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We had Grace
almost a year ago now. She's going to be 1
in the beginning of April.
When she was born
was when we found out that she had Down Syndrome.
You want to be excited about
having a new baby,
but then there's a
a big lump in your throat about
what it all means so,
it's tough.
When we first started going to
the Children's Hospital,
the Down Syndrome clinic,
the way it was explained to us was that children
with Down Syndrome do everything
that typical kids do, it just
typically takes them twice as long
to do so.
Why would we just accept the fact
that they say everything
takes twice as long?
We're after to get Gracie to walk on time,
talk on time, and think
just like a typically developing kid.
When she doesn't have the ability to move like her
peers, she's limited to
what we put in front of her.
So her development is limited to whatever
we happen to put within her reach.
Now unleash Gracie in a harness
that provides some vertical support
that hugs her so she feels
comfortable, but now, a little
bit of movement goes a long way.
A little bit of toe movement when I'm standing,
can get me to twirl. A bilateral
jump with both legs,
and she's off. What a harness
can do, is just give a chance
for Gracie to never experience
anything less than her own
independence. Her own self-guided
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,
but it's the pursuit
of happiness that we have to do.
And I fully expect that in 10 years
Gracie will be an 11 year-old
full of adventure and
causing havoc.
I hope that she enjoys being a kid
and doesn't have to deal with a lot of the I hope that she enjoys being a kid
and doesn't have to deal with a lot of the
a lot of
heartache from other kids
or being
not invited to things or
treated any differently.