Tiara Boy

This is what happens when your older sisters take you wedding dress shopping--isn't he lovely? Poor boy, he didn't stand a chance.

His favorite part of the shopping experience was hiding inside the poofy dresses my daughter tried on. He also loved the big mirrors in all the stores where he could make faces, dance, and even strip off his clothes. He loves to admire himself.

And, yes, we successfully found a wedding dress for my daughter--thankfully.

Music

My son loves music. He regularly sits down at the piano and "plays." He loves to play the piano when we sing our nightly hymn. He smiles and really gets into it. He even plays faster, slower, softer, and louder. He's actually starting to make more music and less noise.

He loves to dance, especially if it's in front of a reflective surface. He really wiggles his body, even his little behind. When he's done, he claps his hands and says, "Yay." He expects all of us to clap for him. Surprisingly, he seems to get the beat.

Ever since he was born, I've played music for him when he goes to bed. Sometimes, it's children's songs, but usually it's classical music. I'm hoping that it's not only helped his brain stimulation, but has given him a subconscious understanding of music. I plan to give him piano lessons when he's a little older. I'll be interested to see how he does.

I think music has a dramatic effect on us. In fact, inside our hymnbook the First Presidency states, "The hymns can bring families a spirit of beauty and peace and can inspire love and unity among family members. Teach your children to love the hymns. Sing them on the Sabbath, in home evening, during scripture study, at prayer time. Sing as you work, as you play, and as you travel together. Sing hymns as lullabies to build faith and testimony in your young ones."

I've noticed that as we've sung hymns in our home that we've experienced less fighting and felt the Spirit more abundantly. I love to sing the hymns and my son loves to lead them.

I'm thankful that he enjoys music so much and look forward to seeing how he uses it in his life. Maybe he'll be the next Beethoven.

Fishing

My son had fun with us on our fishing trip over the weekend. He loved reeling in the line as soon as we cast it out for him. He wasn't quite sure about the fish when we caught them. He didn't want to touch any of them. Can't blame him, I didn't want to touch them either. I definitely didn't want to stick my finger in their mouths to pull out the hook. And gutting them? No thanks.

He was so cute sitting in his dad's lap holding onto the fishing pole. Wish I'd had my camera to capture it.

He really enjoyed taking off his shoes and socks and throwing them into the water. Yep, I had to go after them and I was sure I'd end up in the water, but luckily I didn't. His shoes are now permanently soiled with lake water. I'm just glad he didn't decide to go for a full-on swim.

He loved being part of our first successful, as in we actually caught some fish, fishing trip. Maybe when he's a little older, he'll catch one too.

Drawing and Hand Movement

Permanent marker does not come off grout. How do I know? Because I live with an artist. My son draws on everything. Usually I can remove his "art" but last night he decided to take a black permanent marker to the tiles in the hallway. I was actually impressed that he'd drawn circles on the tiles (running over onto the grout), the floor, the stairs, and the back door. He used to only scribble, but now he's making deliberate shapes. Of course, I now have a permanent reminder of that on my grout.

When he was first born, the doctor examined his hands. I'd heard about the line thing, but in my mind, I'd envisioned some kind of colored line or something. Yeah, that doesn't make sense at all and when the doctor explained the common one line crease across the palm, I realized what a dork I was. My son actually has two creases which means that inside the womb he used his hands in a normal fashion. Many kids with DS only have one crease which means their hand movement is somewhat different and usually means they need some form of therapy.

My son can use each of his fingers and can pick up tiny objects. He can also grip a pencil, or, in this case, a permanent marker, and I'm hoping this means he'll be able to write easily when the time comes. I know he can draw easily.

It's fascinating to learn all these intricate details that I took for granted with my other children. Things I'd never considered, but that I've had to watch for and evaluate with my son. It's definitely a learning process and I'm sure I'll learn more from him than he'll ever learn from me.