Down Syndrome Stories- Family Perspective

Guest Blog: Written by Playhouse mom Leah

To most people, they will just see Everett happily eating a cracker, but this picture is over a YEAR in the making.

• We started weekly OT last January for Everett.
• In September we dropped to every other week.
• We also have had birth-to-3 (early intervention) come to our home twice a month since he was one month old.

Everett has some major disadvantages when it comes to feeding himself.

The first is that this little boy simply doesn’t care about fine motor. He’s much more content running or throwing large toys that shouldn’t be thrown.

Second, he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 8 months old, right when he should have been learning to feed himself. We weigh all his food and how do you count what carbs he consumed vs the ones on the floor?

So this post is to cheer for Everett!

He has worked so hard this past year. It’s hard going into OT to primarily work on feeding and his blood sugar is running too high that we can’t give him food. Likewise, it’s hard to have him practice eating when his blood sugar is dropping quickly and we need to get the carbs in him asap.

People with Down syndrome work twice as hard as typical people to do the same things. Diabetes just adds an unpredictable hurdle to when Everett reaches milestones. But he still reaches them!

I’m so proud to be his mom 💙

You can follow Everett’s journey on Leah’s instagram page, thebluedoorandmore.

Leah will be sharing more of her insights and perspectives in future blog as well!