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What World Down Syndrome Day Looks Like in My House
Today began with a mad dash for an appropriate tee shirt. I was still on my first cup of coffee when Annabelle skidded into the kitchen, on the hunt. I had to explain to Ray what World Down Syndrome...
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Elephant in the Room
Each year in honor of National Poetry Month, Center Dance Ensemble — a modern dance company in Phoenix — celebrates with American Voices, short original pieces inspired by poetry, held in the small...
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Me and My Shadow
I’m a big fan of Ellen Seidman’s blog Love That Max, so I was really excited when she invited me to write a guest post. Here’s what I came up with, and I’m posting it here in case you don’t follow her...
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Why Can’t I Be You?
Years ago, as elementary school came to a close, Ray warned that Sophie’s Salad Days were ending, too. I completely agreed. Gone, soon, would be carefree days of feeling accepted, of being fully...
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Would Someone Please Sit with My Kid at Lunch?
The other night in the Target girls’ section, I noticed a campaign aimed at kindness. Tee shirts with sayings like “Come Sit With Us” and “Kind is Cool.” I smirked. If only it was that easy. In my...
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“I have Down syndrome,” she Snapchatted the boy.
Sophie and I got our nails done on Saturday. Hers never take as long as mine so after she’d finished, she parked herself at the front desk of the salon and flirted with the young man who books...
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Gratitude Mix
I decided to make a mix tape for Thanksgiving, a gratitude mix. I started off with “Thank You Friends” by Big Star and had every intention of including other simple expressions of thanks — a fun...
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The Year Without a Santa Claus?
The girls spent the night at my mom’s house on Thanksgiving. I took the opportunity Friday morning to drag all the bins marked XMAS out of the holiday closet and burn new copies of my favorite...
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My Letter to Sophie’s Junior High: Let All the Kids Take Drama, Not Just the...
Dear administrators, teachers, and staff: Before I say anything else, thank you. Thank you for creating an incredible environment for my daughter. Two and a half years ago, I sat in the audience at...
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Let’s Stick a Fork in the Term Mental Retardation
The other day I took Annabelle, Sophie’s big sister, to a doctor appointment at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. The doctor recommended a flu shot and, glancing at the consent form, I noticed the term...
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All I Want for Christmas
Sophie is terrified of Santa Claus. Either that, or she’s completely full of shit. We’re less than a day out from Christmas, and I’m no closer to knowing the truth than I was the day after...
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Nobody Puts Sophie in the Cupboard
I sobbed my way through three performances of Beauty and the Beast this weekend. “WHO ARE YOU?” my friend Trish asked as I wiped away tears yesterday afternoon. The curtain hadn’t even gone up yet. “I...
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Transitions
We talk all the time about how tough transitions are for kids with special needs. Hard on all kids, to be sure, but particularly tough when your kid’s brain is hard-wired at the cellular level to...
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Why I’m Buying Brain Hats for Both My Daughters — Including the One with Down...
I will admit that I was kind of meh on the whole pussy hat thing, but as soon as a post about the brain hat popped up on Facebook I was all over Etsy, looking for someone to make me three. One for...
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Sophie and Algernon
I got an earful from the social studies teacher today at parent/teacher conferences. Apparently Sophie has had a crush on House Speaker Paul Ryan since the fall, which causes her great consternation...
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What I Learned at Career Day
For the first two years, Ray repped the family at middle school Career Day, talking about life as a journalist. It was a good thing. Really, what would you rather hear about — the time Ray volunteered...
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Sophie at The Plaza
I swear the guy smelled her coming. We had barely set foot in the lobby of The Plaza when he swept up, a slight young man in a dark suit, holding out a small bag of jelly beans. “Would you like...
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A Midnight Summer’s Dream Come True
The reviews are in for this morning’s eighth grade production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” or, as Sophie kept calling it all semester, “A Midnight Summer’s Dream.” The production was nothing fancy,...
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Listen to Each Other’s Stories
A couple of things are clear. Eventually, the U.S. Senate will vote on so-called health care reform. And it won’t be pretty. Maybe it won’t be as bad as we think, maybe they won’t cut 22 million...
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Maya and Me — and a Cake Shaped Like the State of New Jersey
Maya was my first real friend who also happened to have a kid with Down syndrome, made difficult but not impossible by the fact that she lived on the other side of the country. And we’d never met. We...
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