Small steps, giant leaps

Noah simultaneously took a small step and a giant leap into the world today. How so you say? Well, today, Noah had his first afternoon in mainstream creche and despite some initial anxiety (on our part...), he got along great. Whilst this seemingly small exercise may not raise too many eyebrows in the rest of the world, to us it is a huge deal as it is the first time he is venturing out into the mainstream world on his own. To date, he has been attending his school regularly with his Mummy (and occasionally his Daddy) and working hard on his speech and language and his physical development. All this work has culminated in a walking; talking (in his inimitable style) almost two year old boy and as such he is ready to take those small steps into the giant world.

Are we proud of him? Absolutely bursting with the stuff. Were we nervous about doing this? Absolutely. We have found ourselves in this rather unique situation whereby the seemingly small things, sending your child into a creche/playgroup with other children for example, are manifested into giant deals which fuel our anxiety, nerve levels and general worry-ometers. Now I know that every parent will worry when dropping off their child for the first time into a new environment and I am in no way trying to garner sympathy or anything like that but we just find these things a bigger deal than perhaps we might have done in another lifetime. Maybe we wouldn't have but I suppose we will never know now. Our goals are quite simple for Noah, aim high and do everything in our power to give him the support he needs to get there. If he needs additional support along the way then so be it, it's no problem per se but personally speaking, is there any point in aiming for anything other than the top for him? Noah will dictate the path of his life himself, we'll just be there to give him all the tools he needs for the trip and today was one of those occasions.

As he took his first small step into the creche today, Noah was unaware of the giant leap he was actually taking. We hope there will be plenty of giant leaps in his life but even if there are just small steps, we'll be there right alongside because one small step for our little man, is one giant leap in our eyes.

Frank-ly Speaking

I first heard of this from Nick's blog (cheers Nick) and it has made the national press in the UK with the Guardian and the Daily Mail taking it by the horns. I commented on the Daily Mail website with the following:

"General theme for the Frankie supporters seems to be "you know what he's like so don't complain". I disagree completely. In my opinion the biggest gripe here and where it all stemmed from is not that he made jokes about people who have Down Syndrome, but rather he just rehashed tired old and outdated stereotypes in which to do so.

My baby son has Down Syndrome and I would have no issue if I saw a comedian making new original jokes about it as frankly would give me something to laugh about, I know others in my boat who would feel the same. What I would and do find offensive is, as the original blog states, lame jokes about people with DS having bad hair and talking funny, bad fashion etc. Frankly it's unoriginal and shows a lack of talent on behalf of the 'comic'. As some have stated here, it's just the playground bully mentality which has no place in the public adult arena. For such a 'risqué', 'intelligent' and 'edgy' comedian, you would think he could do better than this. no?"

At last look, I had an 'up' rating of 135, not too shabby I suppose but am frankly appalled by some of the attitudes of people. Whilst fully realising that the Daily Mail online message board is hardly a true reflection of our society as a whole, some people just really grind my gears with their blasé-ness. Incidentally, the above comment was my second attempt to get on the board, my first unpublished comment made criticism of the Daily Mail and its use of the terms "Vitcims" and "Sufferers" of Down Syndrome, I wonder why I wasn't published? Thankfully I have seen some people manage to force this issue through the moderators, they obviously know a way in that I don't.

I'd be interested to hear your take on the subject so let me know your thoughts...

Hello Again

We're back and with a great excuse for our absence. On the 18th October 2009, little Evan joined the family Muse and made Noah into a big brother all in the same day. Since then I've been suffering not so much from Writer's block but more a case of Writer's inability to find 5 spare minutes to get on the PC and write a blog. Well, this a whirlwind update as we have great news, Noah is up on his feet and taking his first steps unaided into the world with his 12 teeth (yes, 12!) firmly in tow. Whilst still waiting for his accreditation to be a fully fledged independent walker, he is making some really great progress for 18 months old and we couldn't be prouder of him. The below gives a quick example of his new found abilites, aptly backed by 'The Entertainer' music, ever twas it so...



I hope you're still all out there and I will be updating soon with hopefully longer walks, longer words and a longer blog on the last few months with my 2 wonderful little boys. Until then...

On a similar note, a big congratulations to Ava on becoming a big Sister to baby brother Dylan, well done Ciara and Dave too (mostly Ciara...).