Children Make Life Normal

I don't want to be that parent who tends to focus only on the fact that her new son has Down Syndrome. Yes it is a fact of our lives now but it isn't the only factor. Yes I'll have to put focus on helping Umar reach milestones that came easily for my other children but most of my focus is on him just being my new baby boy. The cutest baby boy I might add. I want life in our home to remain as normal as normal can be considering that some might consider us a bit abnormal or at the very least strange. So during this week I did just that.

I went to Bahrain to search for a home as I've done on previous occasions. I should add here that a home we looked at just a few months ago that was 2.5 million SR now has an asking price of 3.4 million SR. I can understand the cost of materials being on the rise but that doesn't account for such a major jump in just a two month period. Greed is what I would call it. The builders are taking advantage of a situation which can only lead to a failure at some point. The outrageous cost of buying a home in Bahrain is one reason why the powers that be there want to limit buying a home to only Bahrainis. As it stands now a non GCC member can only purchase a home in freehold property areas. Lucky for us we don't have that problem so there is still hope I'll find a home without having to add a plaque that says "Welcome to Mr. Man's Poor House" for that is what he'll be living in if we even attempt a 3 million SR home.

I finally received Umar's passport and was able to take him out for his first adventure to Bahrain. We visited a friend of mine and we sat and chatted solving the worlds problems as she cooed over him. He was quiet and checking her place out (the boy refuses to sleep during the day) and she loved every moment of holding him. She recalled how fussy her one son was, always crying, we all know those babies. Jihad was such a baby, cried all the time and when Mr. Man came home it was his job to constantly walk that boy in circles. Umar is not a noisy baby, he cries only when he is hungry or when his sisters get to be a bit too much while he is on the floor. He sleeps well at night and is so very aware and wants to see things all day long.

On Thursday the children had off from school so I decided to take them out and leave Mr. Man with Umar. Jihad had a hockey game so he decided not to join us so it was just us girls and Angeleyes (Mr. Man's nephew who uses that SN more on him in another post). We went to Bahrain and watched Horton Hears a Who which we all enjoyed than headed to Chillis for dinner. It was nice (although crowded much to my displeasure) to get out with the girls and have a good time. Having a new baby in the house limits those times so to have it was a blessing that I needed just as much as they did.

In my desire to make things normal in what seemed like such an abnormal situation just a few weeks ago I decided to sit the children down and tell them about Umar. Up until tonight they had no idea that Umar has Down Syndrome or that anything was different. They were all piled into Hannah's room getting ready for sleep and I sat with Mr. Man to tell them the news. Something which I dreaded doing but knew had to be done. I looked at Mr. Man and he told me to "go ahead" and do the deed. So I made them all sit on Hannah's bed telling them this was something serious and they needed to listen.

"You know how Mama and Baba have been taking Umar to some Drs?" I said after taking a deep breath
"Yea" they all respond in chorus
"Well it is because Umar has Down Syndrome" I can actually say this now without tearing up
"Whats that?" Jihad is the first to ask
"Well it means that Umar will learn slower than other children. So he will need extra help" No way was I going into chromosomes

I went on to explain that he may not walk as soon as other babies and we may have to do exercises with him. But he will eventually do everything everyone else does. I also noted that his learning is slower than how they learned.

"You mean like aaaaaA bbbbB ccccC" Hannah says as if she has a stutter"No sweety not like that, like you learned at age five he'll learn at a different age" I was doing my best to explain what I even had trouble understanding at times when suddenly I noticed just how normal things are in my house.

Jihad was in an uncontrollable fit of laughter, Leyna was singing some song I didn't make out and Mariam was sitting on the other side of the bed singing twinkle twinkle little star. The entire room had erupted in a fit of goofiness of which I was to never regain control of (as if I had control). I warned Jihad to calm down for this was 'serious' at which he said "Yea serious" and started to laugh even more complete with a flip or two on the bed. Mariam was than singing at the top of her lungs and Leyna was being so silly I couldn't figure out what she was doing. Eventually I gave up trying to be 'serious' and told them all to get in bed and kissed them good night. I should have known that having my four children sit down together to have a 'serious' talk in a 'seroius' fashion was going to be disrupted by the sillys.

Children do have a way about bringing normal back into life even if that normal is a bit strange.