A Windy Spring Day

My kids love to get outside, and winter has been long! Even though they had colds, I figured the sun and fresh air would kill some germs, and all the running and playing would clear out the lungs. What joy!

This boy loves branches, and he loves to watch them as he waves them about.  This is part of a tumbleweed.

He likes to see how it changes the thing he's looking at, if he waves it in front of his face.  I know this because I remember doing this as a child.

What a boy!  He likes to kick things, and doesn't like anything girlie!

I think trying to whack your sister with a branch, while she swings to get away from you counts as playing together (but only if everyone is having fun!)

Basking in the sun, and the joy of being alive and outside!

They can all run now, and this one looks like a windmill,with arms and legs wide and churning.

Here, her form looks a little better...

I'm no action photographer, and she kept running toward me.  I wouldn't treat you to such blurry pics, except that the exuberance is so delightful!

No one can get themselves up on the swing yet, so they all swing on it like this.  L. says he remembers watching the ground swing by.

Sickies

We've got sickies, again, (sigh...)   Haven't taken any cute pictures lately, because nobody's looking too cute lately, including me.  Lots of stress with my job, and lots of sickness, and I'm not feeling like I'm coping particularly well, with anything, since I've had lots of headaches (which I've never really had before) and I'm more sleep-deprived than usual, for some reason.  Through it all, though, I've felt the Lord's hand on our family, and the pure joy of loving and caring for my munchkins has carried me. 

I usually prefer to keep it light here, and just show pictures on my blog, since that's what I prefer on other people's blogs, but I'd like to take a few moments to follow a few of my deeper musings and ponderings.  I think a lot (of course--who doesn't?) and I'm always following my thoughts down these paths, and winding up, who knows where.  Anyone who knows me knows that, but sometimes these thoughts are of a productive nature, and might be beneficial if I threw them out to the universe.

So, in that vein, I must say that I enjoy these kids so much, more than I ever expected, in completely different ways than I ever expected, and having them has really been more like having triplets than I expected.  I won't go off on that tangent, other than to say that life has been pretty crazy, as it would be for anyone whose family increased by triplets.  So, for those of you considering adopting three children, think of triplets, not of the three children you had in some type of usual birth order. 

Back to my musings:  I was terrified of giving birth to a child with "birth defects" and even though I lost a baby at birth (22 years ago!) and you'd think that having experienced "the worst," that I wouldn't be afraid anymore, it was still terrifying.  I'm a very cautious person, but sometimes, when I have what I consider to be an irrational fear, I try to conquer it by doing, learning or immersing myself in it.  I know I did do this, but at the same time, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God put in me a desire to have these children, and that he told me to go and get them.

It's funny that Down syndrome has become so irrelevant, sometimes, in so many ways, that I forget what a big part of our lives it is, until suddenly I'm reminded of what a big part of our lives it is.  I guess, usually by someone else, for whom Down syndrome isn't a big part of their life.  And, as my husband likes to point out, often what I'm experiencing as "Down syndrome" is actually 4 and 6 years, respectively, of institutionalization.  I guess what I'm trying to say, in a very clumsy way, is that we just experience our kids as themselves, and each of them is such a unique individual, and has their own personality, with quirks, and flaws and strengths.  I'm always noticing that they keep pace with each other developmentally, and even though Little Boy is always behind the girls, he's never really very far behind them.  And neither of the girls gets very far ahead of the other in anything. 

Each of my kids can be adorable, and I mean really adorable-- like melt your heart, but then they can turn around and be completely annoying, like--how do they know that would be so annoying?   I used to say watching my kids (my first bunch) was better than watching TV, and I feel that way again.  I love to see how they move, and their expressions, and listening for any words that I might understand.  I think I analyze this bunch a lot more, looking for their needs, and what do we need to work on?  My big kids say I always ruin everything by pointing out how someone is doing something they hadn't done before, and that shows this developmental area, blah, blah, blah.  So what?  It makes me happy, and they like the attention.  They're not like lab rats, and I cuddle them, and exclaim over them, and best of all, they are thriving!  Little Boy is still tiny, but he's growing, and the girls look long and leggy to me, which is okay.

Surprisingly, I discovered some pictures taken about two weeks ago, that I forgot I had.  Enjoy.  They're from the approximately two weeks we had without sickness.  Oy!

How can you fix someone's hair if you don't hold the rubber band in your mouth?

Preschool time!  Too bad it's boring and no fun to color...

A loving sissy

"It would be funny if you tickled his toes..."

As a boy, he likes to do what the big boys do...

So, trying to redeem myself after the post in which the hair is messy, I bathed the children, anointed them with conditioner, massaged them (which they hate)and dressed them in partially color-coordinated clothing to get these splendid pictures. You have to admit the hair is looking pretty great!

For those of you who know that alopecia is common with Down syndrome, and are thinking that pride goeth before a fall, I'll tell you that Big Girl has a quarter-sized spot and a nickel-sized spot, which I neurotically check weekly to see if they've changed to the size of a larger coin. Since I'm powerless against hair loss, I figure, make hay while the sun shines, or make ponytails while you can!

As I said, getting tougher to get flattering pictures of them, since everyone hates the camera these days.  This one is pretty flattering, I'd say (although I am her mother, so maybe I'm not very objective.)

Okay, it's not just me, right?  This one is pretty darn cute!

Let's call this, "trouble with a capital T!"

I'll go for "goofy with a capital G" here.

Oh! Definitely "adorable with a..." You get the idea!

Line from a favorite song:  "Don't forget the extra-a-a CHEESE!"  Plenty of cheese here!

Let's see how it works to add another person into the mix...

If you add even one more person, well it disintegrates to pure chaos!

