So Big..... Like YOU!

I'm sure that most parents have a moment when they look down upon their rapidly-sprouting progeny and say to themselves, "Holy moly!  I can't believe it's natural for a kid to grow this fast!  They must be putting hormones into our baby food these days...."

Well, excuse the peas and carrots outta ME!

Being the mom of a little girl with Down Syndrome, I thought I had a fair advantage.  Some wishful bit of my heart -- the part that obsessed over having a baby of our own for years and years -- felt smugly, if not wrongly self-assured that I would get to enjoy the smallness and the helplessness of the baby years that mother-hearts crave.

Well, guess what.  Ava Leigh is developing so fast that at seventeen months, my head spins at how rapidly she's learning how to conquer her little world.

And you know what?  I don't mind one bit.  I like the toddler years EVEN BETTER.  

Yes, that's right.  I wrote those unwritable words.  I LIKE my kid as a toddler.

More fun than a barrel of beetlebugs!

She's tossing her cookies rarely, if ever, at all.  That factor carries huge weight.

She wants to mimic everything we say and hear.  The cute stuff.  The bossy stuff.  The not-so-Baptist stuff.  Even the inanimate object stuff.  (I was listening to bagpipe music one evening and I swear on a stack of kilts that she was trying to imitate its wail and keen!)

She wants to go everywhere she sets her mind to, and it doesn't matter if she has to do the splits ten dozen times to get there.  She's gonna get that ball/dust bunny/flip flop and do what she pleases with it.  (Usually what pleases her is to lick it.)

It's our booty, we can crawl if we want to!

Maybe this thrills me so much because I hoped that she would be as bold as her daddy, and not so reticent as I am.  When she was born with Downs, I think I put that hope for her on a shelf and didn't give it much more thought.  I regret having that attitude -- just because Ava has her own unique set of genetic blueprints doesn't mean she doesn't have a lot in common with other members of her family.  I'm truly thankful that she has her daddy's see-it-through-ness, and her great-nana's boldness, my independence, and my great-granddad's wackiness.  The more she grows, the more I wonder if that extra chromosome gave her an EXTRA magnified dose of some trait on one side or another.   

She's sassy...

...affectionate...

...and a wee bit irreverent...

and I know where she gets every bit of it!  

She is becoming so much more herself.... Yet she is an uncanny mirror of so many beloved family members.

I wish that I could reassure so many other new parents of kids with Down Syndrome that no matter how unique their child is, their son or daughter will undeniably possess attributes that will help them identify with other members of their family, whether it's a physical similarity or an expression of their personality.

It is SO important for children to be valued for how they stand out in the world.... But isn't it just as important for them to feel that they belong?