Dreams

I had a dream a few nights ago that I went to pick up Miles from his crib and there he was, surrounded by several blankets and toys. I asked Zach if he had put those things in his crib and he hadn't. I hadn't put them in either...so did he do it himself? I took everything out of his crib and walked out of the room. I heard laughing and walked back in to see him crawling out of his crib to pick up the blankets again. Holy crap! He can climb out of his crib!! I realized that I finally had to move the mattress all the way down. It was good feeling, which was still in me when I woke up.

A few weeks before that dream, I had another dream in which Miles was crawling. I've also had a dream about him speaking clearly and walking.
I've had several dreams of him achieving all these milestones that most people know their children will achieve at an average level but which I know Miles will probably achieve a little later than average. But he will get there, I know he will. I can see it in my dreams and I know from all the books and people I talk to, that he will be able to do it all.
I am so incredibly lucky that my baby with Down syndrome is healthy, capable and oh so smart.

It's so cool to watch him learn and make connections. It's like you can almost see the synapses firing and that "aha" moment take place. "Typical" children will make a huge step forward from one day to the next. It can happen so fast that the parents are taken by surprise. For children with D.S, it takes a little longer. For example, Miles used to just lay on his back without making any effort to move or roll from side to side. With the help from his therapists, we started guiding him, teaching him how his body can move. I would lift his leg and move it across his body, then grab his little hand and have it follow the same motion.
At first, he would fight me or just lay stiff. After several weeks of practice, he started understanding that his lower body could move independently of his upper body and that if he moved in either direction with a little impetus, he could turn over on his tummy. The whole process of teaching him this took about 2-3 months and there were times when I thought he'd never get it. But he's all over it now! That's old news. And I was able to watch him process all the information and literally put together the movements little by little. It was amazing!

So now we are working on teaching him how to shift his weight from one side of the body to the other in preparation for crawling. It's been about 5 weeks now and he has gained so much strength. I used to put him on all fours and I'd have to hold his arms and butt up and he couldn't maintain it for more than a few seconds. Now I just have to guide his booty up into the air and he knows to stretch his arms straight. And he'll hold it for several minutes!!!
They might seem like silly little steps to most people, but in our home these are huge leaps!

From what I know about most "typical" children, the hope is that they will be walking by their first birthday or soon after. Well, I give Miles another two months....maybe three and I am sure that by his 1st birthday, he will be crawling. And that will be the biggest gift ever!