Milestone racing

Personal DS comment:

Looking back to when Hope was a new baby I was pretty stressed about her reaching all the right milestones as quickly as possible.  I felt a lot of pressure to do as much as I could to help her reach them and worked pretty hard to help her with those motor skills.  

We have a lovely friend from church who is a physiotherapist and she came and visited regularly giving me a lot of encouragement and help getting Hope first rolling, then reaching her feet, then sitting and then belly crawling!  A lot of professionals said that it was unlikely that Hope would crawl and we should just focus on other skills but Shayne was determined she would crawl and encouraged by her belief in Hope and perseverance, I would lie on the floor with Hope and her favourite book coaxing her across the room back and forth. She would only crawl for a book and it was what Bryan called the wounded soldier belly crawl.  We did this for 7 months almost every day and then lo and behold one day at around 14 months she put her little hiney in the air and did the most wonderful bear crawl ever!  I was soooo excited because firstly she was crawling and I knew that was so good for those weak little arms and secondly I felt this affirmation inside me that she will reach those damn milestones and I shouldn't feel defeated when it seems like it will never happen!

I was so flabbergasted when Arthur just started crawling on his own with no imput from me at all that I said to a friend "wow you can have a bunch of 'these' kids because they teach themselves everything!"  It seems terrible to say something like that but having a child with Down syndrome can be exhausting at times and you do have to teach a lot of things that most children will pick up on their own just from observing or experimenting.

The silver lining is that when Hope does tuck a new skill in her belt it makes me sooooo proud partly because I know how many challenges she has overcome to achieve it and partly because often I/we (Bryan, extended family or friends) have worked darn hard to help her get there.  And of course when Arthur achieves something all on his own I just think he's amazing even if he's totally on a par with other kids! Am pretty blessed with the order of things I think, it makes me think both my kids are brilliant :)

This year I have tried to stress less about Hope's milestones mostly because simply getting through the day with a 1 year old and a 2 year old is enough of challenge, but also because I suppose I have realised that she will get there and it's not some crazy race to the finish. I always did love the Tortoise and the Hare story!  

I do have to admit to being a bit worried about that whole early development (catch them in their early years and give it all you've got) thing and worry about whether I am losing ground for Hope by relaxing this year especially as she hasn't been to playschool yet but at the same time it has been good to be home together with both kids, they seem happy, Hope is not being pressured and I feel that she is maturing so she will be better equipped emotionally to look forward to playschool instead of feeling daunted by it.  Well that's what I'm telling myself. 

I have much to pray about for my little girl's schooling and development! I am also so grateful for family and friends who have stepped in to give us breather's and lifted some of the stress off by coming to play with Hope in constructive and educational ways ...it really does make such a difference, I can't imagine doing this alone!

As I write this I think about running the race that leads to the ultimate prize and I think my prayer for Hope is that she runs in such a way that she finds her purpose in life, that she achieves the goals she needs to be able to fulfil her purpose / purposes, that she knows her Father in heaven from an early age and that she is the type of runner who will stop to help others along the way. I guess our role as parents is just to lift these things up in prayer so she can win that prize!

Hebrews 12:1-3

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.