Chomping at the Bit
and Learning to Work Her Back Legs
So life is busy. I haven’t posted anything in over two weeks. And this particular piece I’ve started and updated at least three times. A lot has been happening, (extra karaoke gigs, helping Ian write and produce a song for a friend, taking a dog to the vet twice, my own doctor visit, etc) and it is the Christmas season, which means holiday concerts, parties, parades, and shopping and prepping for family gatherings. To say I feel worn out would be an understatement. And we’re all conditioned to feel guilty about taking time to rest, even though it actually is necessary for our health and sanity. So I did a wee bit of resting this afternoon, definitely not as much as I need, but it’s a start, and picked back up where I left off who knows when.
If you read to the end of my last post, you know that Betsy finally has her first tooth poking through! This is beyond exciting for us, because often kids with Down Syndrome take quite awhile to grow any teeth, sometimes as long as two full years of complete toothlessness. Betsy is now fourteen months old, and she’s been showing signs of teething for a loooong time, with literally nothing to show for it. We’d have fussiness, slightly elevated temperature, gumming and chewing her bottle instead of actually drinking it, and of course, drooling. Her chin has been super chapped for the past two and a half weeks because of the drooling, and nothing I’ve done has helped it. We’ve been through multiple bouts of this fruitless teething, including a fun few days of it while she was recovering from her heart surgery, yet with no toothy results. That is, until the first of December. Now we’ve got a tiny, sharp nub of a tooth on the bottom! From what I’ve heard, they may start coming in a bunch at a time and in a random order, and it’s kinda like a domino effect. I’m hoping for that to be the case, as I feel like so many other things will kick into gear and she can have an easier time eating and talking. I mean, the girl already loves to do both, and it’s always exciting to see her getting better and better at doing things.
I also mentioned last time how she is diligently working on crawling. I’m not sure what’s keeping her from it at this point. Her 5-year-old cousin did in fact give Betsy a brief crawling tutorial at her birthday party, as she had promised, but we’re still not there yet. She can get up very high on her hands, and looks like she’s going to be a natural at yoga with that Cobra pose, but she’s not up on her knees enough to move forward. She does like to bounce, just like she does no matter what position she’s got herself in:
And she’s also still got that aversion to socks going on. (The other day, Miranda saw her remove her sock by putting her foot in her mouth, clamping down on the sock, and yanking her foot away. I have yet to see her do this and I’m sad that I missed it.) Some days we go through multiple pairs of socks simply because they end up in her mouth, whether or not her feet are still in them, and I don’t want her wearing wet socks, especially in the December cold.
Anyway, I digress. One of the funniest parts of her crawling journey has become an inside joke in the family. One evening Ian had Betsy with him in the bedroom while I was working on something else. He was sitting by her on the bed, where she was on her belly and he was coaching her, trying to help her move her knees forward. I came into the bedroom to see this, and I heard him tell her, “Come on, work your back legs.” Trying not to laugh, I tilted my head, looked at him quizzically, and said, “Her back legs?” He looked up at me and recognition flooded his face as he recalled what he had just said. We both started laughing, and he explained that he had meant to say “work your legs back.” I thought it was rather cute, and to me she did kinda resemble a frog the way she was up on her hands but her knees were still down flat. So telling her to move her back legs did actually kinda seem like sound advice! So now almost anytime Betsy is on working on her crawling skills, someone will no doubt come in and encourage her to move her back legs.
Well I think it’s time to call it a day, so I’ll come back later with more. I’ve got lots more to tell you, like about her new crib, the near-death of her beloved frog seat, a newfound love of Christmas trees, and getting to meet holiday icons Santa Claus and the Grinch (she was awake for it this time). So stick around, and hopefully I won’t be teasing you by going radio silent for another two weeks. Please subscribe (or upgrade that subscription!) if you haven’t, hit the heart button to show love for this post, leave a comment, and share on socials or to someone you think would love Betsy’s story.
And also remember to use your back legs.
My niece is at about the same stage of development.