31 for 21

This is year two of the 31 for 21 blogging campaign for Down syndrome awareness month. Thanks to Tricia for spearheading it again.

Not everything I post will be about Down syndrome, and you can participate in it, too, if you are interested in spreading the word.

I thought in honor of day 1, I'd give you an update on my favorite little guy who happens to sport 47:

Chase loves pulling up and standing now. He takes 3-4 cruising steps along the furniture. He will wear socks and shoes...although taking his socks off in the car is a favorite pasttime. He loves music, and will do the hand movements to "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Twinkle Twinkle". Sometimes he makes an effort to do "Wheels on the Bus", but mostly he just likes me to wiggle his arms around for him. He follows Ian around like a puppy, and loves to dig his little sticky hands into Ian's mop of curly white hair. He is giving up his 1st nap of the day, leaving me with a precious 2 hours in the middle of the day to get all of the housework done. He loves to be outside, but does not like to be in the grass, preferring to rake up his knees on the sidewalk and the driveway. He knows about 15 signs, the cutest of them all being "please". He loves bathtime, loves to splash, loves to drink the tub water (ew.). He laughs and smiles so hard that you can't see his eyes. His favorite game is "I'm gonna gitchyou gitchyou gitchyou", where I chase him on all fours around the furniture and then hide and jump out at him. He waits and peeks around the corners for me, then giggles hysterically when I get him. He wakes up happy. He stands in his crib until I come into his room, and when he sees me, he takes his pacifier out and throws it on the floor-- "Ok. Mom's here. Don't need this anymore." When I carry him on my hip, he holds onto my arm, but as soon as he decides he wants to get down, he tries to dive to the ground. No fear. You have to be careful of that. His personality is such a mix of sweetheart and Mr. Independent. He wants to be a part of everything. He'll crawl into my lap if I'm sitting on the floor. He'll pat baby Will's back with me as I try to burp him. He'll get mad at you if you try to take something really cool away from him (like trash he's trying to eat, or a penny, or a bead, or a nasty, nasty shoe).

There is so much more. Chase is Chase. And I know I get caught up in the daily frustrations...and they always seem to come out in my blog because this is the place that I do my best venting...but he is a joy. He is sunshine(albeit covered in pooh sometimes)...and both he and Ian truly do light up my every day.