the babysitter

So today we went and met with Jenna who is going to babysit abacus for a couple of hours a week while danielle is at university. My work has been really awesome in allowing me to work from home 3 mornings a week which is going to help out a lot with allowing us to work and study and have a baby.

Jenna and Warren and their 11 month old son Leo are really nice and we think we have made a good choice in a babysitter. Leo is huge next to Abacus, literally over three times the size, he was really interested in Abacus, his eyes lit up when he saw her and apparently he does have a big fascination with babies, so they should be good buddies. They all loved Abacus too and had a bit of a hold, they'd already forgotten what it is like to hold a "new born" - though Leo was about 800grams heavier than Abacus is now when he was born. This will be a good test too, they said, for juggling two kids at once. We're really happy that she will have lots of different people in her life and that we're able to find people through alternative solutions to institutions for now - not that we're anti them, there's just a lot less waiting lists and forms this way and more community.

On friday Abacus celebrated forth of july with sparklers and slept in front of a nice warm fire in a wooden laundry basket - see photos.

There was also a tense few moments today when we left her trusty pacifier at a cafe and had to double back to get it - she was pretty pissed off - but very forgiving when we reunited them.

We've been doing exercises lately to strengthen her muscles. Trisomy 21 babies are known to have lower muscle tone - which Abacus hasn't really shown, definitely not to the extent of being what they call a "floppy baby", her arms and legs are strong, but now we're working on her neck - which again is on the lower end of the spectrum but she is benefiting from her push-ups and sit ups. Tomorrow the neuro-developement team is coming to visit, that will be interesting, she will help with muscle tone too, as the problem is not her muscles but more a neural issue with the motor-cortex. But we'll know more tomorrow.