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Wil Can Fly – Down Syndrome Awareness Month

by Alan 43 Comments

We are excited to announce that October is Down Syndrome awareness month and in celebration of this special month, we have compiled some of the most recent photos of Wil flying at home and across the country.

If you’re curious about how Wil started flying you can read the full story on my blog here. To see the first photos from my Wil Can Fly series go to my first blog post here. Thanks for playing a smart part in raising more awareness for Down Syndrome.

Wil Can Fly Monument Valley BLOG Wil Flies with peeps final 1024 IMG_8848.JPG Wil in orchard Wil Can Fly Grand Canyon Wil Can fly at the Beach wil can fly disneyland final final-2 Wil Can Fly california adventure final final Wil Flies to the bridge low res Wil Flies Bixbie bridge low res McWay Falls Wil Can Fly Wil-Can-Fly-icecream Wil Can Fly Golden Gate 2 final-3 Wil Can Fly Yoda Wil-Can-Fly-Special-Olympics-1 Wil-Flies-in-the-redwoods-low-res Wil-Can-Fly-yellow-boat-low-res Wil Can Fly last day oregon low reswil-can-fly-redwoods-blogWil-Can-Fly-joshua-tree-blogWil-Can-Fly-in-the-tent-blogWil Can Fly Wheat Field-4Wil-Can-fly-dock-blogWil-Can-Fly-Apples-blogWil-Can-Fly-sprinkler-blog

Filed Under: Down Syndrome, Parenting, Why Does Wil Fly?

Real Life Elf On the Shelf is Back

by Alan 2 Comments

Note: Be sure to keep checking back to this blog post to see photo and video updates for the entire month of December!

On the weekend before Thanksgiving, my family and I were pulling up into our driveway when we noticed some suspicious activity going on in our house. As we approached the front door we could hear giggling and tiny feet running from one room to another. I made Nikki and the kids wait outside as I slipped in the front door to investigate. As I peered into the living room I couldn’t believe my eyes – Rock the Elf was back!

He had completely decorated our house with Christmas decorations and was just finishing up the tree decorations. My eyes rolled back into my head as I recalled the mischief he had caused our family for the past two Holidays. As the kids entered the house they immediately shouted for joy as they noticed that Rock was back.

Since Rock came so early this year I decided to give Santa a call and find out why he sent him so early. After talking with Santa I learned that Rock had apparently left the North Pole early even though Santa told him he had to wait. Santa was not very happy about this mischievous elf breaking the rules so he is sending Elmer the Elf to re-certify Rock and hopefully keep him in line.

Rock the Elf was not very happy about another elf coming to re-train and watch over him. Once Elmer the Elf arrived Rock immediately tried to get all of us to touch him so he would lose his powers and have to fly back to the North Pole. But we finally made an agreement that we would keep plenty of marshmallows in the pantry as long as he didn’t try to make us touch Elmer.

Elmer the Elf is here but Rock the Elf is not playing nice. Once Rock discovered that Elmer would lose his powers if humans touched him, things got a little crazy.

Poor Elmer needs to start giving Rock the Elf a little taste of his own medicine. Tonight the Rock the Elf toilet papered our tree and tried to mummify Elmer the Elf.

I didn’t get mad when the Elf gift wrapped my toilet and I couldn’t get it open in the middle of the night. But when he deliberately ate all of my favorite cereal, that was too far.

Elmer the Elf has finally learned that it’s not safe to hold still on the shelf all day with Rock the Elf around.

