Down Syndrome Awareness and Impromptu High School Reunions (a 7QT post)

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HAPPY T21 DAY!!!!!!!

Three copies of the twenty-first chromosome, or 3/21. Also known as the first full day of spring. I think that’s appropriate. Because there’s so much more life in life with Down syndrome than the uninitiated person thinks when first encountering Trisomy 21. I thought life as I knew it was over. In a way I was right–things changed–but not for the worse.

Watch this two-minute video. Please.

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For example: Wednesday evening I took Julianna up to church for choir practice (me) and church school (her). Our church is half a block from Applebee’s, Wendy’s, Ruby Tuesday, Taco Bell, and a steak-pizza place. So when you step outside you never know what fried-and-or-grilled yumminess you’re going to smell. “Wow,” I said. “That smells good, doesn’t it, Julianna?”

“Fiss…taco!” she said.

“Fish taco? You are silly!”

Julianna’s silvery giggle made me smile as I backed out of the parking lot.

She sang “Spoonful of Sugar” for a while, and then, about a mile from home, returned to food. “What..iss…my fayvote….thing…to eat?” she asked herself. “Um, um, um, pah-ta and bok-ley” (she’s not kidding; she scavenges plates for uneaten broccoli) “and ah keem and FISS…TACO!” Hysterical giggling. First grade humor, Julianna style.

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Speaking of first grade–a week ago I met with the principal, Julianna’s teachers, and a district sped administrator about holding Julianna back for next year. They wanted me to know what services are available in the years following high school–the law says kids can be served by the local school district up through age 21, and in some places the local district offers job training programs for that three-year window following the standard high school time frame. Not here, though. Here the goal is to have students graduate on time, or add one semester or year if it’s really necessary. Given that and the reasoning laid out in an earlier blog post, the principal decided to honor our request. So Julianna will spend one more year in the first grade. We promised them we’d never ask again. 🙂

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On a more serious subject: In the past month or so, there have been three unexpected, untimely deaths among my acquaintances. I haven’t talked about it because it’s not my place to put other people’s lives on display, even if it did impact my life. But this week I lost a high school classmate–the second of my classmates to pass away since this school year began. I’ve done a lot of soul-searching the last few months connected to these two deaths.

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My high school class got together around the funeral/visitation of this classmate. We started reconnecting on Facebook a couple of years ago in advance of our 20th reunion (twenty years! How is that even possible?). The thought of myself as an adolescent, as I said earlier this week, gives me the willies. The thing is, when I was in high school I thought I was the only one who was misunderstood and misfit. It never occurred to me that–gasp!–EVERYONE FEELS THAT WAY. (Duh.) As I’ve spent time around my classmates in adulthood I realize how very much I like them–men, women, people I never talked to in high school because I was so intimidated by social interaction. It makes me wish I’d understood earlier what it means to be an introvert.

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Call this one “I’d Rather Eat Ice Cream.” The night we got together, I was the only one not partaking of a beer. I had to drive, so I didn’t want alcohol (I have pathetically low alcohol tolerance), and I only had about an hour to spend with them, so I didn’t want to waste a minute going to get a glass of water. But I think my classmates weren’t sure what to make of it. Maybe Kate’s a teetotaler?

The truth is that since I started counting calories I classify all food & drink in one of two categories: Worth The Calories or Not Worth The Calories. I’ll have a margarita or a daiquiri on occasion, a glass of wine–but most of the time, given the choice, I’d rather save the calories for ice cream. 🙂

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Did you see this?—Hug more, Scold Less: Strict Parenting Linked To Childhood Obesity. My first reaction to this headline was to go leave a scathing comment about nonsense. We are very strict with our children. That’s why they’re so well behaved. And not one of them is anything even close to overweight, much less obese. Now, I’m fully aware that this is attempting to disprove science via anecdote. Nonetheless.

Of course, I hug my kids all.the.time. And we do talk about the why behind food rules. So I’m strict, and I hug. Gasp! The two are not mutually exclusive! What a concept!