It’s been nearly three years since I last posted, and almost as long since I’ve written anything other than a Facebook status. Where have we been? What have we been doing? Where do we go from here? There was certainly a lot of life’s smaller details – the grocery lists, the school stuff, a surprise […]
About Melissa
Mom, writer, advocate, knitter.Author Archive | Melissa
Kindergarten
And so, here we are. The evening before one of childhood’s greatest milestones: the first day of kindergarten. It feels a bit anti-climatic after 4 years of school. I’ve processed leaving my child in the care of others, the total fear of putting a non-verbal child on a bus. We’ve done IEPs, communication notebooks, meetings, […]
Retard
Today is Spread the Word to End the Word Day. I first wrote this piece 2 years ago and I still haven’t come up with anything better to say about this word. It continues to be used carelessly and abundantly. It is low hanging fruit for comedians, it is a one-stop insult for people who […]
Voice
I’m sad. Recently, an exchange of words took place on Facebook, twitter, blogs, and large, national sites like The Mighty and Huffington Post. I’m sad because this is an opportunity missed. See, people with disabilities have been harnessing the power of the internet for a long time now in hopes of getting their own words […]
Book Review: The Parent’s Guide to Down Syndrome
I recently had the pleasure of reading The Parent’s Guide to Down Syndrome. (Amazon link here.) Full disclosure: when I first heard this project was under way, I was side-eyeing the heck out of it. Did we really need another book to give to new families? Didn’t we all get that one book at diagnosis, […]
A Nod of Her Head
Yesterday, I opened Rowenna’s backpack and pulled out a shopping bag. Her school offers a holiday shop and her class had taken their turn. We sent Rowenna with enough to purchase one item each for hubby, Afton, and myself. No instructions other than to let her aide know that Afton is 21 months old. So […]
When You Can’t Fall Back on Down Syndrome
I think it is pretty clear that I have a somewhat zen approach to Rowenna and her disability. And I really do feel it – Ro will get where she’s going in her own time. She’s shown me that on so many occasions and I know my job as her mom is to support her […]
The One Who is Here
Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. It is hitting my heart harder than usual this year. I’ve been wondering quite a bit about the babies I lost and who they might have been. I imagine having children of different ages, and I dream about having more than 2 sweet girls here in my […]
Down Syndrome Awareness 2015
October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month. Last year, I wrote a post with things to be aware of beyond Down syndrome itself. You can read it here. I read through the post again and went to do some fact checking before merely re-using the same post. I was hoping to need to do a major […]
Heart Day – 5 Years Later
Today is the 5 year anniversary of Rowenna’s open heart surgery. The longest day of my life. The hardest day of my life. The day a surgeon gave my girl a new lease on life, and rosy cheeks to boot. This is also the time I tend to sit back and take a little inventory […]
