Noah's Dad

One of the coolest things about being new parents is watching our little Noah develop his own unique personality.  When Noah was just a few days old there was no doubt that he was his daddy’s son!  This kid likes to have fun!  And he looks really cute in the process. To quote Will Smith in Men In Black,

“[He] makes this look good!”

When Noah was born I thought a lot about what the future would be like.  I wondered how “different” he would be then a “typical” child.  (Spoiler alert – not all that different.)  I wondered if he would laugh.  If he would play with me.  If he would like toys.  (The answer is yes to all of these questions, by the way.)  My only knowledge about people born with Down Syndrome came from tv, and Corky on the 80’s television show Life Goes On.  However, it had been a long time since I had seen that show, and Netflix doesn’t have it available on their instant watch library.  (Side-note: If I had known about Noah in the 80’s I certainly would have paid much closer attention to that show.  Oh well. Hindsight is 20/20 I guess.)

A few days after Noah was born we were introduced to some friends in Houston who have a three year old, Seth, who was born with Down Syndrome.  We quickly began to Facebook stalk them, and watched every video they posted of their son.  Seth became my 2011 version of Life Goes On.  Those videos helped me to understand what Noah’s future could be like.  I quickly realized that all of my fears about the future were sort of like that monster under my bed when I was six.  It terrified me until I tuned the light on one day and realized “the monster” was actually no monster at all.   The “monster” wasn’t a big deal after all.

Those videos were like turning the light on, they helped me to see that Down Syndrome is no big deal either.

What are some of your “monster’s under the bed?” Is there anything that at first scared you, but now don’t really bother you?