The Milo Series 2/6: Jo/Mom
(THE MILO SERIES 2/6: Jo/Mom)
"In my pregnancy with Milo, I grappled with the expectation of raising a child with special needs. I thought back to my experiences with people with DS. All encounters had been generally positive, albeit superficial, but I just couldn’t imagine a baby or young child with Down syndrome, and like much of the world, my thoughts kept returning to the negative.
Even after Milo’s birth, when I knew I loved him and being his mom, I still found myself waiting for the other shoe to drop. I thought, maybe he won’t understand I’m his mom. Maybe he won’t say he loves me, or hug me tight like my other babies had done. In his early months, I remember soothing him with his pacifier, thinking back on his siblings and how as babies they eventually learned to grab a paci themselves. Perhaps this is it, I thought. Perhaps babies with DS are incapable of self-soothing.
A couple of weeks later, I watched as Milo, my sweet little baby in his crib, stirred in a mostly-asleep trance. With his eyes ever so slightly unsealed, he quickly located and grabbed his nearby pacifier with his chubby little fingers and clumsily popped it in his mouth, soothing himself back to sleep. I laughed at myself and stopped setting expectations for Milo then and there. Not because I didn’t think he’d meet them or because I thought he’d exceed them, but because they didn’t matter. My worrying about what Milo might or might not do did nothing to help him or me.
Milo is funny and charismatic. He loves dancing. He’s an ever-forgiving big brother, a mischievous younger brother, and a charmingly affectionate son. As far as I know, Milo loves his life, and that’s all that matters."
#ThisIsDownSyndrome #TheLuckyFewFoundation #TheLuckyFew
The Lucky Few Podcast Episode 151. Finding People That Don't Feel Sorry For You (ft. Jo Lopez)
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