Reaching Milestones

When we got sent home from the hospital with Noah in tow, we were given a folder containing all manner of things pertaining to Down syndrome. One piece of paper that quickly caught my eye was a chart that laid out general milestones for children with Down syndrome compared to those of typical children. I was affected by one in particular. Running-About 4 years old. Keep in mind, that was two years older than Andrew was at the time. I mistakenly thought I would be constantly overwhelmed with the list of things Noah couldn't do. That really couldn't be further from the truth. Years ago, when we were first preparing to be new parents with Andrew, we heard numerous times from veteran parents "how quickly your children grow up". Ironically, even the delay caused by an extra chromosome does little to slow the passage of time where our children progress far more quickly than we expect and we are left wondering when all of this happened. For example, when did Noah begin being able to walk across the room with the assistance of a walker.

Speaking of milestones, or 1.6 kilometerstones for the family in Europe, Brooks celebrated his 9th birthday this weekend. He had a video game party at a place in Southaven called Jump. When I walked in the room, I had a strange sensation of familiarity that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Then I realized, it's a dorm room. Minus the stale pizza and odor of seldomly laundered clothes.Since Andrew is younger, I worried he would have trouble finding something to do, but I should've known that he would be content running around a vast wasteland as long as his cousins were there.

The weather man predicted a rainy Sunday so we told Andrew we would go bowling. He has been asking for a while, so we felt this was a good opportunity. The rain never really happened, but we were on the hook for bowling and Andrew couldn't wait to roll.

It doesn't look like next week has much going on. Just dinners, bath times and stories before bed. I couldn't think of anything more perfect.

Sharper Resolution

When Andrew wakes up in the morning, he usually likes to be carried from his bed to the couch in the living room, where he can watch a little TV and begin waking up. Sure, it's a little indulgent, but it's far less painful than dealing with a cranky three year old. Hey, you pick your battles. One morning this week, while toting Andrew, who is not getting any lighter, into the living room,  I noticed there was a laundry basket of clean clothes sitting on the couch. For some reason, I let this really bother me, so I angrily proclaimed, "Argh, that stupid basket needs to get off the couch."  Andrew replied in a calm voice with a shake of his head, "It's no good yelling at the laundry basket, Daddy. It doesn't have any feet." I didn't really think about it much after that, until I saw the following sketch by Carl Richards of the New York Times.

That's when I realized, Andrew is far smarter than me at some things. If I resolve to do anything this year, it will be to spend more time where the circles overlap. Then, maybe I can become the Man my sons envision me as.

...

Until then, I'll have to bribe them with pizza at the Trolley Stop on Madison Avenue

Friday night and Saturday morning where fairly uneventful. The days mainly consisted of playing with toys we got for Christmas since the "new" is still shiny, intact and has definitely not worn off yet. The day was set aside for the kids; the night, however, that was reserved for New Year's Eve. And this year, like every one in recent history, we headed to Nora's. This has become a tradition for two reasons. One, she has always lived within stumbling distance of us, whether it was our apartment downtown or, later, our house in midtown. Two, it doesn't matter if you drop in while walking through the neighborhood or attend an event like New Year's Eve with scores of people, she makes entertaining look effortless. To me, that has always been a good indication that somebody excels at something. And she did not disappoint. The theme this year was "Stuff It 2011" (last year was "Will if Fry", involving a couple of deep fryers and assorted batters and breading). Agnes participated with pirogi, which turned out to be one of many delicious dishes.

We actually got home before midnight since Tadek, who has been keeping Andrew since school let out, was watching the boys for the night, and we didn't want him to have to stay up too late. We did however have our own champagne and toasted the new year.

  

Apparently, Noah has resolved to be more upright in 2012. This is what I discovered when I walked in his room Sunday morning. This was the first time I've seen him pull up to standing.

We celebrated with pancakes and mimosas that morning, and that evening, we completed the sad task of deconstructing Christmas.

Ah, but don't fret, it is a new year with new opportunities. Let us try to keep it between the circles. 

Merry Christmas

...for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord...

...and I caught Noah trying to eat him. I tried to capture this as I stealthily removed the lens cap and powered up the camera, but no such luck. The child, who I constantly worry about being able to hear, jerked his head around in response to the soft swish of the flash popping up. Once I was discovered, it was all over. He sees a camera; he begins to pose.





This was the morning of Christmas Eve-Eve, so we had plenty of time to get the Nativity back in order. But there was still much to do. Agnes and Andrew got to work making the cookies for Santa. I hope Santa is up to date on his shots, because Andrew's method of coating the cookies in sprinkles involved dipping the dough in the sprinkles, licking it off, and then dipping it again. I have to admit, the saliva really got the sprinkles to stick. You can see how he got really efficient at this and began using two hands for maximum cookie output.





Due to the plunging mercury and persistent nagging of Andrew, we made the first fire of the season to help us get into the mood to wrap presents. I'm quite proud of myself since I started this fire without the assistance of a presto log while fighting the urge to strangle a three year old draped over my back, constantly mocking me with his steady stream of, "why is it taking soooo long?"





I have no idea what the leash is for. That evening and the next morning were filled with the excitement of the upcoming Christmas festivities. Also, there was a mad dash by Andrew to show just how much he loved all of his existing toys since Agnes decreed that any toy we don't play with anymore is going to Goodwill to make way for the influx of new toys. I knew we were in trouble when Andrew started giving me the hard sell on a piece of plastic that I'm pretty sure broke off from an old coat hanger. The plastic, along with some other items were disposed of to the rhythmic wails of "BUT IT'S MY FAAAAAAVORITE". Although Noah didn't really have any skin in the game, he felt the pain of his brother's agony.







The first engagement of the day was Agnes's parents. A bunch of her cousins are in town, so her mom has been cooking all month in preparation. Since this was mainly a food visit, Andrew began asking when we were going to Nana's about 5 minutes in. We were able to satiate him with some soup to buy us some more time.

After spending a couple of hours eating amazing food and reconnecting with distant family, Andrew got his wish, and we headed towards Nana's house. As soon as we walked through the door Brooks, Brady and Andrew were off, feeding on one another's unbridled excitement.









Finally, after the grueling torture of waiting for adults to finish eating, the kids got the green light to move the presents out to the sun room. It was impressive how quickly they worked.

Oh look, I found a fellow photographer. I had to delete several pictures where our flashes crossed paths, but to be fair, Carrie did have her camera first.

















We tried to capture a picture of all the children wearing their Christmas jammies in front of the fire place. In theory it was an awesome, maybe overly sentimental, idea. In practice, it disintegrated into Noah crying, Ellie Kate and Brady finding something better to do, and Andrew affectionately stroking Greg's reflection in the fire place doors.





This was the best one I could get, I may have to photoshop in a happier Noah.

...

SANTA CAME!!!













The last gift was actually from Nana, to Noah. But Santa helped me put it together Christmas eve. After church, we all gathered at Agnes's parents again for more food and presents. We knew for a fact that Bacia and Jadek had gotten Andrew a soccer goal for Christmas. Jadek, however, did such a good job of hiding it, he had trouble finding where he had put it. In the end, it was located and put to good use.

Despite Noah's best efforts, baby Jesus has been returned to his rightful place in the manger. Reminding us of the greatest gift this season... Merry Christmas.