Why that name

Just a quick note - I chose this title for my blog because if any of you have tried to actually go up the down escalator it is a lot of work. When my son Simon was born, I was figuratively transported to the basement. I was struggling to find out what this meant for our family, and our future. I began a journey on that day, to go up the down escalator. I know it will always be a lot of work to keep going up, but that is what I have to do now to stay out of the basement. Simon has Down Syndrome, but I am choosing every day to make life normal for him and to help us get back to the ground floor. Anytime I forget the joy and stop moving forward, I find myself rapidly descending into the basement again. Thankfully I also have an emergency stop button. He is my Creator and my Father. The One who brings the despair to a standstill when I call on Him. He is my Rock and Refuge. The One I can run to when no one else understands. It may sound cliche, but it's true, I couldn't do any of this without God. He is the reason that some days I can still smile when things are ridiculous inside. That is why the name.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Baby Love

So I realized the other day, that in my mad dash to catch up on Simon's adventures, that I left out a very huge milestone.  Andrew and the kids and I went to the Baby Love even put on by the Down Syndrome Society.  (I can't remember if it was the Canadian or Manitoba chapter.)

What an eye opening experience.  When I got there I wasn't sure what to expect.  I had seen lots of adults with D.S. but hadn't seen many kids.  When we first walked in the door we were greeted by a young woman with D.S. who took our names and gave us name tags.  She was sitting with a "regular" young woman and they were having a great time talking and laughing.  She was talking about the courses that she was taking in College.  Wow!  College!  That blew me away.  Partly because Simon was only 5 months old, and we were (and still are ) working on getting him to eat, never mind go to college, and partly because I had so many preconceived notions of what people with D.S. could or couldn't do.  The adults that I knew went to the day program in town and didn't do much else.  No job, no spouse, just hanging out with other people like them.  Somewhat disparaging.  This young woman was an inspiration and a reminder to me, to let no limits be placed on our little man. 

The next best thing about Baby Love was finally getting to meet Trent.  What a sweet little guy.  He was 18 months old at the time, and because his parents own a boxing gym, he saw a lot of boxing.  So.... if you asked him to box, he would put both fists up in front of his face and jab with one of them.  It was so cute!  Ever since then, I have been looking at what Simon does with a little bit of a critical eye.  If we had a gym would Simon be able to box too?  To his credit he was blowing kisses by the time he was 18 months, so I think that he is doing all right.

Baby Love was a great time.  We got to meet all kinds of kids, including a set of twins.  One who has D.S. and one who doesn't.  That was fascinating to me.  They were both boys, and were in effect quite similar in their capabilities.  We met a baby girl who was almost the same age as Simon.  She had also had heart surgery around the same time, and was doing really well.  There were kids with feeding tubes, and g-pegs, and kids with none.  There were kids who picked their noses and kids that didn't.  There were kids that had temper tantrums, and some that didn't.  It was a great eye opening experience for me.   I was very sorry that I had to miss it this year, but I didn't think that I could manage taking Simon and Elizabeth to Winnipeg by myself on Easter weekend.  I hope that next year I will be able to attend, and meet up with some of the same people and see how their kids have progressed.

I think that will be all for today.  I look forward to hearing from you in any respect.
Sara
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