Testing Time

With Colin's 2nd birthday fast approaching, we are also spending a lot of time with our therapists this week going through the gamut of testing for his annual Early Intervention meeting. It has made me think a lot about what Colin IS doing, as opposed to what he isn't. All of the testing used to make me so anxious, especially when a therapist would assign a specific area of development an associated age. As we all know, children with Down Syndrome DO accomplish all of the skills that typical children do, it just takes longer. Therefore, most of the ages associated with a skill for him are typically months younger than Colin's actual age. We are lucky to have the therapists that we do because back in the beginning, I would often have tears when I would hear these numbers. Back then, I was always worried about exercises and accomplishing skills and the thought always crossed my mind that we just weren't doing enough. If someone would babysit for Colin, I would leave a list of things for them to practice with Colin (when most people leave a list of emergency numbers, when to feed, where things are, etc. lol). I was adamant that he get tummy time, or practice grasping objects, etc. It makes me chuckle now... In this picture, Colin is about 2 months old. He had started EI when he was about a month old so with all of it being so new to me, I was overwhelmed with what we needed to do to make sure Colin was getting everything he needed. We were always making him work. With Colin turning 2 soon, I think about all of the things that he IS doing to get where he is now. I am amazed daily at the progress he makes to accomplish our goals for him. Sure, it's a laundry list, but to us, it's a laundry list of things that he. can. do. So he will, when he is ready. It would be silly of me to lie and say that the things he isn't doing don't bother me, but regardless of whether or not you have a child with special needs, we all want what's best for our children and have high hopes and aspirations. It may sting a little when things aren't what we expect at that time, but the future is bright...and guess what? Those stings are short-lived because when they do accomplish something, it's that much more exciting and cause for a celebration!