Living By Faith

Yesterday I got a call from a speech therapist. I have heard about babies with DS getting speech interventions as early as 6 months (exercises to strengthen the mouth, etc.). I thought it was worth looking in to and knew that I'd better start now if we are to have anything in place by the time Levi is 6 months. Anyway, I got the call I'd been waiting for and we set something up for the end of the month. She will come back every 2 months and intervene when it is time. It was such an upsetting conversation b/c we are just sitting back waiting for the other shoe to drop...waiting for my little boy to start falling behind. It is heartbreaking. When I hung up, I cried and cried. I think part of it was that I also still had some lingering yuk in my head from the Buddy Walk. Don't get me wrong, it was awesome. It was just hard to see the adults with Down syndrome there. I know Levi has more opportunities and more early intervention than that generation. It just made me wonder if all this work with him is really going to help him in the long run. I am having a hard time finding a happy medium with my expectations. I want to be realistic, but I can't put limitations on his capabilities either. It is hard to know what to expect.

On a happier note...Yesterday we also went to celebrate Grams' birthday with her. Her birthday is actually today, but Wed. was the best day for us to get out there.
Isn't that face hilarious! Like, "Umm hmm, I know I'm cute!" His shirt says, "Today's to do list: 1. Go to grandma's."

Today, Levi & I went to a university to speak to some future physical therapists. (Well, okay, I was the only one of us that did the talking. He just sat there and looked cute.) It is something I was invited to do through DSACK (the Down syndrome Association of Central KY). We were asked to tell the students what we liked about our physical therapists, what we wanted from them, and what it is like having to get physical therapy for a developmentally delayed child. It was really fun, & I enjoyed hearing from the other parents. The professor asked me to share if it was overwhelming having the therapies, and I told the class about that conversation with the speech therapist and cried right there in front of everyone. Oh well. I recovered pretty quickly. A few times, while I was talking, they would all giggle. I finally figured out that Levi was smiling off and on. I had him sitting on the desktop, facing everyone, while I spoke. I asked, "Is he smiling at you?" And they all cracked up. I wish so badly that I brought my camera along. After we were done, a bunch of the students crowded around Levi. They all thought he was the cutest thing!

Speaking of how cute he is...Wouldn't Levi look great on a billboard? If his Buddy Walk team raises the most money this year, he gets his picture on a billboard!! We were ahead by only $23 earlier today. If you would like to help keep us in the lead, go to this web address...

http://buddywalk.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=421223&lis=1&kntae421223=1FD337DED5524786B5B47903EBB67819&supId=0&team=3815837&cj=

and make a donation! (It is not a hyperlink that you can just click on, but you can copy and paste it into your address bar.) We are almost at $6,000!!!!! Thanks to all of you that helped us get there. The contest ends at noon (eastern time) tomorrow.

And I would like to top things off with some pics of my little funny bunny in the tub before he went to bed tonight. He is so wonderful!