"That Down Syndrome Smell"

Phew, got some sleep last night and am feeling better today. Too bad I have a ton to do, need to finish laundry and pack up for the 5 of us to go visit Nana and Papa today. Doug and Papa are taking on construction of Papa's deck. Yikes! Not another giant project!

Wednesday, Doug decided to go see Aidan at school and have lunch in the cafeteria with him. Guess he had a hankering for mystery meat. Unfortunately, he didn't call early enough to get added to the lunch count, so he couldn't eat but was welcomed to sit with Aidan. Doug arrived a bit early and was waiting in the lunch room for Aidan's class. He saw kids from the special needs resource room enter the cafeteria first. As he was standing there, a young girl with Down syndrome came up to him and gave him a hug. He said "Hello! Are you ready for some lunch?" She smiled and said yes. Then, a young boy with Down syndrome came up to Doug and hugged him also. Doug smiled and told him hello as well. He watched them get their food and sit down to eat. He said he was surprised to see that the teachers and paras did not assist the kids with eating, they all tackled it on their own. He laughed as he saw the little boy with Ds pull his hamburger apart, then sit there just licking the patty. Must be a ketchup fan like our Aidan.

Finally, Aidan's class arrived and Aidan was so surprised and excited to see Daddy at school. He had Daddy sit between him and his friend Janae. All the kids told Aidan it was cool that his dad was there, one boy said "That's not fair! My daddy never came to have lunch with me!" I have a feeling that several kids reported back to their parents Wednesday night.

SO, yesterday, Sean's preschool teacher made a home visit. The preschool kids get one home visit a semester and love having their teacher come to the house to see them. Sean gave her his "Uncle Tom whistle" (he puts his fingers by his mouth and tries to whistle like his Great-Uncle Tom did), he told Miss R to "Come on!" and dragged her around the house.

I told her about Doug's trip to Aidan's school and how neat it was that the two kids with Ds singled Doug out for hugs. She said, "You know, I always have toddlers come up to me when I go places. I tell the parents it's because I'm a preschool teacher and have Preschool Smell on me. You guys must have that Down syndrome smell on you!"

I hope so. :) I love meeting the angels amongst us.