All The Ages

An unexpected frustration when Isaac first came home was trying to answer the question of "awww, so cute, how old is he?"  That seems like a simple enough inquiry: today's date minus the date he was birthed onto this earth = biological age. But his tiny, undernourished, Asian frame coupled with his extra chromosome made him look and act like a child more than half his actual age. I felt pressured to some how justify to complete strangers at Target why my baby didn't live up to the expectations of his biological age. I got over it, but it took me a while to figure out that my boy isn't just one age...he has lots of ages! 



 

He has his biological age: currently 4 1/2 years

He has his family/emotional age: currently 2 1/2 years

He has his gross motor age: about 3 -3 1/2 years

He has his fine motor age: a solid 3 1/2 years

He has his social age: young 4 years

He has his communication age: verbal = 2 years, gross communication (sign language, etc)= 5+ years

He has his physical/size age: flirting with 4Ts!

 

When you think of how far he has come in 2 1/2 years in all of these areas it is a bit mind boggling! (he was floating around 6-12months for all of those ages).

 

 

We finally got around to having our 4 year check up last week. After our traumatic hospitalization in the fall, our sweet pediatrician suggested that we cancel all non essential medical appointments for several months and let Isaac emotionally rest. That was a smart move. Without any issues, we plowed into our appointment last week and dominated those growth charts!  Isaac has grown a total of EIGHT INCHES since being home and gained FOURTEEN POUNDS.  On the Down syndrome growth charts he is in the 50% for his weight and 94% for his height. That's a TALL BOY! (On the typical growth charts he is feeling strong at the 15% and 3% respectively)
 

The list of things that Isaac can do now outnumber what he cannot. The highchair and the pack-n-play have been permanently stored away. He is sleeping in a toddler bed and playing big boy games. He helps set the table and can fold the towels to help with the laundry. He keeps up with his friends at school and is working on letter/word recognition for some pretty solid early reading skills. His jibber-jabber is taking more form and he said his first un-coached, independent, well-articulated, real sentence this week, "Ahba. IIIIIIIIIII. Wahn. EEEEEEEE(T!). Peeeeas. Tank U." Aka: Mom! When's dinner?!  (Best sentence ever, by the way! And he repeats it every time I walk into the kitchen.)  In short, he is growing. And all his ages are adding up to a pretty spectacular little boy.   I really like being his Ahba. :)

 

Helping with story time at school

Toddler bed cuteness

Playing 'the circle" game

Climbing the twisty ladder at the park BY HIMSELF!
(My friend dubbed this perfectly: Mom! I got this...but stay close by, just in case)



 

“You aren’t just the age you are. You are all the ages you ever have been!”
― Fred Rogers, The World According to Mister Rogers