MOSAIC MOMENTS

Wow! It has been quite a week!

At the first of the week we announced our Genes Day in honor of World Down Syndrome Day.  In just five days we have seven teams and our top fundraiser is Treston’s Friends who have already raised $35! Way to Go Treston!

If you haven’t made a team yet, or have no idea what I am talking about, please visit our site here , so you can find out how you can spread awareness in your community about Down syndrome and mosaic Down syndrome!

I think I will begin highlighting the Genes Day top fundraiser at the end of each week here on my blog. That way, you get to show off your beautiful child and brag a bit about your fantastic fundraising skills! So… this is just one more reason for you to make a team!

Most of the US had crazy ice and snow all week, and even here in Texas we got our fair share! We had a bad ice storm earlier in the week  and everything was frozen for a couple of days. But not nearly as bad as the North and the NorthEast, so I am not complaining! If you live where there is ice and snow, please keep it to yourself.

In the midst of all our conference planning, I found myself again explaining that this is a Down syndrome conference! I don’t quite understand why it is so confusing to so many. Well… I do a little, because International Mosaic Down Syndrome Association is for mosaic Down syndrome, but I have written it in every form of writing, every brochure, all our websites, anything that I write…. AND, the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Cincinnati is hosting the event. So… just in case there is any more confusion (and I know that there still will be)

THIS IS A DOWN SYNDROME CONFERENCE! 

Because people with mosaic Down syndrome have the extra chromosome found in Down syndrome they do have all the same issues in development, learning and health, even if it may be in some cases a different degree of problems, they still can have these problems, so when we have our conferences we invite all the same speakers that anyone would invite to a Down syndrome Conference.

Our conference is on July 10-12 in Cincinnati Ohio. To find out all about it you can visit our conference page by clicking here.  We are planning for 34 speakers at the main conference and are still finalizing our planning for the Youth and the Kid conferences. If you would like to view the speaker list for the main conference along with topics for each workshop, you can click here for that. (yeah… I know… the speaker list is very exciting!)

In the midst of this all, I worked to sell my husband’s truck to pay bills. Apparently we really are in a recession and no matter how low the economy gets, the bill collectors still like to have their money!

Then, if all of that was not enough, Tim is co-conspiring with my dad and apparently they made a deal together that my dad would teach Tim to drive! Tim can drive and has off and on with my dad over the years. I just worry about slow reflexes if someone was to brake suddenly, or his ADHD taking over and he sees a butterfly and decides to watch that instead of the road! Yeah… I am probably being overprotective, but can a mom really be over protective? I feel like it is my job to keep him safe.

Oh well…. I can see hair coloring in my near future!

With the US government about to make a change in office management, everyone is scrambling to get in line for their voice to be heard. As an advocacy leader for mosaic Down syndrome and Down syndrome and a parent and grandparent of children with special needs, I can see the need for change in the way health care is handled for those with disabilities and special medical needs.

Medicaid waivers are meant to help individuals with disabilities and those with special medical needs, however the waiting lists for these programs is astronomical. Families and individuals find themselves waiting for much needed care and most waiting lists are between 2-10 years before the care is available to them. (waiting time varies in each area)

If you are a parent, an advocate, a self-advocate, a family member, a friend, a neighbor, or even if you don’t know anyone with a disability or special medical need, YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

You can go to Change.org and help bring this important topic to the top of the list to be addressed as part of the new economic stimulus package when Obama become president of the US.

The Medicaid Waiver topic must make it in the top 10 of issues through Change.org in order to make it to the White House. Currently, it is in 20th place! Only 1400 votes are needed to make it in the top 10.

Please click here to make your vote! It takes less than a minute to vote and will make a difference in hundreds of thousands of peoples lives throughout America!

VOTING ENDS ON JANUARY 15! DO NOT WAIT TO MAKE YOUR VOTE!

Please pass this information on and encourage all your friends and family to vote for this important change!

This time next week we will be over-stuffed from too much fried turkey and exhausted from too much family!

Since Christmas is almost here…. I finally began shopping today some! I was thinking about what to talk about today, and in my other blog I have been doing Christmas show trivia. If you are interested in having some fun and remembering some shows from your past and learning some interesting facts, you can click here for that blog.

So, in the Christmas theme, I wanted to share with you my MOST memorable Christmas moment with Tim. This will be a day that I will NEVER forget!

