Down syndrome

(Written waaaay back in March when I was getting ready for World Down Syndrome Day on 3-21!)

Do I hate Ds?

Do I consider it a blessing?

Do I care that my children can’t run fast?

Do I care that they will learn slower than their peers?

Do I care that they share certain physical characteristics with other individuals, around the world, that we aren’t even related to?

Nope.  (Not always, anyway.)  However,

The problem is :

There are some health conditions that people with Ds can be more suseptible to (we are lucky – our littles are very healthy with the exception that D take a pill daily for her thyroid).

Their mental cognition is slower, so right now I have a 7 yr old who isn’t potty trained (we’re getting there, it’s just taking a loooong time and I’m impatient) and the 6 year old is doing great except at night.  They don’t read yet.  And the big problem - they run away from me in parking lots and stores and EVERYWHERE.

I am ready for them to be more like typical 7 & 6 year olds, in that I wouldn’t have to worry about them walking out the front door and away from the house.  I would like to not have to hold their hands when walking out in public every second.  They are getting bigger and stronger and more resistant to hand holding but seriously, they run and run fast if I let go for a second to open a door or get my keys out of my pocket.  It’s hard to do things, go places, run errands with one of them and nearly impossible with both.

And I want them to read and write, be able to add and count money and tell the time.  I’d like them to be able to live as independently as possible when they grow up and those skills are essential.  Maybe they will; It’s impossible to know right now.  Right now they don’t have these skills. 

We are seeing progress; it’s just slow.

Would I change them?  Trade them?  Wish them away?

Heck no!  No, no, no!  I might wish away the cognition issues but overall, I couldn’t love them more.  When we have a fit, or something takes a long time (like putting on socks) or they are picky about a shirt or a show, I have to remind myself that they are little kids!  My older kids certainly had their own opinions too.  So I feel lucky, because I have my older kids, who threw fits, and had opinions, and who didn’t (don’t) always make the best choice, and they are turning into awesome people.  So I remind myself that we have plenty of time and lots of these issues are people issues, not only Down syndrome issues.

Puppy!

Occasionally I will look around craigslist.  You never know what you might find that you need!  I generally look at dressers and tables and cars.  Awhile back, I found myself looking through the pet ads, even though most of them generally make me sad.  When I decided to switch Holly’s dog food I did a lot of research on what to get for her and found out she’s a senior dog :(.  She is 12 but still playful and active.  Anyway, that’s what started me looking at dogs – not so much to get one, just to look like I do at cars.

One night I was scrolling through the ads and a picture catches my eye (I wish I had saved it.)  I showed it to Andrew and Madelyn.  The eye catching part was that this puppy looks just like Holly did when I found her!  We all agreed on that.  So I called the lady and asked what the adoption would entail (she runs a rescue) and among the details, she said she could meet us at a park so we could check out the puppy in person.  I asked Allan if we could and promised we would not bring home a dog without his permission – and I truly meant it.  Off we go to the park and every one of us fell hard in love with this crazy bouncy ball of busyness!  She’s so stinkin’ cute!  We call her Luna (Andrew because he has a fascination with all things universe-related and me and M because of Luna Lovegood, you know from Harry Potter!).

Meet Luna:

Isn’t she just so precious?!?!

That was months ago, like 9 of them!  Yep, I am seriously behind on posting but trying to catch up.

Luna is now a year old, and house trained, and completely awesome!  We are still working on basic training, like come, and stay.  She doing great with sit and not chewing on non puppy toys.  She was so hyper and crazy I have decided it’s just going to take time.  But she’s so dang cute and cuddly and smart.  She’s a great dog!  As far as being Holly’s best friend, not so much.  But they get along okay so I’ll keep trying.

They suffer together (hahaha),

and they share my lap occasionally.