Before the Buddy Walk this year, I sat down with Ian and had the big talk with him about Down syndrome. He's at the point when he wonders why Chase gets all the attention...and I just wanted him to hear it from us rather than from his friends.
So, I cornered him as he was coloring. I asked him if he ever heard the words "Down syndrome" before. He said yes, and I asked him what he thought it meant. He told me that it was when babies were really really sick.
Awww :( I think he remembers when Chase was in the hospital when he was born. I asked him if Chase was sick now, and he told me yes, he has a runny nose.
If it were just that simple!
I explained that Down syndrome doesn't mean that Chase is sick, just that he was going to need extra help and extra time to learn things.
Ian looked at me for a moment, and then asked me to help him find the brown crayon that he needed.
I guess it was only me that thought it would matter a lot. Chase is just Ian's little brother. The one that he has to hide his marbles from. The one that he has to put his drinks up on the counter so that they don't get spilled. The one with the runny nose. And it is totally normal to him.
8 comments:
Aww. That makes me smile. Thank God for chilren's wisdom!
this gives me chills and brings tears to my eyes. what an amazing thing about being a kid, open to everything, loving to everything, never noticing the things that somehow as we get older matter, i just wrote a paper about this in a different context. you guys are amazing. love you all
As Bryan probably told you, this was something we were concerned about prior to the Buddy Walk because we didn't want Leah walking around making inappropriate comments. She has started to notice differences. But it was SO not an issue. She only asked WHY we were walking for Chase.
That is so incredibly sweet!
Just as it is so normal for our kids over here too. Chase is just the cool 2 year old that has a lot of spirit and personality.
I wish that innocence and acceptance would last through adulthood. Chase has a long row to hoe. All we can do is make him strong enough to deal with it. I am so glad he has neighbors and friends like all you people in blog land!
I loved this!! I had a similar talk with Taylor-I loved Ian's response!!
Some day soon I will have to have this talk with my 4-year-old daughter about her little brother. I really hope it's this uneventful.
:)
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