Tim was 3 yrs old and Arron was 7. We had a one room cabin in the Hill Country in Texas where we spent our winter weekends to go deer hunting. My mom had that “great” idea that we should all spend Christmas in this one room cabin. Now, when I say “one-room-cabin” that is really what I mean! This was a small square with two beds and a stove. We had just enough room for pallets on the floor for the kids. (keep in mind that I did not mention a bathroom in this description! but that is a whole other story!)

So… we are going to have Christmas at our deer camp. We got a small Christmas tree about 2 feet tall and I bought construction paper for the kids to cut out and make paper chains and tiny cards for us to hang on the Christmas tree-each saying something that the children wanted Santa to bring. We set the tree outside because there was no room in the cabin for extra things. The Polar Express had just come out in a book and Arron was so excited to tell me all about the story that he heard at school. So, we made sure that Santa would bring sleigh bells for the children to have.

Throughout the day I told Tim that when he went to sleep, Santa would come and bring him toys. And when he woke up, he could play with all the toys Santa brought him! I wasn’t sure if he really understood because after all, he was only 3, but I wanted to get him excited for the event!

THIS WAS MY FIRST MISTAKE!

After getting the kids to sleep, everyone else was ready for bed too. I told them to go ahead, because I needed to still help Santa set up the toys (at our house, Santa leaves out all the toys already set up and then just a few of them are wrapped). So, everyone went inside our tiny cabin and I got to work setting the toys up outside because there wasn’t enough room in our one-room-cabin to do this!

The temperature was about 20 degrees and the only light I had was from our camp fire and a single light bulb that served as a porch light. I didn’t think this would be too much of a problem. I figured I could put all the toys out and quickly get under the covers and get warm!

However, Arron had asked for micro-machine cities for Christmas! Each tiny city said “assembly required”.

Surely that wont be too hard, I thought.

THIS WAS MY SECOND MISTAKE!

Each mirco-machine city required DETAILED stickers to be attached. And, they were the kind of stickers that once they stuck…. they never came off! So, I had to get them completely aligned the first time or everything was messed up!

I had TWENTY micro-machine cities! Each tiny city had at least 5 stickers!

This was in addition to all the other toys that had to be set up and a tricycle that had to be assembled!

I was determined! By golly, everything would be set up before I went to bed! It had to be! There really wasn’t another choice.

So, sitting by the fire…. freezing and very little light…. I applied stickers and assembled bikes and put all the toys out for Christmas.

Finally at 4am I was finished! My back was breaking, my head was throbbing and I could no longer feel my fingers, but everything was set the way it should be.

I quietly tip-toed into the cabin where everyone was peacefully sleeping. I stepped over the kids and made my way to bed. I crawled under the covers, finally feeling a bit of warmth, and the moment my head hit the pillow I sunk down ready for some rest before the sun came up and Christmas began.

As I settled in and got comfortable and finally closed my eyes…………

Tim jumped from his pallet and said loudly, “SANTA! TOYS! SANTA! TOYS!”

I tried to convince him that Santa had not come yet and he really needed to go back to sleep, but the more I whispered, the louder he got!

SANTA! TOYS! SANTA! TOYS! it was like it became a chant for him and even 20 years later I can hear him excitedly exclaiming this!

Not realizing that I had just laid down, my mom and dad woke up and said, “Alright! Lets go see what Santa brought!”

I pulled the pillow over my head! I was exhausted!

But then Arron was up and he wanted to see too, even if it was FOUR IN THE MORNING!

So, I got out of bed and put my coat back on and we all walked outside in the freezing weather to see what Santa brought. Tim was ecstatic and rushed from toy to toy! He had a toy phone and he picked it up and said in the receiver, “SANTA! TOYS!” I guess the caller needed to know…..

Arron was thrilled with his micro-machine cities and played with them longer than any other toy he ever had.

My mom thought it would be great to take a picture of me that morning. I was sitting on the floor of the cabin showing Tim a toy and had a Christmas bow stuck to my head. (I don’t even think I knew the bow was there!) I look like death warmed over and basically felt like it too.

When Garrett came along, six years later and got old enough to understand Santa, I made sure NO ONE hyped him up for the occasion! At three years old, I think it is better to explain it when they wake up to find them! At least then, you might get some sleep!

Most people who read this blog are parents of children with Down syndrome or mosaic Down syndrome. Along with that, are other family members who have a loved one with Down syndrome or mosaic Down syndrome. Then, every now and then, we get a few who have family members with Autism or Asperger syndrome, or have it themselves. And then, our great family from Today.com  come in and enjoy a visit which I appreciate very much.

