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Wednesday, December 4, 2013

All About Chance

I've been feeling conflicted. How do I deal with Chance in this blog? I mean, it's about Max and life with Down syndrome. Look at the title for Pete's sake. Do I leave him out completely? That hardly seems fair. Do I mention him only as it relates to Max? Hmmm...doesn't seem right. Do I change the name of the blog? Nope, don't want to. And how do I respond to the multitude of pleas for pictures of a happy, squishy baby?

I think I've figured it out. Tell me what you think. I keep the name, the theme, the whole nine yards, but every few posts I dedicate to Max's brother: pics, updates, silly stories. Maybe even some insights or observations on Down syndrome--you never know. Pretty good, right? I thought so.

So here we go. This one's all about Chance.


He's crawling. Today's Chance's half birthday and he's already on the move. It came quickly. First he mastered the push-up followed closely by the plank.


Then the hands-and-knees rock. He's a regular rock star! We've started real food too. I roasted up and pureed a few sugar pumpkins so now we're set for quite some time. I'm also experimenting with something called baby-led weaning. Some of the moms in the breastfeeding group I was attending this summer were doing it. After my initial shock I kind of liked it. Take a look:

Cucumber

Apple
A real die-hard baby-led weaner (hee hee) would feed baby ONLY the same whole foods that mom and dad eat. No purees (and of course, no junk food). Ours is a hybrid version. Chance gets some purees and if we're eating something he can hold and mouth then he gets to try it. Without teeth he does little more than gum it up.

Some of Chance's fans may remember the full head of dark hair he was born with. At four months it started to fall out but only in patches. The rest continued to grow and lighten while the bald spots filled in with pretty blond fuzz. Though he may not look much like me his hair is definitely mine. I love the little curls.


And to finish up today's post, here is a list of answers to the most common questions about my boy Chance:

About 16.5 pounds.
Happy and smiley almost all the time.
Fascinated by his big brother.
Really only freaked out by beards and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." (Makes him cry.)
Naps some.
Doesn't consistently sleep through the night.

Stay tuned for our next installment. I'm working on a post exploring new discoveries about Max since beginning school. It'll be interesting.

And for those of you who made it all the way to the end, a minute of Chance not quite crawling, but close.