Challenges and victories

I'm pretty sure I've shared this before, but Ralph is pretty awesome. I remember thinking he was the cutest baby ever, the moment I saw him for the first time. It was a brief but sweet moment of calm and pure love before our world caved in.

It wasn't Down Syndrome that devastated us, it was heart and lung disease...ambulance rides and snotty doctors...pulse ox monitors and experimental drugs...insurance, overdoses, oxygen and so on.

I recall with some embarrassment, the day the sweetest lady from the local Down Syndrome Society came to visit me at the hospital. I wasn't ready. I wasn't particularly pleasant. I wasn't convinced that my son would live long enough for me to concern myself with DS.

Ralph survived. He made it through one challenge after another. The challenges are different now, but we like to celebrate our victories. Like today...

Ralph was "caught with character" at school today. He was caught in the act of sharing toys with a classmate. For him to be interacting with his regular ed peers and to be accepted by them is a huge victory. 

It is one thing for me and my family to understand Ralph's awesomeness. It's a super special thing for the world to grasp it.