Sunday, April 8, 2012

I wonder

I don't know who this family is or who the little girl is but I adore her!  When I saw her we were in Disneyland watching a drumming show.  She loved it and her dad was doing a little jiggle to the beat which made the little girl squeal and laugh.

It is obvious the little girl has Down Syndrome.  I don't know what it is about kids and adults with Down Syndrome but I have always been drawn to them.  When they smile I get the same feeling in my heart that you get when your very young baby smiles at you for the first time.  I get that feeling every time.

When I first starting growing my family through adoption I thought for sure I would be adopting a child with Down Syndrome.  I don't know why, but I just did.  Since I have been raising kids the awareness and acceptance of children with the trisomy has increased to the point that if a family was going to adopt a child with special needs they wanted a child with Down Syndrome.  That meant there were wait lists.  When I filled out applications for adoption I never specifically asked for a child with DS as my 'criteria' was wide open and in knowing that the kids were fairly easily placed I figured unless there were severe accompanying conditions I would not be called.  I was right.  At least from the provincial program.

I have had two potential situations of infants with Trisomy 21, one boy and one girl.  The newborn girl I was called about a year ago February.  As far as I know her parents decided to parent her.  Really good news for them and their baby but tough to be brought into a situation and then not have it work out...for you.  As I am hopeful that another newborn will find their way to me I wonder if my last child (so I say now!) will come to me as I thought my first child would, with Down Syndrome.  I figure that would be another little funny God could play on me....waiting until I have fully assumed the stereotypical older mother look that used to be expected of a mother having given birth to a child with Down Syndrome.  Seems He really likes to yank my chain....

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