Different is Good.

I recieved a notice from the school district last week. They are having an evaluation clinic for 3 and 4 year old children. I recieved one of these each time one of my children were 3-4 years old. In the past, I threw them away, without bothering to read them. This time, I opened it and read over the skills checklists.

With my other children, I had no concerns about their skills. Even if they were not doing something on the checklists, I knew they would be able to learn, without any intervention. But Christopher is not exactly like my other children. He has an extra chromosome, and extra 21 chromosome, to be exact. He has Trisomy 21, commonly referred to as Down syndrome.
Most days, I can happily go about my busniess without thinking about Christopher's extra chromosome. It is just a part of him, like his blue eyes and blonde hair. I really do not think about him in terms of skills he can or cannot perform. He developes at the rate that is appropriate for him.

But the Evaluation Clinic was a reminder that Christopher is different. Different in ways that many people are not comfortable with. His biggest area of delay is with language skills. He has quite a vocabulary list. But does not put the words together to form phrases and sentences. But I am confident he will. He understands so much more than he can say at this point. He can express his likes and dislikes, joy and sadness, and is quite opinionated, all with a limited vocabulary.

Some of the things on the list are just rediculous, in my opinion. Whose child, at 3-4 years old, "will ask permission to use a toy a peer is using"? None that I have ever seen. And who lets their 3-4 year old answer the phone and talk to adults on the phone? That sounds a bit risky to me and I have never allowed my young children to answer the phone.

There are so many things that Christopher does that is the same as other children, as opposed to different.
He goes to Sunday School and sits in the little chairs during story time. He clangs the little cymbals together while they are singing songs to Jesus. He greets others, adults and children, with a smile, and waves to everyone who passes the sliding glass doors of his Sunday school classroom.
He knows when others are sad and is quick to offer his comfort to them.
Actually, maybe these things are different in a good way. Maybe different is a good thing. Wouldn't it be a boring world if we were all the exactly the same?