Where did my baby go?

A year ago, we had just settled into life with 3 children.  We were waiting a phone call from the cardio-thoracic department for a date for open-heart surgery.  We were all consumed with Hailey's heart defect...a baby that was failing to thrive...a baby that was struggling to stay alive.  It was hard to think toward the future.  It was difficult to think past surgery.  I couldn't even dream about what life would be a few months later.  The shock and pain of Hailey's diagnosis of Down syndrome had dulled. 

People told me that Hailey would stay a baby longer than the boys so I had visions and images in my head.  I think I was expecting a little girl who didn't interact much with her brothers...didn't "do" much...  I crack up laughing even thinking that now!!  Oh my heavens...where did my baby go?  Who replaced her with this tornado (the boys are "lovingly" referred to as hurricanes...her path of isn't quite as broad as theirs just yet) of a toddler I have now? 

Hailey loves the steps.  She laughs at herself as she makes her way down the hallway.  If she makes it to the bottom of the stairs and the gate is not up, she will let out one very loud cackle (almost as if she is forewarning us that she is heading up the stairs).  Yes, we are more diligent about remembering the gate!

What?

As most younger siblings, she makes a mad dash for anything that the boys put down...iPad, phone, remote control, homework, books, legos,...anything!

These aren't mine but, oh well, big brother left them near me.

She is still working very hard to learn to walk.  We have a way to go but we are working on building the muscles needed to walk.  She's doing lots of kneeling, standing, squatting, etc.  It doesn't seem to phase her too much that she can't walk....trust me, the girl is a speed crawler!  It gets her everywhere she needs wants to go.

I wonder how many of these I can take off the frig.

This is fun!

We are also working very hard on communication.  We have introduced Hailey to sign language.  Yes, we expect Hailey to speak but while she is working on her speech, we would like for her to have a way to communicate without getting quite so frustrated.  We do say the word while we sign for it.  She recognizes both the sign and the spoken word.  She understands 7 or 8 signs and will initiate about 5 of them. 

I love watching her explore and learn in her environment.  She has already exceeded my expectations for her at this age.  Maybe it was just that I didn't know what to expect.  Maybe I didn't want to get my hopes up. 

Two other things that Hailey has mastered that we don't work on in therapy is...flirting with men in church and bugging her brothers.  She likes to play peek-a-boo and coyly smile at men sitting behind us in church.  It's funny to watch her put on a show.  Here are a few pics that shows her trying to wake up her older brother this afternoon.

Hey, wake up!

Here, don't you want to see?

This is fun!

When I couldn't "see" into the future, I also couldn't see (or dream) how lucky we are or how happy we would be.