To celebrate this years learning disability week, Mencap have chosen ‘firsts’ as their focus topic. Wonderful stories of first days at school, first dates, first homes, jobs and other milestones have been shared by people all week.
It’s made me realise that we still have so many ‘firsts’ to look forward to experiencing and celebrating with both our girls as they grow and develop.
With them both still being so little, we celebrate their firsts quite regularly – Ella is now for the first time jumping properly on her trampoline (sometimes even in her sleeping bag!) and Lucy’s first this week is cruising the furniture…
For me, the ‘first’ that I remember most clearly was Ella’s first smile. I knew from reading the information we were given after she was born that she would meet many of her milestones behind her peers.
And looking back now, it was that first smile that I longed for the most out of her baby milestones. She was around 14 weeks old when we got out first glimpse of her mouth beginning to turn upwards, but it was always so fleeting and we were never quick enough to catch it on camera. All we knew was that our little Ella was going to have the most amazing smile when she decided she knew what to do.
As her mum who was with her all day every day at that point (spending most of my time singing, pulling faces and making silly noises in an attempt to get a smile) I was convinced I would get her first beamer. But no.
Should have known from day one she was a daddy’s girl. Every evening when Ian returned from work he got all the smiles (still not full smiles but definitely happy to see daddy). And this continued for a good week or two…
By 16weeks old she was smiling properly but we still hadn’t managed to catch it on camera. Then one evening, I managed to take a snap on my phone. It’s grainy, not great quality but it speaks a thousand words. My favourite ever picture of Ella that I’ve taken. Her first smile finally caught on camera…
Well worth the wait xx
What firsts do you remember?
Our first baby, Ella Mary, was born at the end of November 2010. We were shocked to find out soon after her birth that she has Down's Syndrome. I was determined from the start that Down's Syndrome will never define Ella or what she is able to do. We will provide for her everything she needs to become the child and the person she deserves to be. There will be hard times ahead.... there are already many hard times behind us. But I already know that the good times will always outweigh the hard times. She has taught me so much in such a short time and seeing life from a new perspective is a privilege that not many of us get the chance to experience.
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