In fact, sharing the theme of “What are you going to do when he grows up?” Has been my honor on sites across the globe and also ‘live’ at a Listen to Your Mother Event.
Following the “rules of blog” – I sometimes share moments from then (we have 33 years of material to choose from) and I share moments from now. If I leave you with a question in this down syndrome blog, feel free to ask it. If I leave you with a revelation, feel free to share it. If I post a general rant or big news that has nothing to do with Marcus, well, that’s the blogger’s prerogative.
Here are some blogs or subjects to start with. Or just scroll down for our most recent adventures!
Some of the Marcus Equation
When you have a child with an intellectual disability the tests come early and often. Medical tests, intervention tests, IQ tests.
IQ tests are the worst. On the parents. I’ll never forget Marcus’ first IQ test when he was maybe three or four years old. He communicated mostly with action/expression and sign language. But not that day, well I take it back...he was clearly communicating, just not compliant. An important differentiation that, as his mother, I could see but the Ph.D. in the room clearly could not, Or would not.
At one point, the psychiatrist held before Marcus a doll with its head off, laying in her hand next to its body. She held the decapitated doll and asked, “What’s wrong with this?”
Oh! Let me count the ways! I thought. “What are you trying to achieve here?” I asked.
“It’s a standard question,”
The People You Meet
Hello Friends,
TBH – The following thoughts come from a journal note jotted few years back
– but it could have been yesterday.
I’m thinking of the people we meet, when we’re walking down the street, or…in Marcus and my case,
when we sit at the bar.
Like the other night, Marcus and I went to a nearby restaurant and sat at the bar. Given the option, he prefers to sit at the bar. I asked him if this is so he can talk to other people or because he can watch sports. His answer: “Both.” So…there ya go.
Anyway, I want to share about our evening’s interactions.
Congratulations For Being In Public
First, shortly after we got our drinks we were approached
Music Therapy: Benefits and Our Experience
Photo Provided by Megan Catalibe Photography
Marcus has always been a performer in addition to a creator. The microphone is his instrument of choice. In his teen years and early adulthood, he often enjoyed going to Karaoke Nights with our friends. His specialty songs included Harry Belefonte’s “Banana Boat Song” and The Blues Brothers, “Soul Man,” among others. And, as you may know, in 2015 with the book launch of Black Day: The Monster Rock Band, there was the release of his music video featuring the song, “We are the Band (Black Day!).”
Brushfield Spots – The Coolest Genetic Trait Ever
I was one of those moms that stared at her baby constantly. I marveled at him. Luckily, my friends also enjoyed this pastime. Maybe because we were broke. Staring at Marcus staring at the ceiling fan, or lying next to him and staring at the ceiling fan, was a hobby we could all afford.
Also because he was beautiful, he smiled readily, and his eyes sparkled.
I watched his deep blue eyes, expecting them to change into brown, or hazel, or in-between-green-and-something-else, like mine.
After he turned a year old, I celebrated the knowledge: Those blue eyes are here to stay!
A few months later he was at an evaluation of some sort with several clinical and scary looking people and one of them used the words: “Brushfield spots.”