Thursday, October 13, 2011

{31 for 21} Day 13: Celebrate! I'm glad I have a child with Down Syndrome...

October is Down Syndrome Awareness month and in honor of that, bloggers are posting once a day (31) to help raise awareness for Down Syndrome (21).  A Facebook page has been created as a way to share some of the posts and on Thursdays, we all try to write about the same thing.  Today is "Celebrate! I'm glad I have a child with Down syndrome because..."

I've struggled with writing this post all day.  Not because I don't love Sweet Pea.  She melts my heart every time I see her interacting with her brothers and sister.


Or when she makes silly faces at me.  Yeah, I know we'll eventually have to work on getting her to keep her tongue in her mouth.


Or kissing her hand with the single crease...  Her Kissing Hand =)


I've struggled because I'm not sure how I feel about Down Syndrome yet.  It's a part of who she is, and it made us aware that she has a heart defect, but I don't want the labels, the stereotypes, to limit her in anyway.  I want her to succeed, or fail, on her own abilities and not the limitations that others will place on her.

I could list how having Down Syndrome has given her such unique features (the almond- shaped eyes, the smaller ears).  Or how her low muscle tone allows her to just "melt" into me when we snuggle.  Or how my older kids are learning a lesson in unconditional love that few others ever get.

But all I want to celebrate right now is Sweet Pea and the tiny, perfect miracle that she is.

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