Sunday, June 6, 2010

Really?

Our normal June weather in the Tri Cities ( 80's & 90's by now), has been nonexistent. Nothing but rain & wind, with a partly sunny day here and there...that ends with rain. So we (the sun lovers that we are) have been cooped up inside, left to our own devices...movies & old toys. I'm usually pretty good about breaking into a craft at this point but I'm so consumed with doing stuff for Gracie's birthday party that...well if I have time to craft, I'm working on the party. And NO the kids can not help me. They will mess it up! LOL. And yes, I do realize that it is for 6 five year olds, so everything I am doing...well is more for my own enjoyment, they probably won't care and will head straight for the swing set. But that's ok. So, on Friday I decided we all needed to get out of the house and we went to gymnastics (open playground at a place that teaches gymnastics). The kids LOVE it! An hour and a half of running around like wild little people, as many "friends" as 5 year old can soak up, and more toys than any one kid could possibly ever play with. Here is where the Really? comes in...I'm letting Jake scoot around on the floor amongst all the other little ones with the baby toys. He stops to play with a ball, & a little girl (probably about 1ish) comes over and sits with him and stats to play with him. I'm thinking to myself, "Ahh, Jakey found a friend", and before I could even finish my thought the little girls mom came over, grabbed her hand and walked her away to go play with another little girl. REALLY? The sad thing is, it happened again not long after that with another little kid. It really blew me away because most people oogle over Jake. That was the first time that I've ever seen the oh no, not with that little boy look from a parent. Zach told me the other day that I am too sensitive to peoples reactions to Jake. Really? I don't know, maybe I am, but how could you not be? Guess it's one of those life lessons I'm going to have to learn. Find the happy medium between wanting people to see Jake for who he is and how magical he is, & letting people believe what they want to believe. I can't make everyone love and accept him, but I can put him out there and hope that people will try. How could you not?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm FLOORED this happened to you, Julie. Some people are SO ignorant. Jake is SO incredibly cute and he seems like such a happy, easy-going baby and even if he weren't there's NO reason to be treated like that -- EVER! I've never met Jake, but I know he is precious and has a beautiful heart and he's got an AMAZING family.

This makes me want to move over there so we can have our own playdates, and we can smile and laugh at our little ones because we are so blessed to have such amazing joy in our lives.

Many hugs from me -- because I'm so sad you and Jake were made to feel that way. And, imagined or real, we moms can't help but be protective of our children, the ones with DS and without. We love them and if we percieve them to be around people who can't appreciate them, we get upset. I know we might be oversensitive sometimes, but I also know there are a lot of ignorant people out there, too.

Stay strong... We love you and your little ones so much... And don't ever forget that it's just too bad for those people that they can't see the beauty and blessings in Jake. :)

Our life...special with needs! said...

Thank you for all the kind words Liz. The funny part is, I never got mad or upset that the parents did that. I was more shocked and sad than anything. Sad for the kids that will probably never get to know our kids because of parents like that.

Carrie said...

Oh Friend! That's aweful!!! It's probably a good thing I didn't go with u that day....cuz u know me...I would have gone right over to 'those mothers' and given them a 'come to Jesus' talk!...I'm good at those!lol I would have been tactful, but u know me I just have to know why people do/re-act the way they do!
Their loss!