Down Syndrome Awareness Day 11 - It's about Isaac

The other day I did a post all about Caleb, its only right that Isaac gets an all about Isaac post now.

 

 

Isaac is truly my baby by 1 minute.  Isaac was Baby B.  Isaac was the reason I had to have an emergency C-section 9 1/2 weeks early.  Isaac, oh Isaac, has kept me on my toes ever since.

 

Isaac was born weighing in at 2 pounds 10 ounces.  Isaac was born with head trauma from being stuck in my ribs.  Isaac was not immediately recognized as having Down Syndrome because of his facial deformities from my ribcage.  He came out with a heart shaped head.

 

Isaac has had a rougher start than Caleb.  He was in the NICU double the time Caleb was, he's had double the surgeries Caleb has had and he tends to be the sicker of the two when illness breaks out.

 

I feel that due to his rougher start he has always been a few steps behind Caleb.  Sitting, Crawling, Walking and most recently finger spelling a bit after Caleb got the concept of it.

 

Isaac is not very social when it comes to playing with peers his age.  Cousins label him as the twin that hurts them, which breaks my heart.  He often pushes, pulls hair or hits kids smaller than him.  There is no rhyme or reason most of the time therefore we always have to keep our eyes on him when with family members and at school.  On the other hand, Isaac is very social towards adults.  At church he has been called the greeter on several occasions because he's been known to make his rounds to every pew just to say HI to each church family member.  He gives hugs, high fives and giggles to all.  In waiting rooms he's been known to approach total strangers and offer them a hug. He particularly likes very large men. Its adorable when he will approach a big ole intimidating biker dude and just give him a hug and run :)

 

Isaac was the first twin diagnosed with Autism.  He was actually diagnosed at 22 months old.  We went to the Down Syndrome Clinic with questions as to why he hummed so much and twirled things and dangled things in front of his face constantly.  At that point we were still trying to figure out the whole Down Syndrome thing and had no clue that we would leave the clinic that day with a new diagnosis of Autism.  I was honestly devastated and so emotional for several weeks not knowing how we would be about to handle and understand yet another disability.

 

 

One way you can tell Isaac from Caleb these days is by his stimming toy.   A TOOTHBRUCH:

 

 

 

He twirls it, he hits the back of his neck with it and he beats it like a drumstick on things to hear the sounds.  As I sit here typing right this minute he comes up and points to the picture of himself and signs "toothbrush".  He loves his toothbrushes.  So much so that we have ALL learned to hide our toothbrushes in weird places.  If you come to our house you might find toothbrushes  ontop of the fireplace mantle, in underwear drawers, on top shelves of bookcases, tucked in a basket under hair supplies and body creams.  Isaac can and will find you toothbrush and claim it as his own.  Grandma and Papa even know to keep their toothbrushes up when we visit.  Its quite comical and definitely something we will always associate with Isaac.  This summer we went to a local flea market and found a sheet of 12 toothbrushes for $2, we bought three of them.....LOL

 

 

 

 

As you can see below Isaac even will use is iPad to request a certain color of toothbrush for the day, he's quite particular about his toothbrushes.

 

 

Isaac is also my escape artist.  He tries and tries but still cannot open the doors at home.  In the event someone leaves a door or a gate latch open Isaac is the first person to realize it and takes off.  Unfortunately we have had strangers return him to us on two occasions.  Thankfully we had an ID bracelet on him with our contact information.

 

He doesn't smile as much as his brother does but man oh man, when he does smile you can't help but smile right along with him. 

Isaac struggles to communicate with us and often acts out with bad behavior.  Isaac has terrible chronic constipation issues that I think makes him feel miserable all the time and makes him act out.  Isaac loves pretzels and Cheerios.  Isaac loves his Papa so much that besides iPad its his only spoken word.  He loves to work and learn, he's really one tough cookie.....and he's my baby boy!!