The Little Things

I have moments of fear, from time to time, that I am inadequate when it comes to  teaching my son, Christopher, who has Down syndrome.  I worry that maybe I am not giving him enough of everything that he needs.  Yes, I had those fears with regarding my other children, but nothing to the degree that I do with Christopher.  And you know what?  I cannot give any of my children everything they need.  Only God can do that!  God is the one who equips me to do everything he thinks I need to do.
I know that fear does not come from God, it comes from the enemy.  I have to keep reminding myself of this fact!  God has not given me a spirit of fear. 
It is hard, especially when all the books and websites say that I should be sending Christopher to special preschool, PT, OT and ST.  Who am I?  Just his mom, with no college degree, just my little LPN.  I specialize in nothing.
But because I am Christopher's mom, I have have a greater investment of love in Christopher, that no paid stranger could ever have.  Because of that love, I keep him busy, working on those gross motor skills.  I also help him with activities that will strengthen those tiny muscles to improve his fine motor skills.  We sing, we talk, we read books, we counts, we play with blocks, we play with flurp and kazoos.
Many of the little things that I did with my other children, without thinking, are now planned out and done with intent with Christopher. 
Christopher can now count to five! He is using many signs and word approximations, and actual words.  He is learning to recognize a couple word flashcards, and will say and sign the words.  Yes, he is learning to read!  Little by little!
Most of my children did not read any words at the age of 4 1/2yo.  They could speak clearly, though.  Christopher can read a couple words, but cannot speak clearly:) 

Christopher is not showing any signs of being ready to potty train, he does not enjoy sitting on the little potty.  I am hoping as Trinity begins to potty train that he will want to, as well.  In the meantime, he continues to wear his big size 6 diapers.

There are times that I think I should see progress each day, rather than looking for progress over a longer span of time.  So, as I look back at the last few weeks, I see things that Christopher has learned, or has fine tuned.  Things like being able to string noodles, using a big tapestry needle.  He could do that for a while, but lately, he has discovered the best way to hold the needle and can quickly fill the entire string. 

Little by little, day by day, he is learning, just like my other children:)