proud !!

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d.s stood up on his own for the first time about an hour ago. Sorry to be so sad

My ds (5) came running out of school last Friday with a small chocolate bar (someone's birthday in his class) and the very first thing he said to me was "Please break this in half Mum so that my sister [3 y.o. dd] can have some". I was so proud of him - I'll remind him of it when they're teenagers and hate one another!

ds1 (3 and 3 quarters) dressed himself top to bottom today including buttons, with NO FUSS. I was really pleased for him - and with him.
Claireandrich, that is a magical moment, isn't it!

We got a kitten on Thursday night after ds had gone to bed and by Friday afternoon he said her name down the phone to me while I was out working. I was so proud. Also he is very, very gentle with her and kind.

That's lovely Batters. Marina, I am so impressed by your DS - we are still miles away from that stage.

marina, my ds can undress himself in a minute, but as for dressing, not a chance. Very impressed you ds did it with no fuss.

Batters, sounds like you have a very popular little girl.

I claim no credit for the dressing in that dh, who is patient and persistent, got him to do the buttons, and as for the rest - nursery are cunningly preparing them for "big school" by setting up a gym in the home corner. For which you have to wear a "leotard", and of course undress and dress yourself to participate. They are a wily lot, nursery nurses!
Batters, empathy and kindness are so important in children and it sounds like your dd has them in spades!

Today dp sat dd in her cot while he got things ready forher nasppy change. He just turned away for a second, when he next looked she had pulled herself up and was standing holding onto the cot rail. She will be 7 months old tomorrow.

Well I actually got a reply of sorts from Downing Street. Basically saying how our good mate Tony really loves hearing from us all, because it keeps his ear to the ground, finger on the pulse etc. However Tone is going to send my letter off to the Home Office so they can answer it instead. Guess I just have to wait for my computer generated fob off a bit longer then!

well done your mum and brother!

lou i got one of those as well when I wrote to tony several years ago about the mmr. I also wrote to alan millburn and after months got a long reply from an underling.

This year I plan to take part in a campaign for better education for autistic children- we'll get things changed slowly.

my grandmother managed to get a new Act pushed through parliament (something to do with merchant seamen) after her son drowned after falling overboard.

Okay, so this is really minor in comparison, but I'm really really proud.

My ds today with no prompting picked up my water glass and managed to drink some without spilling a drop (it was one of those really heavy petrol station freebie glasses too!). He's been using a spill proof cup thing for ages and I haven't pushed at all to get him to drink out of a glass. He's tried before because he wanted to copy mummy and just managed to completely miss and get soaked!

Going to buy some plastic glasses which will be a bit lighter/safer for him tomorrow and put his future drinks in I think

And I'm really proud because my ds1 (age 5 and a half), who has always been painfully shy and very much in the shadow of dd1 who is 18 mths older, had a reading assessment last week. I was thinking he'd come out about average (dd1 had always been way ahead) and blow me down his official reading age is 8 years and 10 months. I was stunned and the teacher looked quite surprised too! But just since he was told how well he's done he has grown in confidence - he read a story to his class yesterday (can't believe he did that) and he's been reading storys to his baby borther - so it's great.

You have every reason to be proud Georgina .

I'm glad to hear that things can and are changed, judging by what you have said Jimjams and sobernow. I think I am just getting way too cynical and pessimistic as I get older, but I would love to be proven wrong.

On a similar vein, dd2 sent a picture she had done of the Queen to Buckingham Palace, on her insistence. Does anyone know what the chance is of her getting a reply back? She's only 6 and it would make her day.

oh no lou- I'm do cynicsm for Britain. Did you read the Sunday Times article about special needs a few weeks back. My heart sank- just confirms story after story that I've read....... But still we have to try. I keep being told by various health professionals that "parents have power" and we can change things. Trouble is when you've spent all day looking after a disabled child you don't feel like fighting- you know how it is. I seem to have been banging off letter left right and centre this week and I still haven't finsihed ds1's statement report!

my beautiful down syndrome daughter ( 7 months) - sat by herself for about 2 minutes yesterday - I was so excited - I rang anyone I could thing of... we also managed to drink from a cup (this week) after trying various ones...

Aaah Eidsvold ... that is fantastic ... well done to your DD ....

Eidsvold - that really is fantastic!. My DD didn't sit unaided at all until 9 months.

Eidsvold - that is brilliant. My dd2 only started sitting at about 10 months and is now 16 months and still not walking properly. You have every right to feel proud. I think every small achievement is a huge milestone, especially for my dd2 who was diagnosed (incorrectly) with delayed development. At whatever age she eventually manages to walk properly unaided I will feel as proud as what I would have done if she had done it early.

Eidsvold, that is lovely news. I'm so pleased for you and your daughter. Thank you for sharing your happy moment, it really cheered me up!

eidsvold, your dd ias doing really well! The littel girl I look after is 11 months and has only been sitting unaided for 4 weeks. One girl I looked after didn't walk until 20months and another little boy was 22 months. - I've had my share of early walkers too, they are forever falling over. It seems the later they walk the more proficient they are!

That's great news, Im sure she will hit all the milestones well within time at that rate!

oops look at me - I was so excited about posting what my little cheeky monkey had done that I went and did what I was moaning about on another thread... down syndrome daughter - rather than my daughter with down syndrome...

That's great news Eidsvold!

Jimjams yes I did read that article, and thought it very depressing, especially after watching the programme about Oxfordshire social services a few weeks ago. My sister lived in wandsworth when her ds was born 14 years ago, and he has downs syndrome. She said it was exactly the same then as it is now, and if she hadn't been lucky enough to afford a good lawyer she wouldn't have got anything either.

I just hope the services we are getting now stay as good. The only thing I can grumble about is the length of time social services are taking to get ds a bathing seat. We were referred in October, had a home assessment in December, got sent an incorrect seat in January, had to wait 5 weeks for it to be collected, got sent a highchair instead last week, and am now waiting for that to be collected, as well as praying for the seemingly very rare bath seat. It has had me ringing up getting cross but they seem a bit incapable imo. If it isn't here by next week I am going higher up to complain. It's impossible to wash ds without 2 adults present at the moment and it's getting beyond a joke. Still only 1 thing to moan about can't be that bad can it?

Also took ds to the special needs dental clinic today for the first time,and was very impressed. The dentist had a (now grown) child with cp herself, and was completely understanding of him and his ways. She said the first few times he visits will be just playing until he gets used to her and will let her touch him. Managed to get a peek at his teeth though and she said they were good, so a house point to me .