Mushy Monday/Wednesday

So I'm way behind on my mushy monday posts. What else is new? I was doing good for a little while, even writing them Sunday night to have them published Monday morning - what what?! Oh well I've gotten behind, time to catch up!

We went on our first plane ride as a family to visit my bff Critter and meet her new little boy. It was a wonderful trip! Tommy did great on the flights - all he did was watch our reaction when it got loud and shaky, and once Kyle smiled at him letting him know everything was okay, he was just fine.  Tommy was a lot more work on the trip then he is at home though. He was fussier, he missed his toys, and he missed his freedom of being able to roam around the house the same way he does at home. He learned how to climb steps at Aunt Rah Rah's house! So proud of him for that and Nana Jan gets a big shout out for that one, she's been teaching him how to do that at her house. We have no good steps to practice that on here at home, so thanks Nana!! We do have to stand behind him as he climbs though, b/c he likes to stand up once he gets on a step and sometimes that results in losing balance and falling backwards. Also, sometimes he just decides he's tired and he's going to sit down and fall off the step. We learned that it takes Tommy about 3 days to get well acclimated to a new environment for sleeping and being interested in new babies who are smaller than him, a great thing to know for when we bring our new baby home in May! Most of all the trip was really for me to visit with Critter, to see where she lives, and to love on that sweet baby boy of hers. It was a huge sacrifice for Kyle and he was so sweet and selfless to do that for me! He didn't complain, he was nice and social, and he helped out a ton with Tommy! And while we had a great time, it was nice to come home at the end of our trip, especially bringing Tommy back home. You could just tell he was more laid back & more himself when he got back to his familiar surroundings and ultimately his toys! ;)

Lately Tommy has really been taking off in so many ways! His sign language is growing immensely (compared to what it was) I think he knows 13 or more signs now and about 10 of them he learned in a months time! Woo hoo! Smarty Pants! He also took his very first independent steps yesterday - February 14, 2012!!! Can I get a HALLELUJAH! It seriously filled my heart with IMMENSE JOY! And God is so good in His timing! I am not feeling overwhelmed by the surgery (yet! or again?!) but it still was such an encouragement and joy to my heart to get to see Tommy take his first steps and to have him do it before his surgery. I don't even know if that makes sense to anyone else but let me just tell you it means so much to me to know he's beginning to learn to walk and take steps before the possibility of having a set back or slow down to progress b/c of surgery. I absolutely love it and I thank God for being so sweet to me to allow me to experience and see that! Oh it does my heart good!

What else is new...we're trying to be stricter with Tommy these days. It's a lot harder than I ever anticipated. I always thought I would be so good at being strict and disciplining my kids but let me tell you...it is a C.O.N.S.T.A.N.T job! You have to be consistent and I don't like being tough on my baby. And I'm not even that tough (yet). I kind of feel like I will be better at being tough when he's older and he's being blatantly defiant and disrespectful, but who knows - that's probably harder than I think too! But I will continue to be consistent and teach my son to obey me b/c I know I will not hurt his feelings now, he's only almost 2, and if I do "hurt" his feelings or make him mad, he won't remember it! And that's why you start now - so it becomes more of his nature to follow my instructions and to be well behaved. At least that's what I'm hoping! And don't get me wrong I'm not super strict - we're talking about teaching him to eat the food that we give him at a meal, food that we know he likes and eats, he just thinks he gets to choose to eat it sometimes and then if he doesn't want it we'll give him something else. Obviously I started this bad habit but he's learning very quickly and so far it's been an easier learning experience for him than we anticipated. And without sounding cocky I think being laid back (on our part) and not stressing if he doesn't eat it helps a lot. I completely understand that Tommy is a little human being and cannot being controlled at all times. But there are certain things I can control, such as what his options are at lunch time. Tommy's also been getting away with some old baby habits that we are now trying to teach him to stop. Throwing his toys, taking off his socks in the car and throwing them, occasionally hitting/pinching to get your attention (we've always worked on stopping this one, we're just buckling down), and now some whining is creeping in. It can definitely feel overwhelming to try and take on so many things to correct at once but I try to be consistent and stern with him but not to get upset or take it overly serious in my mind, b/c I know with time he'll get it.

Ok last funny story to tell before I end this rambling post. So it has become abundantly apparent that the majority of the outside world can now see by looking at Tommy that he has DS. When we're at the grocery store and a ton at the airport or on flights people say, "Oh you have such a special little child." or "Oh you have a special angel. He will bless you so much!" These comments do NOT offend me, but I think they are HILARIOUS! First of all people are basically saying, "Oh I can tell you have a cute kid with Down Syndrome!" haha obviously they would never say this directly but they are letting us know they recognize the DS. And I think it's so sweet that people are being intentional to talk to him and love on him to show they care for him and us. And the comment - he will bless you so much - well duh, what child doesn't bless their parents?! All children are a blessing, and trust me I know what they mean, and their intention is to be encouraging but it's funny to hear the same responses from strangers in completely different enviroments. Anyway the funny part is that Kyle finally got to see people saying things like this when we were flying for our trip. Well once we got back from the trip, one day Kyle and I were out to lunch with Tommy and I said, "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, another man at the grocery store stopped to say HI to Tommy and said, 'oh he's a special little angel! he'll bring you so many blessings!' and Kyle laughed and looked across the table to Tommy and said in a higher pitched voice, "Are you an angel Tommy? If you are then you should start acting like one." haha I laughed so hard! Don't get me wrong Tommy is a sweet and precious and good little boy, but none of us are angels or perfect. I love Kyle's sense of humor and I will be thinking about that the next time I hear that nice comment from a stranger at Walmart.