Mostly Little Boy

Heard about this great preschool activity called Starfall, and the kiddos love it.  The girls won't repeat words or sounds anymore for me (I've burnt them out with my emphasis on speech therapy) but they like to repeat all the alphabet sounds and words that the computer throws out there.  Little Boy never gave me the satisfaction of repeating anything anyway.  Apparently, he's not about to start for a computer.

What would you think if you looked into this sad, lost little face?  Would you feel that you'd disappointed him?  That he didn't feel loved?  Would you try harder?  Luckily for me, I see this look all the time from my teenagers when I disappoint them, they don't feel loved, and want me to try harder.  I've become somewhat immune to it.  Life's hard!  Deal with it!  You're smack dab in the middle of a family who's crazy about you.  It's not gonna get any better than this!

If I took that too seriously, would I be able to enjoy all these other moods?

Pensive...

Challenging...

Questioning...

Curious...

Just keepin' it real. I think I may have used this title before...

Another birthday!

I'm always crazy about my beautiful kids.

Okay, I admit it.  Some days it's a while before I get to their hair.  Who am I kidding?  Sometimes I don't get to their hair at all.

True confessions.  Just keepin' it real.  And, I admit that I'm sorry about these bangs.  It's just that during snot season, it seemed to make sense...

Same day, same time-- his hair looked good.  Actually, I love my babies' hair, it's all getting so long, so most of the time, I do make it look good. 

Well, it's been kind of busy lately, and work schedules have been hectic. Work for me has been stressful, but I'm happy to have my job, and doing what I love, with a bunch of people that I love, so I'm grateful.

New things that Little Kids have been doing is learning how to sit at a table, and work on preschool-type activities. My usual is to sit on the couch, and work one-on-one with people, doing preschool stuff, but recent attempts to attend Sunday school have shown the necessity of learning a bit more self control in some arenas. So, the little table, and three small chairs were dug out of storage, and put to use. The first day, they sat for exactly one minute before they were completely done. The next day was four minutes, and we've been building up from there. We can manage a good half hour now, but that is only when the activity changes after about 5 minutes. Luckily, I have lots of different activities to trade out. If we ever decide to go to public school instead of homeschooling, I hope we'll all be able to sit at the desk, and stay on task.

The other big thing lately is focus on speech therapy. I've been researching a lot, and there's a lot to it. Stuff you take for granted. I helped one of my big kids learn to say, "R" by analyzing where I put my tongue, and then making her practice it every night for several weeks, after which she suddenly got it.

This is a little more complicated than that. I've discovered that my kids probably don't have good muscle tone in their mouths, and tongue, and that severely affects how easily they can form the words they try to say. So, lots of mouth and tongue exercises, massaging cheeks and lips, switching to straw cups (apparently, sippy cups are the devil) and blowing (whistles, bubbles.) We've focused on learning english this past year, learning lots of signs, and encouraging babbling. I think they understand a lot, and try to say a lot that we just don't get. Hoping all these exercises will make a dramatic difference.

Cute stuff: At the dinner table, Big Girl tapped me, and then signed, "I love you." First time ever, and I melted, "Awwwwwwww----!!!" Dad said, "Hmmm... Neat trick to get out of eating!" Little Girl observed this interaction, obviously thinking, "I wish I'd thought of it first!" Little Boy didn't even notice.

Just kidding-- he's signing "cracker" and "all done" with great flair. Sometimes he likes to tease me when I try to get him to sign "mama" and I say it at the same time, by signing "daddy" instead. Booger!

Today Little Girl carried the big baby doll around, patting it sweetly, and then took it, set it on the toilet to go potty, and then washed its hands. Kind of gross, but cute, too, right?

Next birthday!

I think Little Girl had the cutest birthday we've ever had around here. She knew what we meant when we told her "Happy Birthday!" in the morning when she got up. She had a smile on her face that said she knew it was her special day. All my older kids used to get bratty on their birthdays, and she tried that a little bit that day, although she tries that a little bit every day! She was so excited to blow out the candles, she was bouncing up and down in her seat, and L. put his hand out to keep her from blowing out the candles before we finished the song! She was so impatient, she just kept trying. Then she clapped, and cheered for herself, when the candles went out. That kind of exuberance is catching! So fun! She loves to be the center of attention, and the little karaoke machine was a hit. Big Girl enjoys singing karaoke, too. Adorableness reigned!

She knew what was going on, and started trying to blow out the candles before they were even set in front of her.

We were still singing, and she was trying really hard to blow out the candles... 

Finally!

She was so thrilled with herself!

"It's not my birthday..."

She knows how to unwrap gifts!

She got karaoke for her birthday!

It's great to have fans...

Even better when they sing with you...

"A shiny, spinning pinwheel is all I need..."

Big Girl bustin' a move...

Boy birthdays

We have a whole bunch of birthdays all clustered together, and we recently celebrated two boys' birthdays. We forgot to have a camera available for Little Boy's birthday, so we used a camera phone. Poor kid. He was not impressed with his birthday, because he doesn't like anyone to tell him what to do (all that pesky present-unwrapping, and such.)

B. had a birthday, too, and he actually enjoyed his, and went along with the program. He spent the day with his two close friends, (one of whom also celebrates his birthday that day) riding dirt bikes on the track at a neighboring farm. I was in shock when I realized that he's getting close to driving age. He's my youngest bio-kid! Where does time go?

"I can't help it;  I must go toward the light..."

He wanted to grab the balloons, and we were afraid he'd pull them right over the candles...

Instead of letting him play with the balloons, we tried to get him to blow out candles.  "Why won't anyone let me do what I want?!  It's my birthday!!"

Around here, what we lack in talent, we make up for in gusto!

My beautiful oldest son

My beautiful middle son