Happy Easter

One day while we were in Ontario we went with my parents to a sheep farm belonging to their friends. Donovan and Malcolm's cousin Lily came along. It was a wonderful visit as we all had fun petting and holding the lambs and our hosts had even saved some milk for the kids to feed to a few lambs. Malcolm loves animals and is seldom shy but tends to be very gentle. He had a great time looking at everything and touching the sheep. I was reminded of that visit today. We travelled to an outdoor zoo here in Nova Scotia that has some animals to feed and pet and Malcolm had a great time again.

Malcolm has been doing very well. He had his three month checkup on Friday at the hem/onc clinic and continues to do very well with absolutely no signs of disease. He weighs 26 pounds, three ounces and is 33.5 inches tall. He has grown over an inch since January and is about the same weight. He is turning into a sturdy, lean little boy. His signing is going well and he is learning new signs all the time. From time to time he says a word (such as "duck") and babbles more than he used to so we continue to be hopeful that verbal speech will develop. He visited his new OT last week and she is very impressed with his grip of markers which is age appropriate and developing well. She also thought he handled a spoon so well that we should introduce a fork.

I met with Malcolm's daycare teachers and it was a very positive meeting. We are looking forward to having Malcolm in daycare again where he can learn so much from his peers - it is such a wonderfully stimulating environment and the staff are really excellent. His teachers are keen to brush up on their sign language to make sure that Malcolm is fully included. He will go for a visit on his own on Friday morning and then he starts May 3 - my first day back to work. I am returning to work part time (3 days per week) and am relieved not to have to work full time for the foreseeable future. So May will be a month of many changes for our family but all of them good ones we think.

Malcolm and Donovan are pleased to have a new baby cousin, sister to Lily and Evalyn. The baby is so new we don't even know her name yet - what a great Easter present for everyone.

Donovan is looking forward to the Easter bunny's visit....
Mary Ellen

Picture perfect

In late January, after Malcolm was done treatment but before we headed to Ontario, we wanted to have some pictures taken of Malcolm to capture the vitality and strength that was so apparent in him throughout his ordeal. An amazing photographer came to our home - you can see her work at www.lyndsaydoyle.ca. It was a great session - Donovan talked her ear off just about the entire time but she was wonderful with the kids. Lyndsay is expecting to do a special project to raise awareness about Down syndrome and we are excited that Malcolm may be a part of that.

Malcolm continues to do great. We saw his physiotherapist on Friday. She gave us a few suggestions to help strengthen his quads but she seems quite pleased with his progress. We also met with the director of Malcolm's daycare to talk about his return in May. She is very supportive and it was a good meeting. It looks like he will be placed in a room that his six kids that are all around 2 years old. Most are a bit younger than him but in terms of skills they are just enough more advanced that he will be able to try to learn much from them without getting frustrated (we all hope!). We are quite certain that returning to daycare will be a really good thing for Malcolm.

On Saturday the weather was a bit wintry again but we drove out of town to visit a maple sugar farm which was quite fun. Both boys love exploring new places.

Mary Ellen