The other category of viewers are searching for information because they have either just gotten a prenatal diagnosis and are told when they are pregnant that their baby is going to have Down syndrome or mosaic Down syndrome, or they have a newborn baby with Down syndrome or a child with mosaic Down syndrome who was recently diagnosed. 

The final category of viewers are the curious by-standers who stumble here by “mistake” (I don’t believe in “mistakes”)

The biggest question that I hear from the people who do not have a child with a disability is “How can you do that? I could never deal with having a child with a disability.”

So, today’s message is for those curious bystanders and for those parents who are expecting a child with Down syndrome or mosaic Down syndrome or any form of disability. And, for the parents who have just received this diagnosis. And for those who think that for some reason we parents of children with any disability are somehow “Saints” because we have chosen to raise our children instead of abortion or institutions.

Never under estimate what you can do!

And, never, ever, measure a disability.

No matter what, we as parents certainly did not ask (well most of us didn’t…there are those few whom I do treasure who specifically did ask) for our children to have a disability. But it is what it is!

You can’t turn back. You can’t run away. and You can’t forget about this very special child that God has entrusted in your care.

And, you can not measure a disability!

Every single person on this earth has some form of disability.

I have at least two!

First I have dyscalculia. This is like dyslexia, but instead of letters, I confuse numbers. So, if you tell me 75 I will write 57… yes… writing that was difficult. I have developed a real fear of numbers and have struggled all of my life! I can’t balance a check book. I have trouble paying bills because I don’t know how much money I have. And when you just talk about numbers with me I have major anxiety!

“Wow!” you say… “That is horrible! There is no way I could deal with that! That has got to be the worse thing to happen to a person!”

I deal with it and have learned how to adjust to make things work. I do wish that I didn’t have it, because I know that others can write numbers and add and multiply without a problem! But since I do have it, my husband and my kids help me and it is what it is!

Another disability I have is degenerative scoliosis. What this means is my spine is curving more than a scenic route in Tennessee! It starts at the base of my head and continues to curve all the way down to the end. It is painful….extremely at times. Once I spent a whole year in bed because walking was just too much for me. And when I did have to walk, I could not without a cane. Filling the coffee pot for my husband’s morning coffee was excruciating because 8 cups of water was just to heavy for me to lift. On days where my spine does a roller-coaster spin, my organs push up against my ribs and I have horrible indigestion and have a real hard time breathing. Some days are good…some days are bad…. And I know that eventually I will be completely crippled by it.

“Wow!” you say “I can’t imagine living with all that pain! Having your spine curve like that has got to be the worse thing to happen to a person!”

I have to agree that it does indeed suck! I can’t do all the things I would like to do, but I have learned my limits and I am not sitting around moping about it. It is what it is! And there is not anything that I can do to change it!

Then, my son has mosaic Down syndrome, ADHD, and Asperger syndrome. All together! Over the years he has been extremely hyper, he’s been immature, he struggled some in math. (and I couldn’t help him with it!) He has extra sensory issues and auditory processing disorder. He takes daily medication for his ADHD, Allergies and Thyroid. As a child, he was deaf because of fluid back up in his ears and he had severe asthma.

“Wow!” you say “There is no way I could deal with all that! Having a child with a developmental disability has got to be the worst thing to happen to a person!”

I probably would say the same if I didn’t know better either. But because I am in these shoes I have a different perspective on life and know that there really isn’t anything that I can’t deal with. And, I love my son! And… He loves me too! It isn’t horrible… it is just different. But I have 5 sons and not one of them were anywhere near the same as the other! There are also some good sides to it all. And, having Tim is not much different than having Arron, Dustin, Stevan or Garrett! If you want to feel sorry for me…feel sorry that I never had a girl!

Then, there is my beautiful grandson, Aidan. Aidan has VATER syndrome. VATER is an acronym for many vital organs that are affected. When he was born he was missing a part of his esophagus, had a tube connecting his trachea and esophagus, had a collapsed trachea, his heart was backwards and he had several holes in his heart, he had kidney reflux and later a bone grew over his soft spot and for his first birthday he had to have his skull scraped and restructured. By his third birthday, I lost count of how many surgeries has has went through. When he was seven months old he went into cardiac arrest for the third time. This time-it was my turn to bring him back to life. He spent his first few years in the hospital more than at home and he now has a pacemaker that is working 90% of the time. Aidan needs a new heart. (these are just a few of his health problems)

“Wow!” you say “There is no way that I could have a child that sick! I just couldn’t do it! That has got to be the worst thing to happen to a person!”

