"  This was not followed by "HELP!!" yet was followed instead by, "Get the camera!!!"

I grabbed the camera from the tent and came running.  I didn't even make it over to where they were sitting by the time "Uncle Paul" came over with his quad and told me to jump on.  The bear had wondered off so we rode up ahead of his path and stopped to wait for him.  Sure enough he came within about 20 feet of me when I was ducked behind a log pile.  That was AWESOME.  It was the closest I've ever been to a bear, heck it was the first time I ever saw one in the wild.

I waited 29 years to see one in person, Alexi got to see one in just 10 months!!  It sure was exciting but we were aware of the danger as well.  Alexi was in good hands with people who are very familiar with the wildlife in the area and the bear wasn't the only one at camp expressing his right to "bear arms."

  (For entertainment purposes only, no political statement intended.)

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And so began her love affair with water!

Well things have been going very well in Alexi's world!  She has been a busy, busy girl.  Eating is probably the most significant step forward for her lately, and she sure loves it.  All of the oral therapy we have been doing has certainly been paying off.  We have her Occupational Therapist to thank for that!

Although we are sad to see her go.  Alexi has had her final visit from her original OT as we recently discovered she is normally a supervisor that has been filling in for a few months.  Duty called and she is back supervising and has one of her best employees coming to start seeing Alexi this week.  As much as it saddens us, we have heard great things about our new OT and can't wait to meet her.

Aside from eating, Alexi has been reaching goal after goal on her developmental checklist.  All that hard work is paying off and Alexi is having fun every step of the way.  All of her therapy sessions now start between 7-8am and give us the rest of the day to get work done!  Yay for all of her therapists being able to do that for her(us)!!

Another new experience Alexi has been trying out is swimming!  So she's not quite swimming yet, but she sure does love the water!  We started her out by letting her take a dip in the hot tub.  Don't worry the temp was nice n warm like a bath.  Temperature was the last thing Alexi was thinking about though, she seriously could not get enough of playing in the water.  As a parent, you just can't beat seeing all that pure excitement from your child, it's gotta be one of the best parts of life.

 

She was pretty upset when we made her get out, which made me pretty happy knowing she enjoyed it that much.  If you don't already know, I'm a pool guy by trade so I've always hoped she would love the water like I do.  That's why we got her in the pool the very next day!  The heater had been on for a day but the pool was still a bit chilly.  We weren't sure how she would take to the big difference in temperature.  Yet again, she couldn't have cared less!  She was just so pumped to be in the water.  I "swam" her around the pool and it even looked like she started trying to swim through the water!  It is SO very awesome that she enjoys the water for more reasons than just the family business.

As some of you may know, water is GREAT for rehabbing injuries and exercise.  Water gives resistance, resistance helps build strength.  Building strength helps combat low tone.  One of the physical characteristics of children born with DS is low tone.  So am I glad she likes the water because I am a pool guy myself?  You bet!!  But knowing that every movement in the water is helping her gain more and more muscle development makes it that much better.

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