Jake surprised us with 2 new signs.

I love it when he surprises us. The other day we were on the bed when the alarm clock went off. He tapped his ear - which means "noise" or "sound". I had been doing that sign for awhile, but I didn't think he ever saw me.

We tried it again the next morning. The alarm went off and this time he didn't sign it. I tapped my ear and said, "Can you hear that sound?" and he looked back at the alarm clock.

They've also taught him "milk" at daycare (which is like milking a cow with your hand). We only use "drink" with him, never milk. The other day when Cindy was offering him a drink, he signed milk.

A couple weeks ago we noticed Jake suddenly walk across the floor, without warning, hanging on to his train walker. He had just gotten up by himself and started pushing the thing across the floor. It was bizarre seeing him walk by, because we'd never seen him do that on his own. Suddenly, you see this kid walking past.

When he first started using the walker, you had to hang on because he'd push it faster than his feet could keep up. So he'd be in danger of landing on his face. Now he has more control of the train with his arms, but hasn't figured out how to turn. So he'll just go in a straight line until he bumps into a wall. The train makes a little "beep" sound when this happens and he laughs.

He brings it back and pushes it into the wall over and over again. Now he's started to sit down and turn it with his hands in another direction. Soon he'll be able to do this on the fly.

My son can read. He’s two years old and has Down syndrome.

On Jake’s two year birthday we were showing him some reading cue cards and I showed him the word “Hi”. He waved. I showed him a bunch of other words, then back to hi. He waved again.

Then I showed him the word “clap”. And he clapped. Today, I showed him the word “nose” and he touched his nose.

He’s two and has Down syndrome. We’ve been signing to him since he was about 6 months old. He stared signing back when he was around a year old. Now he knows more than 80 signs.

We just started the reading thing a few days ago. He loves it. Gets very excited. His default answer to most of the cue cards is “Mom, mom, mom.”

When he reads “clap”, we praise him and clap. He gets excited and starts clapping for the next few cue cards. Very cute.

It’s hard to describe how amazing it is to see your son learn. Especially when your son has challenges and obstacles most people never have to face.