A milestone

How exciting it is when Klo Bow accomplishes something... anything... it doesn't matter what it is. This morning Jordan put her in her chair and gave her some chocolate chex (my kids are addicted). She ran out of said chex. (THE HORROR) So she hollered at me a couple of times but I didn't get the hint. Apparently my kid is neglected. But then I looked at her to see what the problem was and she looked straight at me, then down at her plate, then tapped the plate with her little bitty index finger, and smiled up at me. HOW STINKIN' CUTE IS THAT?!!! I swear I probably woke the neighbors with my cheers of sheer joy! What a wonderful moment for us.

Some might think, "what's the big deal, I don't get it?". The big deal is that my child communicated with me in a way that she has never done before. She knew EXACTLY what she wanted and figured out a great way to ask for it. She made her wants known and she made them perfectly clear. I could not have mistaken that finger tap for any other thing. It was as if she looked at me and said, "more chex, please". PRAISE THE HEAVENS!!! Sometimes I get discouraged and I start allowing myself to wonder; will she ever call me Mama; will she ever know Jordan is Dada; she's going to walk, right?; I'm teaching her to sign, why isn't she picking any of it up??? And those are totally natural feelings. Sometimes I feel as if other mothers must just be better teachers because many Downs babies are much further along than she is. But then, I have to always remind myself that Klo is Klo. She is not any other child. Therefore, it will never be fair to compare her to other children, even other Downs children, because she is her own person. It is okay that she is progressing at a slower rate. I don't want to mainstream her. I don't want to push her to be like everybody else. Because that is unrealistic. She is Kloey. She has an extra chromosome. In some areas she has much more than anyone else. And in other areas, she has just decided to take her time. And we all love her for exactly who she is. Besides, the little milestones wouldn't mean as much if we didn't have to work SO hard for them.

 Spaghetti and Christmas movie night at the Hansen's:
Kourtney decided to eat delicately....
Kloey had other ideas.

On a final note. We were invited to a playgroup today with some church friends. It was our first time and I was pretty excited to go... nervous too as meeting new people is always a bit nerve racking. Kourtney cried and whined for the first half an hour. Joy. She kept saying, "I don't want to share my toys... I don't like these friends... I want to go home to my Daddy". Imagine that in the most annoying, whiny, four year old girl voice and you've got a pretty good idea of what I was dealing with. These gals are super nice, so it's not like I had a huge reason to be embarrassed but come on, is that not annoying??? I don't care who you are... that's annoying. Eventually she warmed up and started having a fabulous time and that allowed me to actually join the adult conversation. I found that I was really enjoying everyone and feeling very welcome and that was very nice for me. They invited me to another play group and a girls' night out date. Yay! Then it was time to go home. As everyone is cleaning up we realize that two children are missing. Bet you can't guess whose kid was gone! That's right, MINE! Splendid. It's not like she hasn't done this before. She just runs around and hides or gets lost somewhere in the building and it takes about 2 minutes to find her. No worries, right? Wrong. We searched that building for 10 minutes and nothing! By this time me and the other mom (her little boy was the other kid missing) well, we're starting to freak out a bit. So, she goes outside and I start running around, checking every closet, bathroom, and speck of dust! 5 minutes later I hear someone shout my name. I turn the corner and there they are. She then proceeds to tell me, "they were outside by the road... the one that is always really busy". To which Kourtney replies, "we just wanted to take a walk". I was so scared and angry and relieved all mixed into one. I wanted to scold her, and I wanted to cry, and I wanted to hug her. So I did all three. Then the guilt set in. I'm the new one. It was my first time. And my kid and one of their's decides to run off. Great first impression, Steph. Fantastic. They were, of course, very sweet about it. But I was embarrassed, oh so embarrassed. The little boy had no coat or jacket on. Kourtney did. Luckily, I am still invited to the next playgroup and they have yet to kick me out of the girls' night date. WHEW. Seriously, scariest thing ever. I had to have a "kidnapping" talk with Kourtney. She just wasn't understanding (or caring about) the whole, "you can't go outside without Mommy or Daddy". Even when the danger of cars hitting her were thrown in there. Oh goodness. Gotta love my kid.