We reached a very special milestone (for me, anyway) last week. Ever since the day my son was born, I've had people remind me, "Well, at least one day he will get to participate in the Special Olympics." Which, when presented in this way, gave me more anticipation than relief. So when he finally reached the age to participate, I was both nervous and excited. It was a track and field event--something he isn't really familiar with--but we knew he would have fun racing, throw

Four or five years ago my kids discovered Yo Gabba Gabba. And thus began my love/hate relationship with the show that at the time I described as a “’shroom-like psychedelic trip for toddlers.” The first time I saw it we caught the tail end, where they do a remix of sorts with all of the songs from the episode against a backdrop of wildly-animated patterns and images of children performing sporadic dance moves. I remember thinking it must be one of those shows made to engag

I've been taking an extended leave from blogging for a few weeks for a variety of reasons, but it's been on my heart to get back on here and interact with all my blogging friends. Mostly, I've been busy trying to find a full-time job, but in the interim, I've had quite a few things occur that I need to catch up on... 1. I finished my book!! Writing the final words on that thing was an awesome experience, let me say. Even if no one ever reads it, it feels so good to complet

Until they find out that they’re not. Life teaches them, teaches us, what we are capable of and it is our choice to believe it. My now four-year old son used to “fly” everywhere. He was constantly offering to use this power for good—“would you like me to fly up there and fix that light?” “Do you want me to fly to the roof and get that ball?” One day he offered to fly to the moon, and I encouraged him to do it, and he just stood there with his arms outstretched, fists poi

Growing Up Last is looking for bad advice—and I am not one to disappoint. I’ve gotten a lot of bad practical advice over the years, but I thought I would take this time to showcase some of the worst “life” advice I have received. Making the announcement to someone for the first time that my son has Down syndrome usually goes one of three ways. There are the people who do not bat an eyelash, and continue on in our conversation as if I’ve pointed out nothing more than his ey