I forget that people see Down syndrome when they look at Tessa. We go about our business day-to-day and most of the time, it doesn’t occur to me that people might notice… and then they do. And every time, it sort of jolts me.
It happened twice this week, out of the blue. A much older woman stopped me at a family party to say “I have a granddaughter who is special also.”
“Oh?” I responded. Because how else does one respond to that statement?
“Yes, she has Downs. She’s 22 now, I think.”
I just smiled and said “I bet she’s lovely. This little child certainly is.”
Then today, much later after I had shown a new colleague some pictures of my girls, I absentmindedly starting talking about her weekly OT sessions.
“What is she working on with her?” she asked.
“Oh, well, her hands…” I stumbled. “I mean, she has Down syndrome, so…”
Her response was, “Well yeah! The picture.”
Right.
It is everything and nothing.
And now…. cuteness.
The best ones are always blurry.
Yo soy La Lay 
Ah! Was going to write about something similar, yet opposite. 🙂
Tess is just the sweetest. Can I bite her? Just a wee bit? 😀
It’s pretty comforting to know that across the globe, we all kind of deal with the same junk. 🙂
She is Tessa first. And, I love all the blurry pictures of Tessa smiling! She smiles with her whole body and just can’t sit still.
I know exactly what you mean. I sometimes wish Eva had Downs Syndrome just because it’s so much more recognisable to people. As it is, I know people are just puzzling over her eye and what’s wrong with her. But I know what you meant. I see Eva. I don’t see her eye or CHARGE Syndrome. You see Tessa. And she’s just so gorgeous.