One Truth: Cate is a great swimmer! I have a long overdue post about her recent swim meet with some pictures about half ready to expand that. Cate being a great swimmer is in and of itself a truth but behind that lies a every bigger truth. If you are/were like me when you find out your baby has Down syndrome you go through a time of sadness that comes out in thoughts like "she'll never do <something> like I did". And really I still do it sometimes even with experience of being wrong in the past. Some of those things you thought that about will be silly or turn out to be irrelevant, some with haunt you, but a lot of them will just turn out to not be true. I worried when Cate was little she wouldn't be able or love to swim like me. The truth she loves it and is great at it. So the moral of my truth - that every time you think "she won't" remind yourself "she will if she wants to" if you just give her the tools.
One Tip: Trust your instincts. When Cate was a baby I was still in that "doctor/teacher/therapist knows best" frame of mind. These days I'm more likely to take all professional opinions in mind and add them to own ideas before I make a decision. No professional who sees Cate once a year, a month can know how she'll react to something. For example when Cate get sick, a lot of the time she'll push herself harder and become more stubborn instead of seeming tired or telling you something hurts. Actually if she says her tummy hurts or she feels sick it is very likely a reaction to a task that is hard for her (even when you don't see it that way), it is rarely actually a virus or bug. Many times when she was a baby she didn't get treatment for a bug until she was running a high fever or developing pneumonia. Now I try to trust my instincts that something is wrong when she starts getting whiny for no reason or seems to be pushing away from activities she normally likes. You always know your child best.
One Picture:
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| as proud of herself as we are of her! |
That is so awesome! My baby with DS looooves baths and actually cries when we take him out, which is basically opposite of my older son, so I am excited to take him swimming next summer and see how much he likes splashing in a pool!
ReplyDeleteHopefully he loves it like your Cate!