Upcoming.

I realized the other day that most of my recent blog posts have been lighter, fluffier, and less and less focused on Ellie's Down syndrome.  October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month, when plenty of advocates will participate in {31 for 21}, with daily blogs about Down syndrome.  I intend to participate.  And keep up with Ellie photos.  And participate in the Buddy Walk.  And run a half marathon.  And a full marathon.  And eat Halloween candy.  And convince Ellie that dressing up like an elephant is fun. And bake more pumpkin spice latte cupcakes.

Well, October will be busy.

Anyway, I haven't been avoiding the topic.  I think about Down syndrome, and I read about ideas to help Ellie daily.  I don't know if that is more influenced by being a mom or a special education teacher, but probably a combination of the two.  But on a day-to-day basis, Down syndrome doesn't rule the day.  I spend most of my time with Ellie doing typical "mom stuff":  wiping her face after she eats baby food, giving her bottles, changing diapers, reading, playing.

Some days are still sad.  The sadness isn't so much that Ellie has Down syndrome, but that we live in a world where a cognitive delay will mean bigger challenges for her.

But I'll wait until the challenges arrive.  Today, Ellie was a therapy rock star.  When physical therapy time arrived, Ellie was sitting with a toy in her arms (for balance), and she was working on army crawling.  Yep, army crawling.  Not the kind where she puts her head down on the floor and squirms, but the kind where she ends up closer to her goal (usually her pink cat), with her head up and using arms and legs appropriately.   She still has zero interest in pushing up on her arms, but she is succeeding in other areas. She's on track to meet her goals for Early Intervention this year.

(With all that exhausting work, gotta take a break to snuggle Nemo and check out that pretty baby in the mirror.  Guess the mirror is finally wearing down, she looks kinda warped.)

So I'll try just to focus on the upcoming day, upcoming goal, the next run.  I'm trying not to worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow has enough worries of its own.

And today, we're army crawling.