Thank you Coraline

It was "baby pirate" theme at @babysensorysutton today (we dressed for the occasion). Both Coraline and I love the class. Today was our favourite one yet. It was so inventive and the teacher, Suzie, is superb. It's also brilliant to chat to everyone there. 

I remember our first time at Baby Sensory when Coraline was ten months old. We hadn't been able to take Coraline to any baby classes for the first nine months of her life, so as to keep her well, on the advice of her Cardiology team. 

That first time, I remember averting Coraline's bottom lip dissolving any further a few times, as it was all so much for her to take in. I also remember looking around at all the other babies, around her age, sitting up. Coraline wasn't doing this yet. These things come for her when they come, due to her lower muscle tone. She has to work hard, and we have her Physiotherapist who comes every few weeks. I remember how deeply I felt it when I looked around. How wistful I was, possessed of a strange sadness. How I wondered if we could go back. 

But we did go back. For "Space" theme week, for "French" theme week and so on. And we love it. Now the other babies of a similar age are crawling, and Coraline is not yet. But I don't notice like I did before; I just see it as beautiful. Of course, it's not about me noticing or caring, it's about Coraline. I see her waving her arms with joy at the start of the class. It's almost like I had to shed layers that I didn't know I had, and I had to lose them all in their own time. My old lifecoach @sophia_davis_coach told me Coraline would teach me unconditional love when she was born, and she was right. That is what the layers have revealed.

So I think Awareness months are also about appreciating the parent, or the family, or the person, and the journey they have been on. Stopping to appreciate all that they might've been thinking or feeling over time. I am so much more aware of that for other people now who I meet, or simply who I see in the street. And for that, to Coraline, I say thank you.#downsyndromeawareness#downsyndromeawarenessmonth2018#downsyndromeawarenessmonth#unconditionallove