August 2011

Schools back, so is nursery!  Everyone has settled beautifully, especially Louie.  The only down side for the first week back is that Louie's brother has had an upset tummy & had two days off school, his sister has been fighting a cold and Louie (as I write) is completely laid out in the sitting room with an horrendous cold! 

The wee soul is absolutely choked! Welcome back to school everyone!!!!!!!!!

(PS – It has been one of the best summer holidays to date! Mum is always right! (See below))

Waiting for Summer Time' - June 2011

Well, I use the phrase 'Summer Time' loosely!  So far we have had one day of Summer – it hit 26 degrees on Friday 3rd June, where Louie adorned his favourite shorts, T-shirt, sun hat & (rather reluctantly) lashings of sun tan cream!  The following day on the 4th, Louie wore vest, trousers, thick fleece, padded winter coat & a cagoule on top of that! The temperature dipped to a grizzly 10 degrees, with a wind chill taking it to about 7 degrees!!!

Well OK, so we were daft enough to have gone to the beach, but come on, it's JUNE! Good things come to those who wait – I'll wait!

Louie is now just over 3 & a half years old, continues to be very settled at nursery & is developing quite an attitude at times!  His speech is coming along beautifully, with him putting sentences together of great length – 'thank you Mum for dinner', 'sorry Mum for hitting you!'.

He is learning to count from 1 to 10 & regularly counts when he's going up & down stairs. We always know when he reaches the fourth stair as we hear a triumphant 'POR', being yelled out!

He can say his own name now & can recognise various colours without prompting – so we know he's not colour blind!  He continues to have good ball skills & is definitely in need of a little basket ball net to perfect his aim & develop this skill further!


One of his targets through nursery is to recognise & complete familiar stories or songs, so his nursery & I are getting stuck into 'Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy' books – they're just great!

Bottomly Potts all covered in spots, Hercules Morse as big as a horse, Bitzer Malony all skinny & bonny!!!  Wonderful!

The rhyming in these will also help towards jolly phonics & learning the sounds of letters. Louie can copy all the sounds of the letters of the alphabet, with the exception of 'c', 'k', & 'v'.

Louie is much better when out & about than he used to be.  He will hold my hand much more readily now (even if he does still pull away if he's not in the mood to be holding mummy's hand!)  He is starting to build a small awareness of road safety, and will sometimes stand at the kerb in our enclosed street & 'look for cars coming'.  Whether he understands why he is looking for cars yet, I'm not so sure!

I continue to encourage Louie to use the toilet throughout the day, as he is still in nappies. His awareness of what's happening 'downstairs' is certainly improving & he is making strong moves in the right direction.  Just the one missing piece of the jigsaw – telling Mummy that he needs the toilet – rather than just closing the sitting room door & going very quiet all of a sudden!!!!

Louie has had another good hearing test again giving the all clear, & his annual thyroid blood test was executed nicely, thanks to our lovely local GP Doctor.  The results all clear for his thyroid & his antibodies have decreased compared to last years results. So very good news there too.

A summer cold recently washed him out for 2 weeks, with sneezes that could be heard the other side of Scotland! But otherwise Louie's health continues to be fine.

Louie is integrating with a few of the primary school children in the playground when we go to collect his brother & sister from school. This is introducing him to different play – louder, rougher & faster.  It's also allowing Louie to see that not all children are nice, sometimes one might throw a stone in your direction when their Mum isn't looking! Needless to say I don't take my eyes off of Louie & I'm ready to dash to his rescue. But I am trying to let him get a wee taste of the bigger world.

He's definitely getting more freedom now as I build my trust in his ability to not completely run off out of sight!  That said, if one is mad enough to take Louie into a shop with his brother & sister, then he's gone.  Out of sight!  Disappeared!  Completely!

Take him on his own to Sainsbury's or Tesco, then Louie is in awe of all the food!  He runs from the bananas to the apples to the oranges, pointing, exclaiming & being so delighted to see so much food!  There are great expressions of excitement, 'WOW!', 'LOOK!', as he takes in what seems to Louie to be such a magnificent sight - much to the delight of the onlooking shoppers!

Louie is a very lucky wee boy. For all he has DS he is doing exceptionally well. His progress is remarkable. However he is still very much younger than his years when compared to other children of his own age, and when he's around these children Louie's delayed rate of development is very noticeable. But if one doesn't mind waiting a little bit longer for 'summer' to come, then I just know it will be one of the best summers ever!


Mum – 10 June 2011

Happy New Year – 2011

A wish for health & contentment please………………..that’s all, nothing more!!!

Well, Christmas passed us by! The surreal amount of snow we all experienced put a stop to travelling, & families all over have been unable to meet up. We have yet to have our Christmas with Nanny & Grandad, & Nanny & Grandad have yet to have their Christmas with Louie’s Great Uncle & his family!

Poor health hit like a sledgehammer just before Christmas & kept hammering right up to today! Louie & his sister having another bout of bronchilitis which washed them out & his brother, like us adults, had a cold which seemed to sap all our energy. Finally after 3 days of monitoring the slow appearance of a few spots on Louie’s back, I have today diagnosed Chickenpox!

