The Hailey Herald

The Hailey Herald

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

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. 


7 comments:

  1. Hailey is such a little stinker :-) Into everything! Such a little cutie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Is it crazy that I am ecstatic that she is into everything?

      Delete
  2. She really isn't a baby any longer, is she? I can't wait until her heart day. Then you'll have a year under your belt of the good stuff and hopefully the memories of all that stress will feel further away. It's been that way for me, even though I know we're not much ahead of you in that regard.

    I can't believe how well she's doing with gross motor. I see that Hailey and Ellie (over at Stubborn Miss) are both making such progress with gross motor. I wish Cora were more motivated, but oh well. She is actually finally starting to move around more. Slowly, yes. On her butt, yes. But today we actually did some babyproofing! Ha!

    Love the photos! Adorable as always!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She is doing well with gross motor...I'm positive it is mostly because of her older brothers. We seem to be at a stand still though...walking is going to be a long, long way from now! Just wait, Cora will get her motivation. She's rocking with cognitive!

      Delete
  3. Love her! She is so stylish. :)

    This makes me look forward to the next several months with Ben. I'm so glad to see what Hailey's up to.

    ReplyDelete
  4. She is so adorable!!!!!!! Love her sweet smile!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ben isn't a baby anymore either. He's my little boy. Our babies are growing up:)

    ReplyDelete