1. I have mentioned before how valuable the on-line Down syndrome community has been to me. I have often wished I could take a road trip to meet all the great moms (and some dads) and kids that have helped me navigate the twisty and unexpected roads we have traveled since Wil's birth. I can't do that. But Little Miss E's mom has come up with the next best thing. A traveling afghan that will make many stops at the homes of families I have enjoyed getting to know in the blogiverse. A notebook will accompany the afghan with notes from families around the world. Yes, the world. This little afghan has quite a journey ahead. When it shows in our mailbox I will be sure to post a photo. Well, maybe. See #3.

2. Speaking of the Down syndrome community. Avery, son of Jennifer Graf Groneberg, author of Road Map to Holland, is about to have open heart surgery. Many of us know all too well how difficult it is to hand your child over for a surgery such as this. Remember them on March 11 as Avery goes in for surgery. You can read more about it here and even leave her a word of encouragement if you wish.

3. My youngest - by far the most destructive child of our brood - decided to play "let it float" with my camera. My camera did not float. In case you are wondering. It also did not survive the game. He also played said game with my bottle of migraine meds. It did float but he didn't like that so he submerged them, allowing water to fill the bottle and dissolve my costly, good as gold, pills. After that he made his way into Luke and Wil's room and dumped out all the colored sand Luke was using for a project. Bright oranges, blues, yellows, greens, browns ALL. OVER. the carpet. And my vacuum? It's been broken for a week. Fun times around here. And costly.


By the way. . . If you want to follow the afghan just click on the T21 Traveling Afghan button on my right sidebar. It will take you to Little Miss E's blog where she will provide updates and pictures of all those who receive it.

Where is that woman? I wonder if I can get all these down before she comes back to the kitchen?

Luke is the master of the sunny, cheerful picture. I have a collection of them waiting for frames.

Working on puzzles and reading books can only be experienced in small doses with these two who seem to need a high degree of gross motor activity. So we weave the above between the activity below,

because pulling off cushions and removing clothes remain Wil and Timothy's most favorite activity of all.

And me? I'm doing a lot of this.

We played. We toppled. We laughed on our Rody's.

We went to the Zoo and took a spin on the Carousel.

I hope you, too, enjoyed Christmas, your family, and your friends!

Happy New Year!

1. Wil has been sick. For three months now. It is not uncommon for kids with Ds to hold onto colds or sinus issues for long periods. Typically their airways, ear canals, sinus cavities, etc. are smaller than the average kid so when they get "gunky" they have a hard time clearing it out. This has been true for Wil since he was an infant. I especially remember how bad he sounded after his heart surgery, and how long it lasted. When he was a baby he just sounded bad and that was it. He seemed to tolerate the stuffiness and sinus pressure well. Now that he is three? Not so much.

He really lets us know that he does not feel good. And that eating is not comfortable. This has been a common reaction at the table as we try to find foods that he will tolerate. His preferred mode of comfort the last three months is being held, which at 32 lbs., is getting tough on my aging back. Poor guy, he is on his third round of antibiotics - each round getting stronger. This time he takes it for 20 days. If this doesn't clear out his sinuses then we are off to the ENT.

2. Wil is not all grump. He definitely has his feel good moments. When he does, he grabs Timothy and they wrangle the sofa cushions.

3. Timothy, when left alone, does things like this.

4. Luke is happy to have a little time off from school. He has been in the creative zone lately. This is what he came down wearing last night.

5. We are looking forward to a low-key Christmas. The little bit of Christmas shopping I do was done a wrapped a few weeks back. The boys and I will be doing some baking tomorrow and Wednesday, including a gingerbread house, and then we will enjoy our Christmas Eve tradition of homemade chili and fries, by chef James. He perfects the chili a little more each year! On Christmas day we will lay low, let the boys enjoy their new toys and then grill steaks with Nonnie and Papa.

And we will give thanks for Jesus as we celebrate Him!

His version?

Open sandwich. Insert face.

What? What's wrong?

1. Last week we pulled out the Christmas decor. Over the years we have had to make some changes with little one's roaming the house, always looking for new ways to wreak havoc in our home. Last year we decided that we should forgo a tree altogether. I had visions of Timothy pulling it down, Wil being trapped underneath, Timothy climbing all over the fallen tree yanking ornaments off, Wil getting tangled in the lights as he tries to make his way from under the tree, Luke in a state of panic over the whole affair. . . and on and on. You think I am overreacting? Please stop by one afternoon, say around 5.30, when the boys are at their wildest and you will understand. So last year we did this. It was fine but it wasn't the same. So this year we went back to a tree.

It was an awesome win for the Gators which caused James to giggle and cackle a good solid hour after it was over.

4. A common phrase around here, as of late, is "Timothy, leave your clothes on." Here is the sequence of events we now deal with on a daily basis.

After he frees himself of his pajamas and takes a victory lap around the house he stops to remove his diaper.

When we talk to him about keeping his pajamas on he just laughs and laughs. I think we need a padlock to keep him from unzipping.

5. We are officially underway with the new church plant. It has been a very encouraging time for us. We have a solid group of folks eager to see a healthy, bible teaching church planted in downtown Columbia. We have an advisory board made up of pastors from respected, healthy churches within our denomination. And we have supporters that are committed to sticking with us through this next phase in our ministry. For those of you that don't know what I am talking about, I apologize. I haven't shared, here, about all that has gone on over the last six months because I haven't felt it was appropriate. Maybe one day I will share the whole saga of our move to SC to plant a new church in partnership with a local congregation and how we ended up parting ways with the leadership of that congregation. For now, I will just say that the last six months have been challenging and confusing while simultaneously being encouraging and faith-building.

Have a great week!

Maybe. Thankfully we have a few years to work on some of the basics.

Of course, he will be a well rounded player.

Go Gators!

Look, Mom. I have eaten everything on my plate. Can I please get down now?


Eat my beans? I don't know what you are talking about. I don't see any beans.

Okay, mom, I can see that you are not understanding my verbal requests so I will use sign language for you. "All done, All done."
Like I said. I don't know what these beans are that you speak of. I don't see any beans.

The beans on my plate? hehehe I will take care of that. I see beans on the table but not on my plate. You didn't say anything about eating the beans on the table.

Hey, no fair putting them back on the plate! I told you I don't see them. Ugh, and no fair force feeding me. Don't you know that is a bad parenting technique. I'm sure you read that in a book somewhere.

Eeewww, gross. I just can't do it. This is toddler torture.

Blech! I'm definitely done! Those are n.a.s.t.y! Anyway, I don't see any beans.