Christmas is always a good time at our house as there are many people to see and to refresh old relationships. This year was no different. After having an intimate family time of breakfast and gift exchanging at our house Wednesday morning, we loaded up and headed down to spend Christmas Eve with my parents and 4 siblings.
All of my siblings read my blog and knew about Johns' diagnosis when we were first told. And all of my siblings except my brother John have met him so it was a time that we both had looked forward to for a while. Earlier this year, he and his wife had their first baby girl who is one month older than John. We both looked forward to bringing these two together for the first time. It is always great fun at our house when the cousins get together.
The two newest of the cousins got along as well as a 6-month and 5-month old can get along and there were many opportunities for photos of the two of them together. It was good to see the two of them interact with each other. It was also good to see how loving and accepting everyone was to my John without the focus being on the fact that he has Down syndrome. Yes, there were times of swapping of information from our experience with John but that wasn't what defined him. What defined John was his warm personality and his plentiful smiles.
John didn't need me to explain his diagnosis to people in order for them to understand him. As a matter of fact, my explanation probably would have just gotten in the way. John did a great job of explaining his diagnosis himself. It was good to see them enjoy him for who he is - a personable and interactive baby boy. This is one of the great gifts of family - to accept and love you just the way you are. Thank you my extended family for this gift.