One has to wonder if this one day of the year really warrants such energy, time, effort, money & built up expectations! And I wonder why I refuse to spend hours sitting writing Christmas cards to you all!!!! I wonder!!!!!

This all said, & my moment of feeling sorry for myself done, it is worth remembering that all this is miniscule compared to some of the things other family, friends & folk are having to deal with around the world.

As the New Year starts we think of ‘you’. We wish you peace & we wish you hope. God Bless.

Nursery Progress

You’ll be delighted to know that Louie’s progress at nursery has come on in massive leaps! My previous Blog entry explained the pain that both Louie (& I) were going through as a result of trying to integrate Louie into nursery. Well, after about 2 months, we’ve done it! Louie will now say goodbye to me at the door of the nursery (massive hugs, lots of kisses & at least two ‘I love yous’!) and potter quite contentedly into the play area.

I am already seeing a build in his confidence & an increase in him attempting various words. I am delighted & extremely proud of him. We did have to go through the pain barrier, with lots of tears, but perseverance paid off. Once Louie was able to understand that I was ‘coming back’, he seemed to be able to settle a bit more with each visit. I think initially he just struggled to cope with my leaving him, but as soon as he saw me returning each time, he became more relaxed. He seems quite happy to walk in with any staff member now, & seems comfortable interacting with the other children.

I am not naïve enough to think that when we go back there won’t be some ‘Monday morning’ feelings to deal with (from me too!) but I am confident that they will be short lived. This all said, with Louie having chickenpox, I doubt he’ll be going back next week!!!

When he does return, he will have 4 mornings a week, Monday to Thursday, 9.30 to 11.30am, with Friday being a ‘Mummy & Son together day’!

And for me, I get a bit of time to catch up on chores & hopefully get a morning to go swimming!

A big thank you to the staff at Louie’s nursery for their patience & support, during a time when I almost gave up!

Mum – 1st January 2011

Louie & Mummy’s First Day at Nursery – 22nd September 2010

Louie did brilliantly. Initially I think he thought he was off to his usual toddler group, so upon arrival at nursery he seemed a bit peeved! He’s been here a few times now, so it wasn’t an unfamiliar surrounding for him. The nursery manager suggested I just potter around with him for a bit, so we did just that – outside, inside, toys, other children, staff.
After a while Louie seemed happy enough to be tinkering around with bits and pieces on his own, but I was taking myself on a wretched guilt trip.
With Louie being in the same room as other children of his age, the difference in the abilities & development of the other children compared to Louie, hit me hard in the face. And it hit me hard in the face again that this was because of the Down’s. Then I began questioning why I was putting my son with a developmental age of 2+ years, into an environment for children aged 3+. So when the lovely nursery manger commented on how happily Louie was pottering about, and asked if there were any questions, I just said that I was noticing one or two things……….then that was it!
My overwhelmed emotions got the better of me. I was kindly invited into the back kitchen to gather myself, while Louie was left in the more than capable hands of the numerous members of staff.

I felt like I was crying from my very soul. I just wanted to curl up & sob. I just wanted my Mum to hold me; in fact it was all I could do not to say out loud ‘I want my Mum’. Instead I asked the nursery manager for a hug, to which she said ‘of course’, as if it was a perfectly normal thing to ask for. I felt vulnerable, silly, embarrassed, small, yet I was made to feel embraced, understood, un-judged and supported.

I talked very openly about my emotions, the way I was feeling & why I was feeling the way I was. (One of the many things Louie has taught me is that stuffing down my emotions & squashing them to the back of my throat, won’t help him & it certainly won’t help me. I have to open up & that takes strength, I know I am a strong person – I have to be.)

The nursery manager listened & reassured me that for all Louie is developmentally younger, it is absolutely the right time to introduce him to nursery. She also said that nothing was set in stone, & that I am free to do whatever I feel is right. She quite rightly said that the sooner I start integrating Louie into nursery, the easier it will be to do so.

Everything the nursery manager said was right, I agreed with her & in my head I knew I was doing the right thing. It was just that at that moment I was completely unprepared for the emotions that crept up on me – I was prepared for everything else, but not the Down’s Syndrome bit. This sounds daft, but to me Louie is just like every other child. I am almost blind to his condition now, it is part of the family, it doesn’t play a big part in any of our lives – my conscious had forgotten all about it.

Having composed myself & got back into my normal ‘pull yourself together girl’ mode, it suddenly occurred to me that Louie had been quite happy in my absence, in fact perfectly happy, barely phased at all. So why should I be? I’ll take my lead from Louie, I am optimistic that he will settle ok. He may have a few days when he doesn’t want to go in, but then so did his brother – we’ll deal with those when & if they arrive. In the mean time we have a few more nursery sessions over the next 2 weeks before I go away & leave him. It’s up to me to make sure these next few visits are fun & enjoyable & leave Louie with an experience that he will look forward to going back to.

As for me, well I forgot my Girl Guide code didn’t I? Be Prepared! Was I? No! Try harder next time Mummy please!

Fingers crossed.


Mum 24th September 2010