The Look

Yesterday was a fabulous day because I had good quality alone time with both of the little ones.  I dropped Little G off at Mother's Day Out at 9:00 and headed over to the BX with Griffin.  He is the easiest going little shopping buddy ever.  He just takes in scenery and is just as calm as can be.  I even forgot to bring Giraffe Meat but he didn't seem to mind!

As we are shopping, I'm constantly getting "the look".  I'm not exactly sure what "the look" actually means but I get it from just about every one that passes by.  It's a kind, pleasant, but almost sympathetic look.  Sometimes I will hear, "awww he's so cute!".  Sometimes I will get stopped and they will just randomly ask how old he is, maybe wanting to ask more but they don't know how to bring up the subject of Down syndrome.  Sometimes I feel that some of those people with the sympathetic smiles feel sorry for me, for us.  If they only knew, huh?  We chose him this way.  We wanted him this way.  He is perfect to us, just the way he is.  He is the bombdiggity.  He loves his little life and rules over it!  LOL.  Yep, I love him tons.

What cracks me up is when I'm sharing our adoption story with a random someone and they have this completely shocked look on their face like, "ummm, you do know that he has Down syndrome, right?"  Yeah, I get it, he doesn't have a lot of really strong facial characteristics of Ds, but they are there, they are noticeable, and I think he is crazy handsome because of those characteristics!  I think he is at his absolute cuteness when he does his expressions that brings out those Ds characteristics the most!  Like, for some reason, when he's laying down in the bathtub with only his little face out of the water... or when he signs "all done", or when he briefly sucks on his tongue.  UGH I love that little face!

Around 10:15, I decided to take Griffin to the food court to get his lunch started.  I knew that I needed at least an hour to feed him because he eats so slowly.  I needed to have him at his preK at 12:00.  So I got him a child's turkey sub and cookie and sat down at a table that was right along the walk way through the food court.  We got several "looks".  But one particular look made me stop and take notice.  A lady walked by us and I could feel her gaze before she even passed us by.  I looked up and she smiled but held total eye contact with ME.  Not Griffin.  There was a connection and I was struggling to figure out where I may know her from because it was that intense.  Then, her son popped forward in his stroller and looked directly at Griffin and said, "EAT!".  Her son has Down syndrome.  (okay, I'm tearing up now as I write this.)  What I really wanted to do was wave her down and ask her to join us.  There is a connection in the Ds world.  There are no strangers here.  The look that she gave me was, "They are awesome, aren't they?"  Yes.  They are.  Absolutely awesome.

We sat there for the next hour as he slowly ate his turkey sub, the grand finale being a diaper explosion, so I scooped him up and headed to the bathroom, right as the mother and son strolled back by.  She warmly waved, I waved back, and hopefully we will officially meet one day.

Due to the poop explosion, we barely made it to PreK on time.  Chris, thankfully, was able to pick Little G up for me and get her started on a Happy Meal until I could meet up with them.  He is such a great father and husband!

While waiting to drop Griffin off, a lady walked by in a reflective vest, so she works outside in some way, maybe as the crossing guard, and asked me if this is the new little guy that she has heard so much about.  Kind of caught me off guard!  She then assured me that the teacher would be out to pick him up right at 12.  By that time, an assistant teacher walked by and said, "OH!  Is this Griffin?!?!?"  Wow.  So it seems that my little guy has already made a name for himself in this school.  LOL.  The teacher came to the door and I was allowed to walk him to class.  I waved goodbye to him and away I went to get my Little G.

I met up with Chris in a parking lot where he had Little G sitting on his lap, feeding her a hamburger.  We traded off and he went back to work.  After she finished eating, I took Little G to a park on base and let her burn off some energy.  She really had a great time and I could tell that she was enjoying her mommy time.  The equipment was wet, though, so she was limited on what she could play on, which was a bummer.  I thought I was going to have a fight at the end, but she saw another kid with a juice box and I just so happened to have one in the van.  So I asked her if she wanted to go to the van and get her juice box and she said yes!  So we dodged a bullet on that one.

I was shocked when Little G didn't fall asleep on the way to get Griffin.  She must have been wired!  When we got to the door to pick Griffin up, she patted the stroller next to her to show the teacher where Griffin needed to sit.  His teacher went on and on about how great Griffin did and said that if she could have 6 months with him, that we would see a totally different child!  She took notice of his determination and curiosity and was extremely impressed with his abilities.  I pray that we can get extended here for the remainder of the school year.

By the time we made it out of the school parking lot, Griffin was asleep with Giraffe Meat.

Little G skipped a nap all together and was not a happy camper.

We had some great friends over for dinner, after the little ones were in bed, and they are almost done with their adoption process!  We had a wonderful time and I'm just so excited that they are on the homestretch of their adoption!  What great parents they are going to be!!!!

But anyway, have I ever mentioned how much I love being a mom?  It ain't always easy, but it's worth it.  So worth it! ;-)

Love and Hugs!