Julianna has been changing lately. It started a year or so ago, when we realized she had lost that wispy, delicate feel. She’s still tiny and I can still pick her up and carry her, but it’s no longer easy. She feels solid now, rather than fragile, her physical frame finally catching up with her…
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My Life With Down Syndrome
A sliver of what my life is like #parenting a child with #Downsyndrome.
Read MoreThe Saga of Orthotics, and why it’s important to talk about it during an election year
I hope you’ll bear with me today, because there’s a reason I’m about to tell this story. One thing that sometimes accompanies an extra 21st chromosome is “pronation.” This means that due to low muscle tone, the feet turn out. Julianna has fabulous health and good cognitive functioning but her feet are regularly regarded as…
Read MoreJulianna and the Ticking Clock of Approaching Adolescence
I have this parenting theory: It’s not that a child is too young to learn a particular lesson (like, say, toileting). It’s really a matter of when the parent decides he or she is ready to take on the task of teaching it. When the parent makes it a priority, the child learns.* I…
Read MoreStained Glass, A Strong-Willed Breakthrough, and Learning to ride a bike in a week (theoretically)
It’s been a pretty intense week, with Julianna in iCanBike camp in a nearby town. I’ve had to pull her and Nicholas from school early every day so we could make the half-hour drive to the camp. They begin with this gizmo, which is sort of barrel-shaped, so it’s narrower and less stable than training…
Read MoreShe Makes It Look Easy
By the time we arrived at the wedding reception, the room was overflowing with people we didn’t know. Ordinarily Christian and I are both highly functional introverts, able to fake it so long as we’re together and/or we know our role in a given situation. We often bicker at home about who has to call…
Read MoreOn Julianna, at the end of Grade 2
Every so often, I like to share some of Julianna’s school work and progress. I need to be clear: this is not a total picture of Down syndrome. It’s not even a total picture of “what a person with Down syndrome can do in the second grade.” There’s a vast range of ability among people with…
Read MorePictures From The Big Day
A young lady’s big day in the Basi household begins with dancing with your little brother… …continues with joining the choir for one of your favorite songs (“Love Has Come, by Matt Maher”)… …peaks with receiving your first Communion (officially this time)… …forces you to tolerate having lots and lots of pictures taken…. …
Read MoreQueen for a Day. I mean, Week.
I have a very serious post brewing, but I can’t formulate “serious” on the heels of a Super Bowl party with eight children (ages toddler to tween) and four adults in the house. So instead, today you get Julianna stories. You don’t mind, do you? It’s been birthday week for her, and what with phone…
Read MoreTouch Points, Part 3: In A Downtown Nashville Diner
Our family went to Florida after Christmas to spend a few days with Christian’s family. We left on New Years to come back home. At the end of two grueling days on the road, we stopped for dinner at IHOP in downtown Nashville, Tenn. We had three hours to go before we stopped for the…
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Kathleen M. Basi 