Macy is 19 months old today!!! (18 mo IFSP)

Yay Macy!  Weighing in at almost 19 pounds...You are small but mighty these days and are showing passionate interest in the world around you.  You are one determined kiddo that does not take NO for an answer (which has proved to be a good thing and sometimes a bad thing - you little stinker-but).   :-)  Because of this fierce determination to get to things and figure everything out, your cognitive skills and physical abilities are blowing us all away.  You leave no stone un-turned and no nook & cranny unexplored.  Each and EVERY day you learn something new and quite simply put me to tears with pride.  You sure do love playing with your toys and waste no time emptying out your toybox.  You love to make messes, and unfortunately for me, the kitchen pantry has some kind of magnetic force drawing you to it, causing you to break into cereal boxes and sprinkle cheerios ALL OVER the wood floor.  NICE!  :-(  Lesson learned I guess...I need to put more pressure on your daddy to improve our child-proofing systems.  Our cheap plastic locks are FAILING on us.  uggh.
You are signing like crazy and have an expressive language that compares to no other.  The range of expressions your teeny face has the ability to show is incredible, you have SUCH a unique personality and sense of humor...and definitely get your point across through strong eye-contact, appropriate gestures and persistent babble.
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6 months ago we met with your Early Intervention team to establish some goals and specific milestones we wanted you to work toward achieving.  If you were to ask me 19 months ago where I thought we'd be today?  I can only honestly say, "I did not think it would be THIS far"!  Your Down Syndrome Diagnosis came as such a shock and was so foreign to us.  We kept being reminded by professionals to expect delays.  Setback are just a part of the DS package, anticipate it.  We were told (in a positive way) not to be discouraged or disappointed with slow progress.  BUT, luckily for us...You continue to blow the socks off of all your therapists with your rapid progress.  :-)
We reviewed your IFSP (Individualized Family Service Plan) and learned that the 18 page document needed some serious updating as you've already conquered roughly 85% of the goals we set for the year (in 6 months time).  I generally do not like to brag...but who am I kidding, it's my blog, I'll BRAG if I want to  :-)
They are all impressed with your development abilities.  As you can imagine, as your mom, this makes me quite pleased!  SO rewarding to hear other people say nice things about you, it just reinforces that we are all on the right path!
We'll continue to set the bar high.  "EXPECT not ACCEPT!"  But most of all, just love you for the sweet peach you are.  Even if we have troubling times on the horizon, you could NEVER disappoint us.  You only have the ability to amaze and inspire!

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This is your WONDERFUL E.I. team.  Each of these ladies love you very much and want you to succeed in everything you set out to do. I believe this from the bottom of my heart.  You are one very lucky girl to have such smart and enthusiastic professionals in your corner  :-)

from left to right:  Sharon (Speech Pathologist), Lucy (Occupational Therapist), Penni (Physical Therapist), Ruth (School District representative), Renae (Special Ed Teacher) and Shelli (Services Coordinator).

Lucy and Macy doing some Oral Motor/feeding therapy and sensory stimulation (a few weeks ago)...

 Pay no attention to the toddler in the foreground playing with a whistle.  Lucy gave this "oral motor" toy to her and she was tickled pink for days!  That is until she wore the "whistle" out of it.  :-(

 Macy did not know what to make of this "shaky" purple elephant...you want me to actually touch that scary thing?!

She eventually warmed up to it, but it took a few days of exposure and exploration before she could hold it without her entire body being clenched out of dreaded anticipation :-)