Blogging every day is hard!
I mean I could blather on every day about something, I'm sure, but I'm having a hard time putting together meaningful posts about Down syndrome.
It's partly because I feel like I've said a lot of it before, but mostly, I think it's because we're just living life. Down syndrome is a part of our life, some days a bigger part, most days just part of it.
The other day at the zoo, while Kira and I were waiting for the gates to open and having a snack, a little girl and her mom sat down on the bench near us. The little girl was probably close to 3 and had a continuous running monologue: I'm climbing up on this bench I have a tissue I'm wiping my face we're going into the zoo we're going to see the monkeys I'm climbing down off of this bench... and then Kira broke into my conscious with: Eat Mommy...bites...moh
I had this weird moment of almost feeling jealous of the little girl's speech. All of those prepositions and contractions tumbling out of her mouth. It's not that I caught myself or corrected my thinking, but more like at almost the exact same moment I thought, "That's not how KIRA is supposed to talk right now. That's how that little girl talks. She's not Kira." Kira wanted some more to eat and she let me know.
She lets me know when she's not happy. She tells me when she is. She takes her limited, though growing, vocabulary of words, approximations, and signs and she makes it work. She works it to get what she wants, believe me. She works it to tell jokes and make us laugh, on purpose. She works it to let us know when her brother is being a selfish jerk, in her opinion.
And do you know what all of that is? That's smart. Or as Kira would say along with the sign, "mah".
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I know what you mean...it is hard at times to not get caught up in the thinking that our kids are not developing as fast as other kids. I love that you did not allow yourself to think like that but rather you were proud of what Kira is doing right now. She is her own individual person and has her own ways of communicating like you said, and it works! That is what counts! That's what makes her Kira! That's what makes her a special child and you such a great mama and role model for all of us.
ReplyDeleteEvery now and then I get startling moments like that too. I get so used to Sean being Sean that I forget that there is this huge gap in development between him and his peers. That's a good thing.
ReplyDeleteThis is so true. You did good. But I can guarantee that there will come a time when you'll regret that you spent time on speech....sometimes they are NEVER QUIET! That goes for every kid, I think, no exceptions due to chromosome count.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you for your kind and encouraging comment today! It made me smile big!
Well said, Wendy.
ReplyDeleteI think that often about Leo. I think it's important to let yourself acknowledge it.
Sometimes when Ellie won't SHUT UP and Leo barely mumbles a "yea" at her insistent and incessant questions, I think to myself, there HAS to be a happy median! But you know, it's always something.