Another Email. Re: Cookies.

I know I owe y'all an update from last week but I'm leaving for a lavish (*snort*) work sponsored/kid free trip to sunny SoCal tomorrow and have been working a LOT in anticipation.  Conveniently, Matt's back went out at the same time, and then he caught the flu.  Nothing but good times around here!

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An email to the office: 

     Subject:  March 21st... COOKIES!

     Alternative Subject:  The decorating seemed like a good idea at 11:00 last night.
     Or:  Why Martha Stewart need not fear me.

Guess what? Today is World Down Syndrome Day.  I brought in cookies to celebrate & also to bribe you to read the rest of this.

For our new folks and anyone else who hasn’t noticed all the adorable photos at my desk, my daughter has Down syndrome.

Quick factoids:

• Ds is caused at conception - The cells don’t divide evenly, leaving the baby with a third copy of the 21st chromosome (hence the 3-21).  Biology lesson HERE for the geeks amongst you.
• It was not caused, as one of our former co-workers asked, by mom’s bed rest while in situ.  No, I’m not kidding.  Someone really asked me that.
• It’s not “sad” or a “tragedy”, and she does not “suffer from” Ds.  She has Ds.  Like some of you have (insert various medical diagnoses).
• It did give her a wonky heart and she’ll have some learning delays but she’s a perfectly happy, curious, destructive little kid, like any other almost 4 year old.

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But, fair warning, I will take your head off if I hear you use the word retarded.
For those of you who object to the language police:

• It is not “just a word”.  Until recently it was used clinically to describe kids just like my daughter.  But then it was co-opted by 8 year olds on the playground trying slander other 8 year olds and fell out of favor.
• None of you went to medical school, you aren’t using it in a clinical fashion, and no one ever drops it into conversation to describe rainbows & puppies.  It is as objectionable as any other word used derisively to describe entire populations.  If you don’t know which other words I’m talking about, I will happily give you examples… in front of witnesses.
• Whatever lousy thing your claimant did or didn’t do, it doesn’t compare.  Cognitive disabilities suck.  You don’t mock Alzheimer’s patients or war vets with head injuries [At least I hope you don’t].  It’s not OK to mock 4 year old little girls either.  Y’all are reasonably bright people - FIND A NEW WORD.
• Last - I suspect my daughter is going to hear it enough on the playground.  She doesn’t need to hear it from her mommy’s coworkers.  You wouldn’t tolerate anyone who made your kid cry either.

Cheers. Enjoy the cookies.

I made the photo blurry & tweaked the color because in real life they...

were even sadder looking.  This is why I'm not on Pinterest.