Growing Up So Fast

Owen is 6-1/2, going on 13. At least, that's how I feel. Is it normal that he is already acting like a teenager? In the morning, when it's time to get up for school, he rolls over and covers his head with his blanket. In the evening, he has been going into the toy room and slamming the door shut so he can watch his show by himself, in the dark. I love that he is acting like a normal kid, it secretly makes me happy. But it's sad, too. I see the seasons change so fast with my kids. I see how it was almost like no time has passed and suddenly they are older, and talking, and thinking, with their own personalities starting to flesh out. Owen is already up to my shoulders, and he is only six (most people with Down syndrome are shorter people, although it helps that my husband is almost seven feet tall). Tess is already expressing her views to me, trying out phrases like "that's so weird" and now locking the door to her room when she says "no boys allowed." How did it happen? How did Erik and I go from two people who fell in love and got married, to a couple with a new baby who was diagnosed with Down syndrome, to this world of a beautiful, growing, healthy family that is ours, all ours? How did we navigate those roads with each other and come out better for it? Because our family has made us better people. Owen's diagnosis has given us an innate strength we didn't know we had, an ability to relate and draw people in, and a vision of a life well-lived with no regrets.

The other day, I was coming back from the store with Tess and Owen and I asked Owen if he was cold. "No mom, I'm not cold. I'm fine," he said, and I smiled at the length of his sentences, the use of grammar, the ability to communicate. Oh, and did I mention he's only six? In comparison, Tess can talk up a storm and express herself, and even Axel (who hasn't turned two yet) can put sentences together and ask the who, what, where and why questions. But, for Owen, it is a gift. It will make all the difference in his world if he can communicate and people can understand him.

I am so lucky to have my three kids.