Category Archives: Down Syndrome

Down Syndrome Statistics Turned Upside Down

I love hearing factoids and stats that raise an eyebrow and make me think a little deeper about things I thought I knew. Information presented in a way meant to shock but in the end, I find, actually gives me hope when turned inside out or upside down. Here are a few stats and how I choose…

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Resolution: Don’t Give Your Power to Others

Like Santa, I know my children! I see them when they’re sleeping. I know when they’re awake. I know when they’ve been bad or good and I teach them to be good for goodness sake! So why… WHY, when a nasty, mean-spirited coward rolls down her car window as we exit the store where my children behaved…

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Too Many Friends?

When Peanut was born, we immediately contacted our local Down syndrome guild. When Peanut was a mere two weeks old, I attended my first Mom’s Night Out with other moms of children with Down syndrome. Very quickly I enveloped myself in the world of parents of children with special needs and found comfort in knowing…

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Peace in the Wee Hours

Ah, the wee hours of the morning, when the sun and my children are still asleep — where they stir quietly, smiling in their sleep… dreaming of sailing the high seas on their new pirate ship… in another world — there is resounding peace here in my world. Everything is as it should be. No one is judging us. No one…

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Managing Expectations to Foster Acceptance

There’s this concept out here in special-needs-land that we parents have to mourn the loss of the typical child we were expecting before we can accept the child with special needs that we were gifted. Personally, I’m not sure I buy that! I didn’t mourn. I embraced instantaneously. And, I did so, I think, because so…

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Future Rock Balancer?

A couple weeks ago, Peanut wanted to go outside to play. She had been recovering from a cold so her outdoor play had been limited, but the weather was nice that day and she was doing better so I bundled her up and sent her into the backyard. I asked Diva to go with her…

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What Do You Worry About?

Like most Mothers of children with special needs, I worry about doing all that I can to foster the development of my beautiful 5-year-old boys with Down syndrome. For me, worry leads to action and action to change.  But lately, there’s been talk in the blogosphere about the usefulness of such worrying. In one post, it was…

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Inclusion Runs Deep (Or It Should, Anyway)

For those of you who don’t know my story… yet (and for those who do, sorry, you’ll have to suck it up and read it again), My beautiful Boys are a matched pair who also happen to have an extra copy of the 21st chromosome. Yes, my amazing 5-year-old identical twins have Down syndrome. That…

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A Different Kind of Stalker

I’ve always tried to live my life being respectful of others. I’ve tried to teach my children the same. For example, I often remind my children that it is not polite to stare at someone who is different. It’s a rule I’ve tried to follow my whole life, and yet, over the past several years…

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Addressing “The Look”

We’ve all experienced “the look” from folks whose mothers apparently didn’t teach them it’s not polite to stare. Sometimes it really  bothers me. Sometimes not. Recently, I had the opportunity to unofficially analyze the look and figure out the difference…. for me!  I spent a day at the Bronx Zoo with my 3 beautiful children —…

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