All articles filed in Julianna
The pros of repeating first grade
At the end of last school year, Christian suggested to me that perhaps we should have Julianna repeat kindergarten. I told him no way; why would we do that? She’s basically with all her peers. He shrugged and said, “Okay,” and that was the end of that. By the time I attended the Down Syndrome…
Read MoreJust Like Me
Sometimes in the sheer busy-ness that is our life, I lose sight of the forest for the trees. Our family has had some pretty wonderful opportunities because of our unique circumstances. This school year, for instance, we have been speaking to elementary and junior high classes about Down syndrome. We started with Julianna’s public school…
Read MoreSeven
She’s been a little girl for so long, I’m just now starting to realize it’s time to let her start growing up…and in some cases, to push her to do so. She’s learning what mommies are good at (and good for), and she’s decided it’s worth choosing Mommy occasionally. And she actually calls me “Mommy”…
Read MoreBecause I don’t want my daughter to be ‘Peter Pan’
Julianna likes to run away. Actually, she doesn’t really run, and to say she “likes” it implies that she does it on purpose, to get away from us–neither of which is true. She simply thinks the world is there for her to explore, and it doesn’t occur to her that staying near her parents is…
Read MoreMostly Julianna (a 7QT post)
___1___ I mentioned last week that we’d had Julianna’s IEP meeting. I never really talked about it, though, and I thought some of you might be interested. Every single meeting concerning Julianna begins with the adult in question pulling their notes together in a stack, prepared to dive in, and then pausing to look up…
Read MoreIn Which Julianna And I Find Something In Common
I was nine years old the year I discovered figure skating. That was the year Katarina Witt won the gold medal at the Sarejevo Olympics, and it was my first fandom. In retrospect, I think what I loved most about her was the fact that she served as a mirror for me, or rather a…
Read MoreHow Julianna Feels About Having Down Syndrome
Last week Huffington Post ran a story on “how I told my 7-year-old he has Down syndrome.” I admit I saw that headline and thought, Huh. He doesn’t already know? See, we’ve always made Down syndrome an ordinary part of the fabric of life in this house, like bad eyes or an aptitude for music–it…
Read MoreIn Which Going to Church With Kids Completes My Entire 7QT Post
My mother told me once, “There were a lot of Masses when you girls were little that we didn’t get much out of.” This week was one of those for me. To wit: 1: Processional Cross A Because I walk with the toddler, I’m always the last one into church. I shepherd Michael through his…
Read More(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Julianna’s Letter To Santa
This…. leads to this…
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Kathleen M. Basi 