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motherjungle
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A mother in Costa Rica writes about her life, how to survive in the jungle (and the jungle of life), parenting, and if she can find it, how to eat a good Creme Brulee.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'down syndrome'
With just a sneeze, I’m loaded for battle
Coco sat on a chair in the living room, waiting for the French Toast to finish cooking. I peeked out from the kitchen to check where we were “at” in the morning routine. In 1/8 of a second this is what my brain scans:Are-you-ready-for-school-are-...
Without a sense of humor, nothing would be special
Ex-pat life involves airplane travel. Many lives do these days. Some of us live in New York and fly home to visit the folks. My brother travels all over Europe and the Mid-East for his job, squeezing in visits with his kids while balancing the duties...
This is what it's like to live with Down Syndrome
There are times I hold my son, often late at night, when it’s sometimes rough; when he isn’t breathing well; and I wonder what I am doing. He is so fragile in my arms as he struggles to sleep and to breath in peace. I am in complete control of hi...
This is what it’s like to live with Down Syndrome
Vendors beckoned people in the mall to try their product. And, it was crowded. I needed to pay a bill and pick up something at the grocery store, so there I was, one of the many.I noticed a boy, about eleven or twelve standing behind his mother. She ...
This is what it's like to live with Down Syndrome
At Addison's last therapy session, I confessed that it just didn't seem like he was progressing. At times the milestones seem so slow in coming, it feels like we've pushed the pause button."No. No," said the therapist as he taped animals and toys to ...
This is what it's like to live with Down Syndrome
Retarded.There’s THAT word. Remember the jokes about being “retarded?” The word has become a bit taboo, but it still floats around. We’ve all gotten more politically correct and switch to words like: cognitive disabilities, mental disabilitie...
Take that Mr. Ego you big old bully!
One night my daughter couldn’t sleep. There’s been a few of those lately. I think “we” parents can too quickly overlook the intensity that children feel over things. Sometimes divorce isn’t so easy to take: a new life, house, and family ord...
This is what it's like to live with Down Syndrome
I end up in the hospital more than I’d like. At midnight, Addison couldn’t breath. It sounded like he was choking. His glands swell as easily as a bird flies. It’s a toss up between an allergic attack and a viral infection. Every so often I hav...
This is what it's like to live with Down Syndrome
Some days I just have this little boy. A boy who likes to swim and bask in the sun.Some days I just have two children. And, they are the same in all their differences.Some days I just have it all.Some days are every day.Some days are....
La Bamba performs magic every day in our house
Awhile ago, I wrote about the miracles of the song La Bamba. Now, the song has appeared again in our lives, quite by accident (the debate of whether anything is an accident…well for another time…). A friend that was leaving for the States gave me...
This is what it's like to live with Down Syndrome
A crimp in my neck runs from under my skull, over my shoulders, and splinters off down the spine. I went to bed fine; woke up as I fought off a camel hogging the bed all night. Turning to the right is downright painful and the rest of life’s every ...
This is What It's Like to Live with Down Syndrome
Sometimes I have thoughts I don't want to admit. When I was in the hospital and sat day after day next to Addison existing, surviving and sometimes barely breathing in his incubator for a month after his birth, I watched other babies come in the NICU...
Small child blows away myth
Addison woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I just had a sneaky feeling that we were in trouble when he woke up an hour earlier than usual. Even though he had a bright smile on his face, I could see that look: mom, I'm going to be crabby, cry, scre...
I admit to overdoing it once and awhile
Addison went to his first birthday party. Parties at our house tend to gather around small dollops of ice cream and lopsided cakes. I've even been known to re-wrap birthday presents that I gave earlier in the day to the same child. The birthday girl...
This is what it's like to live with Down Syndrome
I sat down in Addison's school and watched the children stream in for morning classes. Tiny tots kissed their mother or father good-bye and grasping the hand of a teacher, following the flow of students to the garden to play in the morning sunshine. ...
This is What It's Like to Live with Down Syndrome
Mingling with a group of new people the other night, I was asked several times: What do you do?I stumbled over the answer. A few times, I actually didn't know what to say. This is when I become torn on telling someone I'm meeting for the first time t...
This is What It's Like to Live with Down Syndrome
Tomorrow, my little guy goes off to school. I filled out forms - just like the other moms did. I gathered papers from doctors - just like the other moms did. I got two little passport photos for his file - just like the other moms did. I paid the tui...
What a Man
"Potty training" is a bore. My daughter zipped through the process at 1 year and 9 months. She was out of diapers - day and night. But that meant: time in the bathroom. Lots of time sitting there, waiting for things to progress. Unless it is my quali...
I'm Keeping All My Parts, Thank You Very Much!
Addison caught a cold. What kid doesn't? Two months later, Addison's cold has manifested into bronchitis. All was slowly, very slowly, clearing up, but a week ago it took a turn back to where we started. Plus, since the windy season has started in C...
Why Does the Caged Bird Sing?
As I was furiously scrubbing the shower free of it's scum, I simultaneosly was cursing everyone who wasn't living up to my standards. You didn't do this for me!Why did you do that?Well, let me tell you a thing or two.....Needless to say, I was not ha...
This is What It's Like to Live with Down Syndrome
Most parents know the ups and downs of babies. I mean the picking up, the putting down, the picking up and the putting down especially when the tyke turns to walking. In our case since my son spends all his time scooting on the floor, the ups and dow...
Thinking It Through
In January when the Trade Winds blow into the Central Valley of Costa Rica, I am never amazed at their force. Blow and blow and blow. Trees bend; roofs rattle; hair styles are shot; cars shake; and dust is everywhere. It like living with the winds of...
When I Think I Have Problems....
Whenever I think I´ve got it tough, I think of my son. Every attempt he takes at walking, putting one foot in front of another, takes so much effort and thought - I do it without blinking. For most of his life, he struggles to breath. This morning ...
Stand Alone
Addison stood alone today. Three cheers for the little boy that could....
Stand Alone
Addison stood alone today. Three cheers for the little boy that could....
This is What It's Like to LIve with Down Syndrome
There's always something new to buy: balls, gadgets, exercise equipment, feet simulators, music therapy, miracle walkers, swings - all promising the results I hope for. So many well intended people approach me with the name of another therapist I sho...
Allergic to Bananas in Central America?
Bananas are every where in Costa Rica. I mean, we grow them here. Drive out to the coast and you'll get to see fields of banana trees plump with fruit waiting to ripen and be sent to far away lands to decorate an ice cream sundae or moisten quick bre...
Everything Happens for a Reason
What exactly are the reasons?“Things” happen and I think we, as a people, seem to ignore exactly what is going on; plowing forward and keeping our little world going; maintaining the life that fuels our patterns of behaviors; repeating the sins o...
This is What It's Like to Live with Down Syndrome
In the past three years, there were many times I thought I was going to die. Not metaphorically, literally. I felt it would just be a matter of time until I was just skin and bones. Ashes to ashes dust to dust. Medical problems happen to every kid. A...
This is What It's Like to Live with Down Syndrome
My son talks so much; interacts so much;understands so much; I am confident of his brilliance. I wonder, like every other mom - what he will be - what he will do in life. He's already bilingual, plus he can use sign language (in Spanish and English)....
