"Dear Dad" letter

We love @dearmomconference. They post letters from mums to other mums of children with Down Syndrome. In June they were asking for letters about Dads so I couldn’t resist writing one. Here's my letter which they published on their Instagram account on 10 June 2018:

Dear Mom, "My respect for him has always been high, but now it's stratospheric. He's set the tone for us all”. So said my father of Kevin after Coraline was born and we learned she has Down Syndrome. He saw happiness. It has been this way since.

Where to begin with Kevin? Shall I begin with the fact he says to me, "you are the most amazing mother in the world", "I love our life", "I love Coraline so much”. I’d love to share with you tales of Kevin. He is such a self-possessed, confident, funny, energetic, insightful man. He gets up at 5am and makes time to have Coraline's milk ready for when I get up with her, and sometimes a little note. He has 101 nicknames for Coraline and a 101 songs he sings to her.

He is so proud and such an advocate of Coraline being capable of anything she wants to do. He can't wait to take her snowboarding when she's older.

I could write pages about Kevin and I would like to have this to be my own note (and Coraline's) to Kevin saying, "Thank you. I love you. You are amazing". A man in a shop recently said to me regarding Coraline, "ah it's all about her environment," and when your environment is Kevin you know the sky's the limit.

Love Liz @coraline_and_us #deardad #dearmom #dearmomconference