FACT – Ethan is the cutest kid ever

I was originally going to post about our Christmas –but Christmas pictures will have to wait till tomorrow!
 

See, last night we had our first “encounter”. 

What first encounter you ask, well obviously not the R word 1^st encounter. You’ve all heard me on those already. But the first encounter where a complete stranger can see that Ethan has Ds and said something! Yes that encounter!!! 

First of all, YOU ALL Ds mommies do think “does anyone else see the Ds in my child?” Yes you do. Don’t deny it. Every time we go out, it is a guarantee that someone will compliment my little booger. We get all sorts of variations of “oh he is soooo cute!” as well as a lot of “he is the happiest baby ever.” 

Do they see my son and say “that is the cutest baby with Ds” or are they saying “that is A CUTE BABY”? 

Regardless of what they are trying to say, I always take the compliment. He is a great looking kid. Definitely a head turner and attention grabber. That is a fact. Not just a mother’s rambling! FACT

 (Down syndrome or no Down syndrome, Ethan is the cutest little brat I’ve ever seen -Sorry JJ! I know you think Zack is the cutest kid ever, BUT….)

…back to the story:

Last night we went out for dinner to Joes Crabshack. One of the waitresses there was playing with Ethan, but Ethan wasn’t having it. Yes, that is odd since Ethan loves people and he will flash you a smile from a mile away. The waitress mentioned she was pregnant with a boy and said that little boys just don’t like her right now. You’ve heard that old wives tale. When you are pregnant with a boy, little boys don’t like you but little girls are drawn to you and vice versa.

She even brought him a peace offering – a slice of pineapple. Ethan didn’t care for it. A few minutes later, she comes back and asked Gabby’s age. We replied with 9 and she then said it…

“Have you ever read The Man Who Loved Clowns?” All of us looking somewhat confused looked at each other and said no. Talking to Gabby, “You must read this book! I grew up with an uncle with Down syndrome and this book really helped me.” 

She made the connection. She KNEW our baby boy had Down syndrome! Wooohoo! Finally –out in public and someone said it! 

The waitress talked about how her and her uncle (or was it her cousin..?) where very close since they grew up together. About the same age, 25 yrs old, and how she really loved her uncle but growing up was hard to see him being ridiculed and she had a lot of anger building up until finally one of her teachers at school, who was partially deaf and had a little boy with Ds recommended that she read The Man Who Loved Clowns. The book helped her tremendously and highly recommended that Gabby read the book. I am happy to say that our first encounter was definitely a positive one. 

On our way home we had a mini heart to heart with Gabby. We told her that one day it might get hard. One day there will be someone out there that will be mean to her brother. They will make fun of him and yes she will get upset, especially because she will not understand how someone can be so hateful to someone like her brother. Not everyone will be able to see the greatness in Ethan, but hopefully she can be strong and remember that Ethan is her brother and we will stick together and we will face those issues together. 

She said “why would anyone want to be mean to Ethan? ....Ethan is more perfect than any of us.”

…I am so lucky to have the daughters l have and the son I have.

(If anyone has read the book please let me know what you think about it. I read the reviews online and they were amazingly awesome.)