The Talk: Introducing Down Syndrome to Brother
I have been giving a lot of thought recently to my latest task as Joel & Alvaro’s mom. I have the honor and responsibility of sharing with Joel – that his brother has a condition that he has largely been unaware of. There is a sense of sadness that I feel as I think about it. The sadness does not in any way stem from Alvaro’s condition or extra chromosome. When Alvaro’s diagnosis was delivered, my lack of knowledge about Trisomy 21 (or Down syndrome) was profound. This unintentional ignorance led to a gamut of fears that weighed my heart down low the first few weeks after he was born. I was told by a number of people that once the initial shock and feelings of sadness subsided, that I’d look back and wonder what all the fuss was about. I was told by some very helpful medical professionals that my son was “normal” just like any other baby. It would just take him a little longer to do some of the things his typical peers were doing. They said before I knew it, life