It’s funny isn’t it…. First, you thought that you couldn’t deal with having dyscalculia and not being able to balance your checkbook. Then, you thought about your spine curving and all the pain and restrictions it involved. Next, you thought about having a child with a developmental disability like mosaic Down syndrome, ADHD, or Asperger syndrome and that this would be absolutely impossible to deal with. And then, you read about my grandson Aidan and all his health issues and decided that THAT was the worst thing to happen to a person.

You can not measure a disability.

Everyone has something. Each one has its downfalls and each has its blessings. Nobody is perfect! Not one person! Yes, you may struggle, but no matter what your child has or doesn’t have, you will still have struggles! My son with mosaic Down syndrome was my easiest teenager!

Yes, there will be times you want to throw in the towel and cry your eyes out. And, by the way… it IS ok to cry!

But don’t cry forever because if your eyes are always wet with tears, you wont be able to witness the miracle of a smile, or a kiss, or a simple “I love you, mommy” from your child.

That is what I think would be the WORST thing to happen to a person!

When Tim was about 9 years old, he was getting old enough for me to trust to play outside on his own….. I thought…..

I was pregnant with Garrett at the time and this particular evening I was cooking dinner, or at least I was trying to…. hamburger meat tended to make me very ill… just the site of it… so, I would stir the meat with my eyes closed and I my breath held (so I couldn’t smell it) and Tim was playing in the yard (so I thought).

While I was cooking, all of the sudden Tim came running in the house and had the most guilty look on his face that he has ever had!

He ran through the door, past the kitchen and down the hall to his bedroom before I could even ask anything! I holler down the hallway to him asking what is wrong, and he answers “Nothing”

I start my way down the hall (waddling mind you because I am pregnant after all) to confront the problem, whatever it may be, when all of the sudden there is a knock at the door.

Tim peered out of his bedroom door looking petrified. I asked him what he did wrong and he answered in a very small quiet voice “Nothing”

Knowing way better at this point, I went to answer the door. It was my neighbor and by the look on her face, Tim’s “Nothing” was definitely “Something”

She explained to me that Tim had gone from house to house and switched off every single person’s main breaker to turn off their electricity! (All this time, I thought he was playing in the yard!)

She said that someone had eventually caught him in the act and apparently that was when he ran through the house.

I thanked her, though I was mortified!

I turned off the stove (the smell of the meat was killing me anyway) and for the next hour, Tim and I walked from house to house. I stood out on the sidewalk to watch him and made him knock on each door an apologize to each person for turning off their electricity.

He never did have an explanation as to why he did this! I don’t think he really knew why he was compelled to put over 20 houses in the dark. Today he laughs about it…. I still am not laughing too hard…but maybe one day I will get passed the embarrassment of it all and when he has his own family I will get my wish that I have bestowed upon him ….

I told him I wished he had 10 kids just like him!

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Hi this is Garrett Colvin. I’m 12 years old and I am helping my mom today because she is very busy working on writing articles and finishing her grant for IMDSA’s conference. I am an A-B honor student in 7th grade and I would like to tell you about my brother, Tim. My brother has mosaic Down syndrome, but he is like everybody else. Yeah, he does a few weirder stuff then usual, but he is nice, trustworthy, and he is probably the coolest brother you could ever have. He is the person that some people call ‘retarded’, but to me he isn’t, he is smart and he is kind. I could go on and on about him, but I shouldn’t brag of how good my brother is to me. He could tell the most hilarious jokes ever. I always try to make him feel good about himself. Some brothers hate and can’t stand each-other, but me and my brother rarely fight.We love each-other,we spend time with each-other, teach each-other, and we just chill with each-other. If we ever fight it is usually the stupidest thing ever. I hope you people liked my first blog. Think to yourself,every now and then,when was the last time you spent with your brother?

As I have said, many times before, Tim was quite a handful when he was younger. Thankfully, he grew out of those hyperactive-into everything-age, but when I look back on it all, it is amazing that we all made it through!

This could be because he has mosaic Down syndrome or because he has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but whatever the reason, life with Tim was, without a doubt, an interesting journey!

One particular incident that comes to mind was when Tim was three years old. Tim often did things in the middle of the night when I was sound asleep. This particular night I woke to the smell of burning plastic and immediately my eyes popped open sure that the entire house was on fire!

I jumped out of bed and ran through the house to find the source of the smell. Upon entering the kitchen I came to a full halt realizing that this was indeed another antic of Tim’s.

MY KITCHEN WAS A MESS!

