So it's been forever since a blog, what inspired me to sit down and type this morning?
Last night.
Anyone who knows me well, knows I am not a fan of traffic and crowds of people. Don't get me wrong, I love events, ball games, concerts, things like that, but I kinda despise the thought of shopping in crowds more than most. So much so, that I moved into the sticks to escape the hustle and bustle. That being said, I've put off taking Alexi to see Santa until last night, dreading the experience.
Boy was I wrong. It started with a couple swift lane changes resulting in me missing two red lights worth of traffic and a quick right through a parking lot to get into the mall ahead of the line of traffic ahead of me. These were all carefully performed, might I add. Then I was driving to the entrance to drop mom and Alexi off so I could go park the car in the next township over and probably have to take a bus back to the mall (it really was that bad.) Well on my way to the entrance I see a spot 3 cars away from the end towards the mall! I know, it was a Christmas miracle.
So after pulling in to my amazing parking spot, I realized I was about to enter this cut-throat jungle full of scavengers and greed known as "the mall." I took a deep breath and picked Alexi up from her car seat, and instantly forgot about my dread. She was so excited, loves the brisk air on her face and although she had no clue where she was, she was PUMPED to be there. Big smiles and laughter were coming from her the whole ride on my shoulders into the mall. As I approached the door, I realized how big the smile was on my face, when I caught the eye of another man leaving, who was half smiling looking at us. "He must be a dad," I thought.
So we get in there, look over the railings edge, and see there is NO LINE for Santa!!! WOW!! I was so amazed, and assumed I must have been the only procrastinator that waited this long. Ha, I'm silly. Santa was on break for the next 45 min. So we went on a quick walk around the mall, then decided to head back to the Santa booth and get our spot at the front of the line. As the other families started to arrive behind us, everyone wanted to meet Alexi. People weren't rude about it, but almost everyone that came by us, tried to make eye contact with us for that look of approval to come say hi to her. There were lots of kids around, but Alexi must have had the biggest smile, because she was making lots of new "friends."
So ultimately the reason we were there came. Santa came back and was super happy, I mean I know he's magic, but after doing this so many times over the last few weeks, he really is a special guy to be that excited to see each and every one of these kids. Alexi got up there and had to check him out for a second, then naturally, she loved him. She is such a sweetheart and loves just about everyone, so we never really doubted it would go well.
The Santa moment came and went, and we got lots of good pics to remember it, then as we were paying for the pictures they snapped, Alexi saw a little girl behind us. I turned around to say hi and saw that she, too, had Down Syndrome. Her dad was holding her and hadn't seen us yet, so I walked up closer to them to let her say hi and he turned to "a baby" to say hi. He sad hello very nicely, but then when he saw Alexi's face he realized we were members of this "secret club" with him, and got even more excited to meet us. Lilly and Alexi exchanged pleasantries and we went on our way. But that moment was nice. Knowing we are never alone on this journey. We never said a word about it, but felt an instant friendship knowing they had crossed many of the bridges we are crossing, and they felt the same, knowing we had a similar journey in our near future as they were currently on.
We spent the rest of our night at the mall in the food court talking with my parents, as they happened to go see a movie that let out just in time for us to meet up! Even on our way up there Alexi was making friends left and right, and loving every single minute of it. We were in the mall long enough that she was hours late for dinner and needed a diaper change, but she never skipped a beat. She really does love seeing and meeting people out and about.
So this mall, that I remembered full of greed and frustration, was actually full of holiday cheer and people who were going out of their way just to spark a smile on Alexi's face.
When did I get so cynical? After being there for hours, I wasn't done, because Alexi was still having fun seeing all the new sights and people, so we walked around and checked out the big new Dicks (sporting goods!) that recently opened. Alexi had fun, but I've realized that the entire first floor is spandex in one form or another, and the second floor is a little bit of sporting equipment, winter coats, and some more spandex. Kinda weird and I am gonna have to lose like 40 lbs if that is the clothing of the future.
So we are in the holiday spirit in full swing, just in time! Oddly enough, I've got one person to thank for this sudden change of heart. Someone that I thought I learned "the truth" about long ago. Someone who's as real now as he ever was. Santa.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year everybody!
How's Alexi doing these days?
She's playing on hands and knees but still refuses to crawl the "right way" and just bellys down and army crawls around. Army crawling is something she's gotten pretty good at, but you can see her try to figure out the crawling thing, as she's kinda realized scraping along on her belly isn't the best way. She'll get there, we're in no rush. We've been doing lots of new exercises with her and she is pushing so hard to try to pull to stand, just doesn't have all the muscle strength, or even coordination quite yet. Again, she'll get there.
What's all this mean? It means we are learning every couple days of a new reason that our home is not "Alexi proof" any more! It also means that we're enjoying every bit of "extra baby time" that we're getting with her.
