Peanut
Introductions are hard. It’s easy enough to say, “Hi, my name is Debbie.” but where do you go after that? After 40 plus years of living, there’s a lot more to add. And boy can I add it! I love to talk, which I guess transferred into a love of writing at a very young age. Over the years I’ve tried several avenues for my writing outlet and am excited to have 5 Minutes for Special Needs added to that arsenal. But now that I got the job, where do I start?
I guess we’ll start with the basics. As I said, my name is Debbie. I’m the mom of three girls and the wife of one wonderful and supportive husband. My oldest daughter started high school this year while my youngest started kindergarten. In the middle is my little talker who can actually talk me under the table. She’s in third grade. Although all my daughters bring special challenges to parenting, it’s our youngest that gives me the honor to get to write here. When “Peanut” was just 24 hours old we learned that she had Down syndrome. That is the day our lives changed more than we ever could have realized in this journey of parenthood.
Peanut did not have many health problems when she was born. Her heart was thankfully healthy. This can be a problem for children with Down syndrome and sometimes they need immediate surgery to repair the heart. Other than a staph infection that attacked her platelets requiring a platelet transfusion and a brief stint in the NICU, our daughter was a healthy, happy, if not tiny, baby girl. Since then she’s developed a couple minor medical concerns including adding glasses to our daily regime and a yet to be solved thyroid issue. For the most part, however, her challenges are developmental and behavioral. Even so, it’s plenty to keep me busy and even worried at times.
Over the years, our biggest challenge has been speech and verbalization. Peanut has apraxia of speech which makes speech even more difficult for her than it is for other children with Down syndrome. As talking is one of my strengths, this was a difficult challenge for me to accept. Peanut currently has the vocabulary of about a 6 – 8 month old with only “Yes”, “No” and “Bye” in her verbal vocabulary. However, her receptive language, what she understands, is very high. Because of her lack of speech and her size, other children and adults often see her as younger than she is and this can be very frustrating for me. Peanut, however, perseveres and rarely is concerned or bothered by her challenges. She is an inspiration to everyone in the family.
I started blogging about motherhood and Down syndrome three years ago at my blog: Three Weddings. At that time, I decided I would use nicknames for my children in the hope to give them a little privacy. From time to time I will probably refer to Peanut’s sisters as they play a huge role in her life. “Diva” is my little talker and “the Teen” is my oldest.
I’m anxious to get started writing here at 5 Minutes for Special Needs and have so much to share about Peanut and our journey. I look forward to getting to know you and hope you will come back to visit and to hear what is going on in our lives every Thursday at 5:00 p.m. EST.