The refrigerator door was wide open with every single condiment, left over, beverage, vegetable and all 12 eggs just bought the day before were crushed into smithereens all over the kitchen floor!

Now, I wish I could say that that was the only trouble, but of course, we are talking about MY son, and there is no way that he would stop there!

He had successfully emptied the entire pantry and each box of macaroni, rice, crackers, and cookies were completely emptied and appropriately crunched to microscopic size throughout the kitchen floor and of course, on top of the wet eggs.

But that’s not all! There is no way that my story could end here, because this would be something that perhaps any typical three-year-old would do. And if my son is anything, he is NOT typical!

I don’t know how he did it….. I don’t even know where he got it…. but somehow, someway, Tim located and effectively opened each tiny container of food coloring and somehow, someway, I had a beautiful array of red, blue, yellow and green hand-prints and foot prints not only on the floor, not only on the refrigerator, not only on the cabinets, but I had foot prints up the kitchen wall! 

Now, in the midst of this mess, which is definitely NOT something you wish to see at two in the morning, I still had the dilemma of the smell of burning plastic!

I quickly found the source of the smell and the offender in which was purposing the smell. My tiny three-year-old son, with he round cherubic face looked up at me from under the kitchen table and said “I eat”.

Upon reaching down to bring my son from his hiding place I discover the toaster which had been on the counter and plugged in way above his head. The toaster was now plugged in to the outlet under the kitchen table and inserted in the toaster are two small plastic toy plates with Big Bird’s smiling face–well, he wasn’t smiling any more!

I quickly unplugged the toaster, closed the refrigerator door, sat Tim in the sink to quickly wash off the tale-tale signs of his adventure and asked him why he was up and “eating”. He jabbered something to me that I really could not understand completely and at 2 in the morning really didn’t care for an explanation.

I put him in fresh pj’s and told him to NOT get up out of bed until the sun woke up and made my way back through the kitchen, over the eggs and assorted condiments, past the rainbow of footprints and handprints and considered cleaning the mess, then reconsidered since I would be up in just a few hours anyway and went back to sleep!

The next morning when I took Tim to school, I told his pre-school teacher what he had done. She turned a crimson red and said that she felt it was her fault because she told the children when they wake up they eat breakfast!

I reminded her to add the disclaimer that NO ONE has breakfast before the sun is awake!

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OK… I obviously need a break from some things! So… I am going to vent… That is what blogs are for right? And after all, it is Saturday! I have endured enough this past week that I certainly have earned a day to vent! Haven’t I? And, many people who write blogs just write them to vent! The majority of blogs are not about information. The majority are more like diaries where people say I did this or I did that today….

So…. That is what I am going to do! I am going to vent!

Are you ready?

Are you sure?

Wait! I am having an A.D.D. moment! (I have those quite often when I have too much going on)

Don’t you just LOVE this picture of Garrett?

My mom bought me a great digital camera for Christmas. Only she couldn’t wait until Christmas to give it to me! (lol she is like that!) So, I took the picture during Thanksgiving. I think it will be dubbed my all time favorite!

Ok… Where was I?

Oh yes! I was going to vent!

This past week has not been the best of weeks, or maybe it has been a good week, but I have just had too much to do and I am apparently losing my senses because of it!

Either way… It has been a long week!

Conference Planning is NOT an easy thing! I am so excited about our 09 conference and I am so excited about all the fantastic things we have planned! However, this past week I have been working 16 hour days and sleeping about 6 hours a night and well… that tends to wear on a body after a while! LOL

But that is OK! It will all be worth it in the long run! Don’t believe me? Click Here!

See? Wasn’t that exciting!

So, at this point you are wondering if I have totally lost it. Not really… maybe a little…. well… no… I am sure I still have all my facilities about me! I am just tired!

Another A.D.D. moment:

Today Arron told me that my 5 year old grandson “Spot” was watching the leaves fall off the trees in the yard and he said, “Oh no Daddy! The leaves are falling!” Arron told him that was OK and that they were supposed to fall. Spot said, “But if they all fall out of the trees, what will the giraffe’s eat?”

LOL I have no idea what goes on in that child’s mind! I think I will laugh about that forever!

I have a little piece of paper on my refrigerator that says this:

“We all get heavier as we get older because there is a lot of information in our heads. So, I am not fat, I am just really intelligent and my head couldn’t hold any more, so it started filling up the rest of me!”

Well that explains my hips! There is far too much information in my head and it is times like this that I feel as though all the information is just going to flow out of my ears since there is no more room! Unfortunately, instead of flowing out…. I think it is flowing down!

