Dia # 14 WE are different

there was a time I though I could make it work... I could push Gabby far enough to catch with her peers, after all Down Syndrome slows our kids but they are able to do as much as any other "regular kid" and I did. I tried to push really hard on every thing... I set goals for her to crawl, to walk to go up and down stairs.... and to hold her spoon and feed herself...

The more I pushed the more I saw differences... I was doing everything and more... and there was still a difference not only with her regular peers but now with her DS peers... She was falling behind!!

Yeap.. Autism set us back... and I had to realize that I had to follow yet another different path. One that I didn't have anyone to follow, One that I didn't have a support group to ask, and hold on to...
Friends who would understand my new situation.
 We were in Limbo... We didn't belong with the DS community or the ASD one...
What a hard time.
But then, I realized... It doesn't matter.. WE ARE DIFFERENT.. so what??  I have the best support group in our parents and to me Gabby was the same, I stop comparing her to any peer and I just set goals for her... and her alone.
I decided that her goals have to be for us to work as a family and that's it.
I don't need to push her to be like anyone else. I need to push to improve her on her own skills, on her own needs.

I don't need to make her be like anyone else. She is her own, she is mine, and I love her as she is.
and I know that anyone who loves her will love her as she is.. with dual diagnosis and all.
People will see her different always, from her Down Syndrome looks to her Autism behaviors, But people will also see her soul and her heart and will see that she is amazing, she is smart, and she is so sweet. and she has a hart that melts even the hardest souls around.
Her smile brights my darkest days, the days when well.. you know..

I embrace our differences and make them be my pride, because we work hard every single day.
I'm not competing anymore with the world. Because I know She is a winner. She is and always be my most treasured price.