Hello again, strange blog world which I have not visited for the past several months. Not from a lack of things to say, that’s for sure: I had lots and lots to say, but time pinched, so I just said them to myself. Out loud. In public.
Pretty sure this past semester destroyed what small remenent of public sanity I possessed – oh, and it was far worse than just blogging aloud in WalMart.
Of course, now I have time, I can’t find any words. Today is the dozenth time I’ve typed and backspaced a post about this semester, which was crazy and life-changing and awful and amazing, so instead of a Profound Post on the correlations between Academia, Insanity, and Personal Growth, I’m going to do a quick update and then post lots of pics of a certain outrageously cute toddler I share a domicile with.
Besides aforementioned semester, not much noteworthy happened for me over the last few months. Hunter, however, has grown in leaps and bounds. He went to daycare for the first time, which was traumatic for me and him (<< and much more so I’m sure for his teachers who had to put up with our histronics) but we both got over it and it was okay. Thankfully. I am now all stressed out about preschool, however, so apparently I didn’t get over that much.
He also finally started growing. He’s still a pipsqueak-y version of what an almost-two-year-old should be, but he’s filled out nicely and we actually moved through two sizes of clothes.
He still demonstrates allergic reactions to dairy, grains, unbaked egg and other foods, but my allergen-free cooking is coming along quite nicely and someone eats meat and veggies and coconut like a busy little piglet, neatly, with fork and spoon, all by himself. I’m ridiculously proud of him. Also, he is ridiculously handsome while doing so – don’t you think???
Walking and talking are still coming along, painfully slowly. Somedays I get frustrated and wonder what I’m doing wrong and why isn’t something done about it, and some days I just enjoy where he’s at and celebrate tiny milestones.
Actually, frustration and sadness related to Down syndrome is becoming less and less a part of our lives, which surprises me, but it shouldn’t. Hunter is hard to be frustrated with. And not because he is good and happy all the time, either. The small blond beastie’s legs might not be toddling, but his attitude has TODDLER written in all caps. He’s mischief incarnate, devilishly smart, and exhausting. He has such a strong personality which is so completely his own.
As his second birthday approaches, I think back a lot to those first few weeks after his birth, and all the projections I had about what a little boy with Down syndrome would be like. What I didn’t realize then was that I wouldn’t have a “little boy with Down syndrome”, I would have my smart little stinker of a son. A cook. A book-lover. Fiercely independent. Inventor of complex games of hide-and-seek. Hugger extraordinaire. Little trickster who loves to make people laugh and keeps me endlessly on my toes. Noisy, dramatic, a handful, and so much MORE than I ever expected.
More updates soon, and more photos to follow.
