Skip to main content

I’ve come a long way, baby

I posted this on the iVillage DS board today, and though it uses pictures I’ve posted recently here and on Braska’s blog, I thought I’d repost it here. Because sometimes I forget just how blessed I am…

Lately, my attitude-filled toddler is not wanting to cooperate with the dozens of pictures that I take every day. So I get a lot of unusable pictures. BUT her dad captured one on Sunday that made me stop and really realize how far we've come...

Just over 44 months ago, Braska was born, we were shocked, I went into meltdown, and all rational thought left my brain, apparently. Even though I'd had experience with a variety of teens and adults with disabilities, including DS, I had a picture in my head of what my little girl would be like, and it wasn't pretty. It was grim, and boring, and unfun, and sad.

But wow...if I'd only been able to get a glimpse of THIS on that cold day in November...

I thought all my dreams of cute bows and girly clothes were lost. She wouldn't be pretty, she would just "look funny," I figured. I figured she would be a sweet baby, but I never expected such a FUN little girl!

I can't believe I thought she'd never giggle and play! I can't believe I thought she would be a little bump in the corner who wouldn't interact with people. If only I could have seen her with her little sister as they wrestle on the floor!

I thought we would never be able to chat about silly things, that she wouldn’t be able to talk clearly, that people would want to shy away from her.

But this morning she has run around the house with her sister, giggling and saying, “So funny! KiKi silly!” over and over. She came up to me while I was typing this to say, “Hi Mommy!” as clear as anyone could say it, and then followed the hug I gave her with “I love you” as she turned to go back to play. She’s a magnet in stores and public places and people just seem drawn to come over and chat with her. She is always happy to oblige.

I feared she wouldn’t learn. But we just finished doing her morning practice for her letters, numbers, shapes, and colors. She got every single letter in the alphabet right in the random flashcards. Twice through. And she’s 3. And she has Down syndrome. But who cares?!? She matched her colors and shapes like she was asked to do. She can name her shapes, and she is getting better with her colors.

She has amazed us over and over, but really all the change and growth has been in ME, for sure. We went from fear over the diagnosis to actually hoping that our second one would have DS when we found out I was pregnant. Crazy, I know! (We kept KiKi even though she was all typical and everything. :o) Ha!)

Not every moment is a party, but they are all so much better than I allowed myself to imagine!

Labels:

Comments

  1. BethJuly 28, 2010 at 12:42 PM

    Beautiful!

    I can honestly say that I feel better today about her diagnosis than when she was born, but I'm still a long way from accepting it.

    (And honestly, reading your blog helps me work through all my feelings about it! So thank you!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. RochelleJuly 28, 2010 at 12:53 PM

    Great post RK. What a super blessing she is.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownJuly 28, 2010 at 1:11 PM

    That's it. I am done reading you. I started out with tears in my eyes and ended up with tears in my eyes and had to answer the phone in the middle.

    So at least I will quit reading your blog at work. (It was a lunch break)

    ReplyDelete
  4. CathyJuly 28, 2010 at 2:13 PM

    Absolutely beautiful...your words...but mostly, your sweet girl.

    ReplyDelete
  5. RodJuly 29, 2010 at 7:34 AM

    Well said. We rejoice with you and thank God for Braska! And the whole family!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sara ParvinJuly 30, 2010 at 9:22 PM

    I can't remember if I told you this before, but there's a young girl, maybe 6 or 7, with DS in the ballet program Lizzy is a part of through the Park District. She participates fully and is part of every year's annual performance. A delight!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for commenting!! I only ask that we all keep it positive, respectful, and clean. Comment moderation is on for now. (As this is my blog, I reserve the right to delete any comment I deem inappropriate for any reason.) If you use the anonymous option, be sure to sign your name. Thanks!!

Make it a great day!!

Popular posts from this blog

31 for 21: What to say

I have encountered plenty of people who ask "How old is she?" when Braska and I are out together here and there. They always guess her age about 5 months younger than she is, but that's ok, since that's what size she is. I have said several times that I can imagine it will bother me a bit more, although still not a huge deal, when she turns one next month and I see their reaction to that, as she still is in her car seat/carrier when we're in a restaurant or in a store since she doesn't sit up. Today, I met some friends for brunch. The waitress was a nice enough, very young girl, and she started cooing at Braska right away. That's nice. I don't mind, Braska likes the attention, and I'm proud of my cutie. The waitress asked her age, and I told her 11 months. She then said, "But she's not walking yet?" as she noticed that she was up to the table in her car seat/carrier. I just agreed and said, "Not yet." She said she h
11 comments
Read more

Little call, big letters

This will make more sense to you DS moms and families out there... I apologize for the cryptic nature, but you'll have to trust my reasoning. Braska had a lab draw on Tuesday last week. The GI called me Wednesday and said there were some significantly elevated levels in the results. Ok fine. Not like we've never had an abnormal lab. But then he used *those* words...the C word and the L word. Said he'd be talking to hem/onc. We needed to go redraw on Friday morning. We didn't freak or anything, but when I hung up the phone, I thought, "Wow, so that's what it's like the first time they mention it." We took her for her draw again on Friday morning, and we figured everything was fine since we got no call over the weekend. Yesterday I checked in with them. Dr. R confirmed that everything was clear, almost in a "weird way," but they checked with the lab to make sure it was a viable result. All is well. Follow up in 6 months as usual unle
17 comments
Read more

Can I get a do-over?

If you are in need of a laugh at another's expense, I invite you to read on... really, it's totally ok. I can take it. This might end up long, but I wanna remember this special day. Oh so special... Today is my first day to have both girls and be on my own. Yeah, it's been two weeks, but I'm apparently slow at learning how to deal with this kind of thing. I knew it would be a challenge, but I thought with starting way early, we could make it. The quick ending is that we did make it...but that's not really the whole story. Kinlee's been sleeping til about 9 am or so after getting up twice in the night. That's ok, I'm dealing with it. But since Braska is supposed to be at school at 10 am on Mondays, I thought I better not sleep in like I prefer, and instead, I should get up and get things moving earlier to be sure we're on time. Not a problem, since Braska decided to be up twice last night in addition to Kinlee's two times. One time overlapped...so
25 comments
Read more