Day 8: The "31 For 21 Challenge" for Down Syndrome Awareness Month.
A Day without Balboa? Now that's a Challenge!
Bradley had some down time today, he seems to be healing up pretty well from the scope, but I think his throat is still sore. I can tell by some whining in the classroom with his teacher. We might have kept him home from "school" except he only spends thirty minutes there AND, when we said let's go to school his eyes lit up and he got very excited. Then he tried to say "school." That says to us, I feel well enough to go, so we took him in. If he's going to say it, we'll take it! Just don't tell the girls or the next word he'll be trying to say will be Disneyland and that's out of our budget for now.
As is his usual method, he brought along new signs and words to use at the hospital yesterday. I mentioned him saying "Hi" which was just amazing! But when the waving and playing stopped, he started to get agitated, and we started to see some behaviors coming out. So I told him with words and signs, "no hit" and "nice hands". In return, he signed back "nice hands" and sat down and settled down, for about ten seconds. It was one of those reactive moments followed by silence. I reacted with praise and then Eric and I just looked at each other. We weren't so much shocked by the good behavior; we were, or at least I, was shocked that he listened and repeated the signs back to me. Stunning revelation that!
These come on the heels of his attempting "stop" the day before. Bradley's "stop" is the cutest thing ever and really destroys the lesson I was giving when he turns around and tried to repeat me. He tries to say it as he signs it and verbally we get "op". What he started at home, I was getting more of it at the hospital. The hardest ones for us was the sentence, "I done!" and his continual requests for milk and water because he could have neither one. All we could say to that is: I know, I'm sorry, not yet. Those requests suck, but the delivery is pretty adorable. He reaches up to cup your face, then turns your head ever so gently to make sure he has your attention and eye contact, then he signs milk, though lately only his little pinky finger has any movement. He does the same for water. This especially happens if he has already asked but no one complied, this is my preferred method of letting me know what he needs, others include: hitting, yelling, and biting and not necessarily in that order. This method tells me he is trying to communicate with me to help me understand his needs. And he is showing great patience in the fact that I am so slow. :-). I also think this shows some reckless abandon on my part. He may be gently turning my head but he is just as liable to pinch me when he reaches for my cheeks; he's mostly out of that stage for all except with Daddy, so it's less likely - but with Bradley, anything is possible.
To end on a last positive note: turns out my guy loves Swedish pancakes! He ate most of mine this morning. But remember, they put a couple probes down there yesterday, so even though there wasn't meant to be any stretching,....perhaps there might have been just a bit. Either way, he ate more than I did, and it was AWESOME!!! Want to know the downside??? Yeah, um...no clue on how to make Swedish pancakes! Google here I come!!! :-). Oh, and he ate salad last night too. :-). Saw the Space Station AND ate salad last night, THEN Swedish pancakes. Talk about ending your night on an up-swing! It was like watching the Royals win all over again, I mean it even put a little damper on the Cardinals win, but just a little.
What are we going to conquer tomorrow Bradley??? A-B-Cs or 1-2-3s... You can now take your shirt off so fast and so often - you're driving me crazy...but maybe tomorrow the pants go, or the shirt comes back on??? Endless possibilities!!! Amazing what can happen on a day when we don't have to spend it at a hospital! :-).
Have a great night, talk to you tomorrow!
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