Another Day For Jammies Only

Originally uploaded by sammi's mom

Two weekends in a row now we have spend one of the two days home in our jammies. Yesterday was just too bitter cold and windy to go outside, and Samantha has come down with a cold. Amazing, though, how she can be as snotty as she is, sneezing, probably achy, etc., yet she was just so fun and cheerful all day! Way back when, in the pre-child days, staying home in jammies was very different--I could read, sleep, bake (hahaha)...but now it's spent trying to find things to entertain a 2 1/2 year old and following her around the apartment to try to keep her out of trouble. Oh, in a related bit of exciting developmental news, Samantha has gotten very good at blowing her own nose! We still have to use the bulb syringe on occasion, but she's able to get a lot of it out herself. She is fascinated by tissues--if you leave a box anywhere near her, she'll keep pulling tissues out and blowing her nose on each one before chucking it on the floor.

Saturday nearly turned out to be a jammies only day, but I felt guilty and wanted to get her out of the house. So I bundled her up like a snowman/child and we went into Old Town to see Santa arrive by boat on the Potomac. MAN, it was cold! But you really couldn't beat the atmosphere. As we got there it started snowing, and I
parked the stroller in front of a brass band playing Christmas carols. That kind of thing always gets me teary-eyed for some reason. I think it's that I sometimes feel overwhelmed with the fact that I'm able to share something so perfect with my Samantha. I can't remember if I ever mentioned this before, but when we found out she had Down syndrome when she was born, I had visions of a zombie-like woman-child holding my hand for the rest of my life, not appreciating things like music, art, fashion, travel, etc. And to have her bouncing in the stroller to the music in such a moving environment during my favorite (holiday) season of the year, just means so much to me.

I reconnected with an old friend on the phone last night. I hadn't spoken to her in 3 years, since I was about 6 months pregnant with Sammi. I told her, in all truthfulness, that Samantha is a wonderful gift and that I wouldn't have her any other way. We had a long, heartfelt conversation about how special life is, and without me even mentioning the crusade that so many parents of children with special needs are on, my friend said that there needs to be education among the doctors who give prenatal diagnoses to provide better facts to mothers-to-be about the capabilities of children with Down syndrome instead of putting pressure on them to terminate their pregancies. She described the Changing Lives program perfectly, without even knowing it existed! Okay, so how did my blog about staying in jammies get to this? Yikes.