The number of parents of kids with Down syndrome who blog is simply…astonishing. I mean, really. It's something crazy. I don't quite understand it – it literally made my jaw drop when I first entered this community. Was it that people with a propensity for blogging had more of a little extra to share by way of a chromosome? Or was it that people who had a child with a little extra felt that blogging about their story would be the best way in which to reach out and connect the world with Down syndrome? Like a tap on the shoulder, hey! see – this is what a life with Down syndrome can be like! It's not so bad, in fact, it's really quite delightful – so go on and keep that there baby of yours that you are scared to have.
I don't know. Maybe it's all neither here nor there because maybe it's all a bit of everything and then some.
I've been blogging for a while now, as you know. This started as 'Finding Ruby's Father' – just to chronicle my dating stories. But I met Mikey almost immediately after setting up the blog and the story changed with a comical swiftness. And then it became 'doozeedad', just a made-up word for the sound of my deaf world through my doo-dad's (hearing aids) – dooZEEdad – get it?! (I laugh at my own jokes). And then, slowly, slowly, as I truly embraced my daughter with an extra chromosome, as I slowly grew to a point in which living my life as authentically as I could became my highest endeavor, I wanted a new name. Something with moxie. Something showing my Moxie. Something With a Little Moxie.
The focus has shifted again – it's really on disability, Down syndrome, deafness. I think there is always going to be a liberal dousing of lively living thrown in – that's just me. Like my off-colour jokes and random fundays.
With this shift, I am gathering up my courage to add a Down Syndrome and Disability Blog Roll. Courage, because it's so darn big and long! Courage, because I am a sensitive person and I don't want to inadvertently hurt anyone by leaving them off the roll.So, if you are not on the roll already, please include the link to your blog in the comments and I'll add you, pronto.
Moving on, I must report that my kids can evidently exist without sleep. They were awake most of the night and don't I know it – Moxie would be snoring and yet if I so much as moved an inch away from her, she'd BOLT upright and BELLOW. Micah, meanwhile, just could. not. sleep without being by me (he's going through some weird phase) and ended up snuggling my feet in Moxie's twin bed. But not sleeping – just tossing and turning. Come 5:30 am, I managed to sneak out, feeling like a high school kid desperate for some freedom. Got my coffee. Sat down. And MICAH COMES STROLLING OUT OF THEIR ROOM, with Moxie crawling right after him.
As if that wasn't enough (and really, it was), he wants to play this hard-rock version of Humpty Dumpty that someone (who?) gave us because I sure as all-hell did not buy that thing. Jack Hartmann and Friends: Rhymin' To The Beat – did you give it to us??? It's literally 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' on acid.
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| this is what children who never need sleep look like, apparently |
How do you get your kids to sleep?
Meriah Nichols is a counselor. Solo mom to 3 (one with Down syndrome, one on the spectrum). Deaf, and neurodiverse herself, she’s a gardening nerd who loves cats, Star Trek, and takes her coffee hot and black.
