The Weekend Zoo: Firstfruits

When Lamb was born I was chomping at the bit to hit every milestone.  "When will she...?"  "How soon can I...?"  "Do you think she's ready to...?"  I hardly had time to enjoy what she was doing, because I was already preparing for what was up next.

When Monkey was born, I did better at savoring the moments.  I let him take the lead on what he wanted to do, when he wanted to do it.

With Roo, all expectations are out the window.  I'm not sure how much of this is because of Down syndrome and how much is because he's the third child in five years.  Hmmmm.  I wish there were some way to objectively measure that.  Anyway, I am just really enjoying every little minute with Roo, every development that I see.  On Thursday, for example, the boys and I were laying on the floor, and I was playing with Monkey, tickling and growling and playing like little boys do.  And it was like a light went on for Roo... and he wanted to play too.  He started growling and reaching up to grab my hair and laughing.  It was AMAZING.  It was the first time that I have seen that look on his face like, "I GET it!"  If I hadn't been laughing so hard, I would have cried.  I think that's one of those moments that will be forever etched on my Mommy Heart.

And as part of this live-in-the-moment mentality, we have also been slow to start Roo on solid foods.  Lamb had her first cereal the day that she turned four months old, since that was the soonest that our pediatrician recommended.  Monkey started at six months, because we saw the benefits of waiting.  But for Roo... he's just so little, and he really didn't seem ready, so we waited.  In fact, it's been less than a month since he had his first cereal.  We started when his OT was here, so she could help with any muscle tone issues with his mouth/tongue, but he did great.  So we've slowly been introducing new foods to his diet.

Well... in addition to doing things more slowly, I'm also kinda throwing the rules out the window and going with what feels right.  So we haven't started much in the way of jarred baby food, but the other day I thought it might motivate Roo to use his arms/hands if he had something yummy in them.  I put some banana in his Baby Safe Feeder.  Have you seen those things before?  I highly recommend them.  They are great for pretty much any kind of food you can stick in them, and even ice cubes for teething.















So this was Roo's first banana.  He seemed to get the idea...

...In fact, there was no tearing that thing out of his hand/mouth.  :-)

  Yay for new milestones and for a growing baby.  :-)

PS - If you haven't yet entered to win an iPod Touch by donating to Olga's fund, there is still time.  But the contest ends TODAY, so please do it this morning!  I am just amazed at how much money Patti has been able to raise this week, and I am so excited at the prospect that this could help Olga find a family.  Thank you in advance for what you are doing for her.