Filed Under: Parenting

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Wi asked me to make him fly today. I haven’t tak Wi asked me to make him fly today. I haven’t taken a #wilcanfly photo of him in two years. It was totally random of him to ask me - our only guess is that maybe he was looking at one of picture books with him flying. I had him repeat the question so I could capture him saying it (swipe left to see it). As we went to take the photo Rocko said, “Lets see if he still has the stuff” I’m really wishing I would have got that on camera.
While we are on the topic of Wil Can Fly, would any of you be interested in a Wil Can Fly book? A few years back I wrote a story to for some Wil Can Fly photos I took with the thought of making a book for Wil. I was thinking it might be a fun story to share with all of you. 
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#photoshop #downsyndrome #differentisbeautiful
Wil’s bald spots from alopecia are growing back! Wil’s bald spots from alopecia are growing back! So many of you mentioned stress being a factor with your kids losing their hair - after we noticed the terrible effect the prescribed steroid was having on Wil, we decided to stop using all of the medicines and see if some stress free Summer days would help and so far it seems to be doing the trick. 
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#wilcanfly #alopecia #alopeciatreatment #downsyndrome #summertime
That’s a wrap for T-ball. The boys had their las That’s a wrap for T-ball. The boys had their last game today. Some of my favorite moments from this season were - Wil hitting the ball and then running to get the ball so he could hand it to the other team - Rocko not paying attention to the game but instead making new friends - Wil leaving in the middle of a hit to go poop.  Most the of the practices and games were a perfect storm of controlled chaos (if you’ve had a kid in T-ball you know) but thankfully they had a incredibly patient coach that made the game fun. Looking forward to next year and possibly moving on to soccer. 
#summerslam #summertime #tball #mvp #kidsofinstagram #parenthood #dadblogger #downsyndrome #photoshop #magazinecover
Gracie has her birth mom’s smile. We celebrated Gracie has her birth mom’s smile. We celebrated her 19th birthday yesterday at the lake with Jaime and her family. I feel so blessed to have this open adoption relationship.  It doesn’t seem that long ago that Jaime was placing Gracie in our arms. I am eternally grateful to have been chosen 19 years ago to be this girls dad. Love you @gr8cie.paige
Thirteen years ago today this little beauty came i Thirteen years ago today this little beauty came into the world. When she was born she didn’t cry for the longest time. It wasn’t until we gave her a bath that she gave out a cute little cry that made us laugh and smile. She makes us laugh every day and her incredible sense of humor to brighten our home. 
Happy Birthday @alijeanmcqueen
Transporting some wild animals to the lake today. Transporting some wild animals to the lake today. Last week I asked all of you to share your favorite use for @mrclean Magic Eraser. #mrcleanpartner There were a lot of great suggestions and one of my favorites was using the Magic Eraser to clean off a buggy windshield. Since we live in the country my windshield usually looks like a bug science project and my wipers never seem to get it clean. The Magic Eraser tackled this mess in just a few swipes. Now all I need to do is clean up all of the beautiful finger and tongue art on the inside of our windows and we will be ready to roll. 
Check out my stories to see my second favorite use of a Magic Eraser - cleaning up dirty sneakers. The results are pretty insane #mrcleanmagic
One of Wil’s many ways of not listening to me wh One of Wil’s many ways of not listening to me when I tell him it’s time to clean his room. 
He is one stubborn bugger. When he was a toddler, someone mentioned that people with Down Syndrome can be stubborn about their routines and as he gets older it is becoming a lot more apparent. 
At bedtime, Nikki and I used to clean up Wils room as he climbed into bed. Now that he is older we want him to do it and it has been a real challenge. Last night when I asked him to clean up his room he told me it was “Dads job”. 
It doesn’t help that he knows he can break his Dad with that smile. Thankfully Rocko is doing better with clean up and I’m hoping that it will trickle over to his brother. 
Wish us luck 🙏 
#dadlife #downsyndrome #smartkid
Wil found Nikki’s old cabbage patch doll and tol Wil found Nikki’s old cabbage patch doll and told us it was his wife, “Lisa”. He treated her like a queen all day yesterday and even gave her a little serenade before dinner. 
Someone once asked me if I would be okay with Wil getting married one day - Heck yes I would! I didn’t have to think about it. In fact Nikki and I have already mapped out how we could renovated our entire basement into an apartment for him and his wife. Maybe that’s weird, I don’t know, but witnessing Wil court his future wife is going to be a season of the Bachelor that I would actually watch.
You can watch his full serenade on my stories. 
#theluckyfew #gentleman #bestlife #t21 #downsyndrome
Today Wil gave us a good scare. He decided he wou Today Wil gave us a good scare. 
He decided he would rather have ice cream than go to church. We were in between church meetings when we noticed that Wil was missing. After what seemed like an eternity someone from our small search party outside spotted him across the street at the local cafe. He was on the outside patio with ice cream in hand chatting it up with the cafe owner as they made their way over to the church. We had ice cream at this cafe yesterday and apparently he formed a plan to ditch church and go back for more. Luckily we're friends with the owner of the cafe and she knew how to keep him satisfied until she found us. It takes an army to take care of this cute kid and thankfully his army has some amazing people in it.
And yes, he wore this hat to church - it’s his “dress nice” hat. 
#sundayfunday #downsyndrome #dadslife #ittakesavillage
Update on Wil’s alopecia. We decided to take him Update on Wil’s alopecia. We decided to take him off of the steroid and Rogaine that the doctor recommended. While using the steroid he was extremely moody and ornery - we didn’t like how it effected his mood. We realized that the Rogaine was just a temporary fix, once we took him off of it his hair would fall out again. 
For now we are trying coconut oil and looking into the homeopathic options that many of you recommended. 
I’m beginning to wonder if his hair will start growing again once he’s out of school. Our friends @downwithjaxandniko mentioned that their son Jax who also has Down Syndrome, had a traumatic experience at school and started losing his hair. Once Jax was out of school his hair started growing back.
We’re keeping our fingers crossed but either way it will be fine. If he does lose all of his hair his Halloween costumes will always be epic. 
#wilcanfly #alopecia #t21warrior #downsyndrome #theluckyfew #alopeciatreatment
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