Interpreting Joey

So speech has been one of those areas that we have been most concerned about in terms of Joey's development. He has been making great strides in gross and fine motor skills but speech has been the area in which Joey has had the most delay.

He communicates with sign language, and has a vocabulary of 30-40 signs. He did not babble or talk much until recently. Now he says "da da"

"pa pa" (for my dad)

"gah" (go)

"buh buh" (bubbles), "ball"

"kitty," "blah" (for "blake" our baby sitter's son" and a few others. But like all Moms...I have been dying to hear him say Ma Ma...and this week he did! It took so long to interpret this because unbeknown to us, he was substituting a "b" sound for the "mm" sound. Instead of ma ma, he was calling me "ba ba." I thought he wanted a bottle (maybe I am a little slow) And looking at me like "Duh!" when I would keep saying "ma ma." He totally believed he was saying it. But this week he did it for real! I have been waiting to hear those words in that little voice for over two years now! I am sooooo proud of him.

(Here we are on the gondola going up to Heavenly on a recent trip to Tahoe.)

It is funny though how it all of a sudden clicks for us ... the meaning of the "words" he is using... For instance for months we thought Joey was saying "kitty" all of the time...and he does say "kitty" when he sees our cats or a picture of a kitty in a book...but what he was really saying when we thought he was randomly saying "kitty" (with no kitty in sight) was "Joey" but pronounced "gheey." Silly us... who knew! We just needed to learn to interpret Joey. He will now fill in the blank when we say "who does Da Da love" ...he points to himself and says "gheey" I will have to get a picture...it is too cute!

In other news we have finally moved! (hence the unintended blog pause of over a month here) It is soooo wonderful being out of that two bedroom condo and into a 5 bedroom house...

and it could not have happened at a more appropriate time because I am pregnant again! It is still early...only 6 weeks...but I am sick as a dog and my HCG levels were really good so we are cautiously optimistic that this one will take....Prayers for us please...and more to come soon!

Joey's 2 Year-old Photos

We had local photographer, Michelle Marrone, take Joey's 2 year-old photos in Old Town Sacramento. It was a blast, and the pictures came out great. Here are a few (ok a lot) of my favorites.

Thanks again Michelle...we had a blast and we love the pictures!

Birthday Cake Done Right!

Joey's second birthday was a blast. (I will try and post pictures of the party later) but for now...check him out showing us how to do birthday cake right.
This was at party number 1 with his friends at Funtastic.



And then on his actual birthday, we had to get him another cake.

And if you think he got into the cupcakes at his party...wait to you see what he did with this cake!

Warning...these get messy!

Yes...he wiped a handful down his face!


By the time he was done there was icing in the carpet...

Dripping down the wall...

But look at that face!

He was having so much fun!

The new header is just a teaser. We had some pictures taken in Old Sacramento for Joey's 2nd Birthday by Michelle Marrone. She is awesome! cannot wait to share more!

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Two years ago today our bundle of joy surprised us...five weeks early...and changed our world forever! For twelve hours after he was born we had no idea he had Down syndrome. He was our first baby and we had no idea that he looked any different from any other newborn.

And even after we found out about the Ds the next morning...we accepted it pretty quickly...and now...much like in those 12 hours after he was born...when we are not going to doctors appointments and therapies... we rarely think about or even "see" his Ds. He is simply our beautiful baby boy!

It is amazing how much he has grown and changed in two years! We had a party for him on Sunday. Many of his friends were there. I will have to post more pics of the party later. But here he is wearing, I mean enjoying his cupcakes.

We love you little man and are so proud of all the strides you have made in two years! More to come on that later as well...but for now Happy 2nd Birthday Joey!

Tissue Anyone?

We are sooooo proud of Joey's progress with walking before his second birthday! But along with the walking comes a whole new level of things Joey can get into. Lately he climbs the couch....and from there he can reach everything on the endtables and back of the couch (places I used to consider as "safe") where he can reach things like the box of tissues. He used to eat them...now he just takes them all out of the box and spreads them around.

The worst part is...

because it is so fun watching him do this...

I am more inclined to grab the camera then I am to stop him...

Nothing seems to make him happier than making a huge mess for us...