OK…. I know I didn’t really vent too much here, but honestly you don’t want to hear it all! Besides…. It would just take more time and that was my problem in the first place!

Thanks for dealing with a little craziness today!

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I have been so busy this week with so many things, that I forgot to tell you all about an interview I did with Mompreneur. This is a great blog with great MOM stuff! So, please visit the site and read my interview here.

Yesterday, I told you about Tim and our “Popcorn incident”. Tim was, without a doubt, a mischievous child and always kept me on my toes!

Not long after this “Popcorn incident” we had another trip, this time just to the doctor, but probably one of our most “memorable” moments….

It was summer and school was out. I had had a very late night the night before and just could not keep my eyes open to save my life! So, while seven-year-old, Tim was watching morning cartoons I dozed on the couch. Every so often I would open my eyes just to be sure he was still watching TV and everything was OK.

Then all of the sudden he woke me up and told me that he had vomited.

I drug myself off the couch and made my way to the medicine cabinet for my trusty Pepto Bismol and administered the dose of thick, pink goo to my obviously ailing son. Then, as I made my way back to the living room, I realized he had not made it to the rest room for this event, so I detoured to the kitchen for cleaning supplies.

Now, keep in mind, had I not been so sleepy I would have asked all the pertinent questions that moms ask during this time. However, I was sleepy and it never occurred to me that Tim would have vomited for any other reason than feeling sick to his stomach.

Over the years I have learned to ask at least 20 questions to each of my sons when anything happens and I have learned to sometimes ask the same question in a different way, just in case they are withholding valuable information. In their minds, if they fail to give valuable information, they are not lying, they are just not stating the facts!

So… I cleaned the carpet, got some more Coca Cola (now I had to stay awake in case he got sicker!) and watched cartoons with Tim.

About an hour later, Arron woke up and immediately looked on the coffee table where his Labyrinth game sat, which he was playing the night before.

For those who don’t know what that is here is a picture:

The idea of the game is to turn the knobs and make the metal marble go through the maze without falling into the holes. Arron loved this game! It came with 2 marbles, but he had already lost one, so he was down to using the one marble and the night before he had almost made it through the maze.

So, he was ready to play again and all of the sudden he says…

“Where’s my marble to my game?”

Tim immediately had “The Cat who ate The Canary” look on his face.

I saw the look…. Arron saw the look…. Arron was mad!

He asked Tim what he did with the marble and at first Tim tried to deny any wrong doing. However, Arron is a persistent person and was not going to let up.

“Give me the marble!” He insisted with his hand thrust out for delivery.

Finally, in a small voice, Tim said “I can’t”

Now, this concerned me…. We have a rule in our house that does not allow anyone to say “I can’t” We can say “I’ll try”. We can say “I don’t want to”. We can say anything but we CAN’T say “I can’t”.

I was beginning to piece the events of the morning together….

I asked Tim why he could not give Arron the marble and he said because he swallowed it!

Panic set in…. I asked him if he was choking and that was why he vomited earlier.

His reply was…. “Not really…”

(see what I mean about the 20 questions?)

So here we went… I wont go through all the questions because I am sure it was far more than 20, but eventually what I got out of him was this:

He was playing with the marble while he was watching TV.

He put it in his mouth.

He swallowed the marble.

He tried to retrieve it with his fingers after it went down his throat.

This caused him to vomit.

He didn’t want to tell me because he knew Arron would be mad!

So, I have one child who is hopping mad and one child who is in potential danger. (not to mention the Pepto Bismol that was not needed!)

I called the doctor and they agreed that I should come in just to be sure that all is OK. My main worry was that this is not really a marble but a large ball bering and what if it obstructed something!

So, we pack up and make our way to the doctor’s office. When the doctor entered he was reading the chart and just shaking his head and laughing.

He wasn’t sure what he could do about the situation though. As he read the chart he saw the word “marble” and didn’t realize that this was a metal object.

So, when I explained that it was indeed metal, the doctor turned into a 12 yr old boy instantly! The prospect of an x-ray of a metal ball bering inside my son was “going to be cool” according to this once professional, 35 yr old adult!

And, indeed the x-ray was cool! The marble made its way to the stomach and you could see its perfectly round shape floating there on the film.

Arron, still steaming about his loss, wanted to know what he was supposed to do now about his game.

“You’ll get your marble back in a few days” was the doctor’s reply.

Arron did not find it as amusing as the rest of us!

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