Life at 7 months

Mr. Colton is being followed by the Genetics Clinic at Arkansas Children's Hospital. They saw him shortly after he was born and wanted to see him again 6 months later. We went for our appointment last week. It's basically like any other well check, except he didn't get any shots. Our regular Pediatrician sees him, as well, so I always wondered why we had to be followed by Genetics, too. I think part of it may be for research, but most of it is to make sure we are doing everything for Colton that we should be doing. The Nurse Practitioner just asked me lots of questions about Colton (eating, sleeping, thyroid, swallow study, heart, therapy, etc...). She wanted me to make sure that at his 1 year check-up we have his thyroid checked again, along with his blood count. Children with DS are at a higher risk of having Leukemia...so we'll need to check his red and white blood cell counts just to make sure everything looks ok. She also wanted us to get an appointment with an ENT. Colton doesn't have any issues with ear infections, but because of his swallowing issues, she'd like for us to at least meet with an ENT so that we are being followed by one in case any problems arise in the future. We will meet with an ENT on August 19th. Colton will also have a repeat swallow study done on September 15th to see if he still needs his bottles thickened to stiff honey. Also, he's started eating Stage 1 baby food once a day, so we want to make sure he's not aspirating on that. Our Pediatrician told us that he most likely will be okay eating baby food because I can go at a slower pace while feeding him, as opposed to the quick "suck, swallow, suck, swallow" of a bottle. He will have time to swallow between bites. So far, he's doing great with baby food. He's had squash, green beans, sweet potatoes, apples, bananas, and pears. He seems to like them all, but I think he likes apples the most! I kind of thought spoon feeding him would be a nightmare because of tongue thrusting issues, but really, it hasn't been bad at all. I just put the spoon in his mouth and wait for him to suck the food off of the spoon. A speech therapist told me to avoid swiping the spoon on his top lip to get the food into his mouth. The slower, the better. So, we just take our time and let him eat as much or as little as he wants to.

At the appointment, Colton weighed in at a whopping 20 pounds and is in the 90th percentile for weight on the DS scale. He was in the 75-90th percentile for height, too. He's a BIG baby...DS or not! Here are some pics at his check-up:








My mom is so sweet and made flashcards for Colton to use. My therapist suggested we start with 5 and show them to Colton daily. She also suggested using actual pictures of things from our house so that Colton recognizes them. The funny thing is...Weston loves them, too! He likes to look at all 20 of them. Hey, it's good sight word practice so Colton is happy to share.



She also suggested that we use Cause & Effect toys with Colton. I went to Babies R Us and looked for some toys that would be developmentally appropriate for Colton. It's crazy how shopping for baby toys has completely changed. With Weston, I just bought what looked fun...but with Colton, I look to see which toys would be the most beneficial for his development. This toy is a great toy because he can push the button and the door pops open. It startles him every single time, but it's really good for him. He can't quite do it alone, but I help him and I know he'll be able to do it soon. And of course...Weston loves to play with it, too!



I also look at furniture around my house differently. What can I use to help Colton learn to sit? I found this little thing in Weston's room that was actually Hunter's from when he was a little boy. I don't really know it's original purpose, but for Colton, it's a desk to help him learn to sit.



He loves to arch back, so I have to put soft things behind him to fall on. We want him to fall so that he learns that arching back has consequences. He doesn't like to sit there very long, but some time is better than no time.

Colton has officially found his hands! 2 weeks ago, he just started staring at his hands and turning them front to back. It's funny to watch. That's a 4 month skill, but that's ok! He knows he has hands now, so we want him to realize that he can use those hands for lots of things. He has decided that he wants to join the Men's Gymnastics team to compete on the rings...



To you, grabbing those rings may not seem like much, but to us...PROGRESS!!!!!! Colton is doing really well with reaching his arms up to midline to grab at things. Hooray! I can actually lay him down on his playmat and he'll swat at toys and grab them for a long time. He will also roll and wiggle around a little. He got himself stuck the other day, but it didn't seem to bother him. It makes me so happy to see him moving and exploring on his own. I used to put him down and he'd roll to his stomach and get stuck and just scream. Now he will actually play independently so that Mama can get things done.



So...we are still working on rolling and sitting and reaching for toys. He has trouble rolling continuously because his hips get in the way. His therapist put these shorts on him that keep his legs together...we laughed at how tight they were. He's got quite some thighs.



He's also working on getting into the crawling position. It's gonna take some core strength for him to be able to sit and hold his crawling position...lots of sit-ups in our future. Hehe. I asked our therapist about some realistic goals as far as crawling and walking go. She said, "Crawl by 1, walk by 2." Sounds good to me...we got this!

Colton is doing so well. I'm just so proud of him. Little things he does make my day. We've worked hard for each little milestone. I know that he will continue to amaze me.

Colton, you are my hero and I am your biggest fan.