Happy Birthday Cora!

Gratuitous Christmas Cuteness

Oh, Christmas Tree

I've been absent in the blogosphere of late.  Life with my girls has been going so fast.  We've had some sickness.  Oh we've had some sickness.  Instead of sharing Thanksgiving with beloved extended family, we shared it together with stomach-flu-for-four after a crazy up and down week full of medical mayhem.  Having sick kids is awful, but being so sick yourself that you can barely take care of them is worse.  Thank goodness the girls rallied at the end and avoided trips to the ER for dehydration.

But we seem to have come out the other side, and for that we are grateful.  We are also grateful to be gearing up for the holiday season for Ruby's first Christmas with us.

So far, we've got the tree.  In past years, getting a tree had been pretty hit or miss for Cora.  Sometimes fun, sometimes devastating, like all good family outings seem to be.  This year we were blessed with a somewhat warm day, and raindrops that mostly held off, while we went out seeking a lovely Noble from a local tree farm. 









The actual tree is the biggest we've had.  It fills up almost a third of the room.  But it's lovely.  Every morning when Cora walks out of the bedroom and sees it, we hear an exuberant, "Oooooh. Wow!"  That pretty much makes it worth it.

She was mostly happy to participate in decorating it, and slightly less happy to pose for photos with her little sister.  These days a good portion of their interactions involve Ruby grinning and giggling at her big sister, while Cora looks at her, says "no," and then looks away.  Poor Ruby.  Sometimes Cora can't help herself and gets in on the giggles.  And she loves to bring her baby sister toys.  It's a work in progress, this sister thing.

But overall we are happy to be witnessing the new dynamics in our family.  As Ruby grows and gets so much more interactive and playful she has been so much fun.  Yes, Cora is jealous of the attention her sister gets, and I'm sure that is hard for her.  But we are so happy to have this new little person in all our lives.  We'll see what the new year brings.

Trick or Treat

Curious George and the Baby with the Yellow Hat want to wish you a Happy Halloween.

Cora picked out her own costume idea this year.  She didn't want to wear the ears much when getting dressed, but once she realized that she got candy for wearing them, she was more than happy to oblige.  While last year she was barely walking and was pretty timid, this year she ran up and down the streets laughing, and said "treat" and "thank you" at all the doors.  (Except if the people were wearing masks or there were dogs there.) 

Ruby was a trooper.  She sat in her sling and sucked on her pacifier.  I know.  Adorable, right?

What is cuter than kids in costumes?

The fruits of my efforts to get the two of them in one shot...

And Cora's rainbow ballerina outfit that she wore to preschool today.

 
Overall a lovely Halloween.  Now we're eating candy and pizza and answering the door to adorable kids.  Happy Halloween!

My Heart

So Now You Are Aware

We're down to the last 3 days of Down Syndrome Awareness Month.  I know I haven't posted much that is specific to Ds.  For me, it's more of an exercise in putting part of our lives out there, in sharing some of our day-to-day and some of my thoughts.

I've talked about how I think that sharing individual families' stories is helpful for the narrative about what a life with Down syndrome can be like.  I know that it's a valuable perspective in a world where much of the population questions whether people with Down syndrome should even be born.  It's a part of the story, and an important one.

But there's so much more than giving glimpses of cute children, and proclamations that life is beautiful with Ds.  Our life certainly is beautiful much of the time because of Cora.  Because she happens to be a wonderful little girl and we are smitten with her. Her having Down syndrome has done nothing to make our lives less worth living.

There is much to be learned and taught and shared beyond awareness, though.  What we all want for our loved ones with Ds and other disabilities really is acceptance.  Acceptance that the value of their lives shouldn't be a legitimately debatable subject.  Acceptance that people with disabilities belong in our communities, in our classrooms, in our lives.  Acceptance that people with disabilities deserve to be able to work for reasonable wages, vote as citizens, and be considered adults with rights that others are granted without question.

There is so much more to acceptance than liking a Facebook post of a cute kid.  There's awareness, which can be a great place to start, but there is really much, much more.

As Cora's parent, like all parents I am sure, I have so many hopes for her life.  I hope for her to be able to follow her heart and do what she loves.  I hope for her to form meaningful friendships and romantic relationships.  I hope for her to be accepted by those around her; in the workplace, in her home, in her community.  I hope for her to get an education.  I hope for her to feel that she is a worthy human being.  I hope that she likes and loves herself.  Simply being aware of her isn't going to be enough to get there, unfortunately.  It will require advocating on our parts, on her part, and hopefully on your part, as well.

You may ask yourself what things can you do to help support acceptance of those with Down syndrome and other disabilities?  Well, to start with, you can model to your children that having interactions and friendships with people with disabilities is natural.  You don't have to tell your kids that it's important to help people with disabilities, as much as teaching them that everyone is different, and that each person has different abilities and talents and challenges.  That the variety of perspectives you get with different are valuable and important.  You can support legislation like the Able Act, that would allow people with disabilities to live more financially independent lives without compromising their eligibility for government programs.  You can eliminate hateful pejorative terms like the "r-word" from your vocabulary, and help educate those around you that the attitude that these terms perpetuate is harmful to many.  You can support inclusion in your community, in your schools, and in your lives by simply including people with disabilities and recognizing that they belong.

Awareness may start with cute photos, but acceptance is something we can work on every day.  It's amazing to see how far our society has come in our attitudes toward those that are different, but there is so far to go.  Imagine how far we can get in our lifetime alone if we all recognize ourselves as advocates.

Two Little Ladybugs