Today I took a trip with Ricki, along with several women. Some of them don’t know me, but a few know me a bit, and a few know me pretty well. But none of them have seen me in the last year at least.
I expected that they would be surprised by my weight loss, but at first no one noticed. Then one of the women who doesn’t know me asked me my name , and when I said it one of those who knows me slightly turned and did a double take. “Rickismom, I didn’t recognize you!!!!” ( GRIN…..)
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Among other activities, we did a short hike through an ancient water way, a stone tunnel with water up to waist deep. Ricki was fairly scared, and went quite slowly. But larer as we were on the bus home, I asked Ricki what part of the trip she enjoyed the most (I half expected her to answer “Lunch”). She promptly replied that the water-hike was the best part. And then she added “I was scared, but I did it!!!!”
Often we are encouraged by the ill-informed not to challenge our special-needs children, lest they fail. I maintain that people with Down syndrome, like most others in life, enjoy that occasional success at something challenging.
2 comments:
You can't grow without a challenge.
Providing challenges to my daughter has been rewarding for both of us. She rises to the occasion, and works so hard to achieve the goal, full of well-deserved pride when she does! If she's unable to do it, letting her know that it's okay, we'll try again another time, is another good lesson, and it makes her even happier when she *does* finally do it. :-)
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