June 2012 update

Kaiden is currently attending the summer school program for preschool.  And he loves it!!  He's been willingly walking from the truck, thru the parking lot, up the sidewalk, into the school.  He's never wanted to do that before (Mama, carry me!!!!).  Once in the classroom, he goes straight to the trampoline to play.  He's been practicing bouncing at home, in front of the bathtub.  Not jumping yet, but at least bouncing  - which is good, he needs to bend those little knees more!  When he walks, he forgets to bend his knees and walks stiff-legged.  He can walk with one hand on a handrail, or one hand attached to another human.  He'll take independent steps at preschool, but not at home.  He was up to 6 steps unassisted last November, but by January he decided he didn't want to do it anymore for whatever reason.

One thing he's learned that I am so proud of him for - he's finally found a way to communicate his needs.  This kid WILL NOT sign (nor will he point or finger feed, or do anything he doesn't want to do with his hands, yet he can use them to play just fine!), and although he is very vocal, he is non-verbal, meaning he doesn't make specific words or sounds for anything.  Now, he will bring me things he wants.  Need a toy turned on or fixed?  Bring it to Mama.  Need a diaper change?  Take a diaper out of the cabinet and throw it at Mama.  Hungry?  Grab a bib (or something food related) and bring it to Mama.  He's been doing this with books (Mama, read to me!) for quite some time, but now it has progressed into communication for all sorts of things.  He even attempts to throw Lola's toy to get her to chase it.  He can throw things with some weight, but the lightweight things don't go very far.

I've been told recently that in order to get the word out there about the effects nightshade foods have on those with Down Syndrome, I need to do it thru the blog.  Well, I'll never delete any of the info, that's for sure!  I may forget to update it as life with a 3yr old takes over, but we're still here!  Kaiden's made a ton of progress in the 2 years he's been seizure free, but is still delayed.  Aside from things that are muscle-tone related (mobility and speech), he's on par with a 2 yr old cognitive level, which puts him about a year behind.  And since he lost out on about 9 - 10 months of development when he had the seizures, he's doing pretty darn good!