Wiped out (literally) from all that fun!

This was almost as fun as tearing apart toilet paper in the bathroom.

And now that he stands so well he is comfortable reaching for new places he couldn't reach when he needed his hands down lower to steady himself. Like reaching the counter in the kitchen.

Are there no safe places anymore?

Somebody's Starting to Walk!

Monkey Hat (and other news)

Is this a cute hat or what!

One of the attorneys I work with, Serena, made Joey this adorable monkey hat for Christmas. As you can see from the pics he really likes it!

Serena is so talented! Thanks girlfriend!

I also thought I should address something I alluded to in my last post...Joey becoming a big brother someday. For those friends who only keep up with family news via the blog...we are actively trying to make Joey a big brother. I want so badly for him to have a sibling! However, this has proven to be a bit more difficult of an endeavor than I anticipated. There was the ectopic pregnancy in June and more recently... I had a miscarriage at about 8 weeks into a pregnancy this past December. I had not blogged about that pregnancy because...well your supposed to wait until after the first trimester in case you miscarry...Right?

Well I don't agree with that old social norm anymore. If you keep early pregnancy to yourself then you end up suffering alone when there are difficulties with it...and I need the support of my family and friends in this endeavor!

So in the future I want to be more forthcoming with such news...even if it does not work out.

So yes...our plans are to make Joey a big brother this year!

and we will keep working on teaching him how to be gentle with his baby doll!

Promised Pictures From The Holidays

At last...here are some of the pictures from Christmas 2010 that I have been meaning to post. If only I were not soooo tired all of the time. Anyway... As you can see from the numerous pictures below, we had a wonderful time with my family down in San Diego.

But before I get to those I wanted to share a few more pictures and talk about Joey's visit with Santa. As I mentioned before, Joey was not the slightest bit intimidated by Santa...in fact he was not bothered a it at all.

Behind us (in the 40 minute line we waited in) there was a family with a 7 year-old boy who I am pretty sure had Ds too...but I was not 100% certain so I did not raise the subject in the short conversation I had with his mother. He was a beautiful boy and I tried to engage him in conversation when I was trying to decide whether he had Ds or not. He was fairly quiet and was (sadly) very hard to understand when he spoke...but he was so sweet and loving with his mother and 11 year-old sister...and when he smiled he had the beautiful almond shaped eyes that I see when Joey smiles (and which I love so much about Joey when he smiles). I wanted to say something but was afraid of being wrong and offending her. Now that I think about it there were so many ways I could have brought it up but I totally chickened out. Oh well...next time I will know what to say and do because I have played the situation out in my head a thousand times since.

When we got down to San Diego Joey was fascinated with the Christmas tree. We did not get one this year because we are still in the two bedroom condo and there simply was not a place we could put it while maintaining some separation from Joey's play areas (and I did not want to be yelling "no" at him all the time).


We spent Christmas Eve at my parents house with my two sisters, my sister's family and my aunt and cousin. Joey looks like such a big boy here!

Here we are about to have Christmas Eve dinner, just hanging out with my Dad (pa pa).

Opening gifts on Christmas Eve. As you can see Joey got into the gift opening...although I think he enjoyed the paper, bows and sitting on the boxes more than the gifts themselves.



And here Joey is getting to see his kitchen set from Grandma and Pa Pa on Christmas morning.



Of course he got a few accessories (such as stainless steel pots and pans and fruits and veggies...lots of pieces to spread all over the house). Funny how he knows exactly what to do with the food and the bowls, spoons and cups.



Our little family on Christmas morning.

Christmas day we went over to my sisters, Auntie Cara's house. Joey was being silly while playing with his cousin Ellie.

And he loved sitting in this little chair...we got some animated faces from him in the chair.

Silly Joey...

On the drive home (all 500 miles of it) Joey was playing nicely (sort of) with his baby doll. The doll was a Christmas present from my Aunt Jonni. We are hoping to teach him how to be gentle with a baby...as you can see it is going to take some work.

He also enjoys poking its eyes....we have a lot of work to do before Joey becomes a big brother someday.
Once we got home, Joey still enjoyed playing with his kitchen....