Standing Tall, With a Little Support

Every time Vada does something new I celebrate. Maybe its an internal party, but a celebration none the less. I love watching her grow stronger, more aware of herself and of her surroundings. I love seeing the confidence she is getting in herself and in her own capabilities. My heart melts when her eyes light up because she has just figured out that she is doing something important.

I don't like to keep bringing up the past and I don't like bring up her seizures, its something that I would rather forget altogether, but I cant. The seizures and probably the medications more so shut her down for awhile. I never lost her, not as other mothers have said in situations similar to ours and in regard to their own child. For that (and so much more), I am grateful and feel blessed.

Vada was rolling over around the beginning of her fourth month. She was laughing and saying "Mama" too. For awhile she just stopped, everything. There was no "Mama" or laughing coming from my sweet baby girl and rolling became very difficult for her because of the weight gain that was a repercussion of the medications. She is now a rolling pro! "Mama" is back in her vocabulary as well as several other words and she will laugh, she just makes me work extremely hard to hear one.

Its hard to be told of the many delays to expect when you have a child with Down syndrome and that probably goes with any intellectual disability. Your hopes seem to deflate a little, mine did. It was even harder for me to watch Vada exceed beyond what was expected of her only to be side swiped with yet another road block (the seizures). It made my heart scream in anguish. I wanted to rescue her but couldn't.

Whats amazing to me is that she came out of this particular road block stronger than she was before. This girl is a fighting machine that is disguised in a cute cuddly little body. You would never expect that someone so small and with so many obstacles would be so strong..., but she is. I am constantly amazed by her strengths and her determination.

Vada's most recent accomplishment is standing on her own, again. Well, standing with a little finger support from one of us. She is getting more and more adventurous and letting go sometimes as well! That little venture lasts a mere second and she's either on her bottom or in my arms, but hey, ill take what I can get and progress is progress, no matter how small or how large.