The Challenges Of Raising A Child With Down Syndrome

Often people wonder about the challenges that go along with raising a child with Down Syndrome, so I thought I would share my experiences.

• Having to constantly deal with Kylee's happiness can be very challenging.  She almost always wakes up happy, even if she just spent half of the night awake playing.  It's not easy to wake up to that smiley, happy girl, but alas, it has to be done.
• Since having Kylee, I've encountered a great support system online and in real life.  When you have a child with Down Syndrome, you acquire a great, new family.  Having such great support can be really hard sometimes, but it is what we do to help each other.
• Also since having Kylee, I've come to appreciate the little things more.  When Kate was younger and reaching milestones, I was excited, but I don't think I ever got so excited about her being able to stack blocks or point to certain objects in a book.  When you have a child with Down Syndrome, you tend to get excited over every. little. milestone.  It's a lot of work to get all excited, but hopefully it will get easier.
• I have come to have more respect for people that don't fit the perfect mold of society.  Oh, if only I could go back to not feeling this way.
• Kylee can be very sweet and when she wants to she will give you a hug, but she hasn't gotten to the point yet where she gives out hugs all the time.  When I volunteered at a Down Syndrome camp this past summer, the kids there just wanted to hug on you all the time.  Experiencing that was hard, but I didn't want to make them feel bad so I just sucked it up and received many hugs.  I'm hoping that Kylee won't be that way because I can only imagine it is hard to feel that kind of love from your child.
• Seeing the therapists get excited about the progress that Kylee continues to make is another challenge. I don't understand how they can get so excited, but whatever, I just humor them and pretend I'm excited too.
• Since Kylee was born, she has been so easy going and has had slept through the night since she was born.  Luckily, at the beginning we were told to wake her up for feedings, but after a few months, we had the dreaded task of sleeping all night. 

Hopefully, overcoming these challenges will get easier.  Having to deal with this happy, sweet girl all the time makes it hard.... Bazinga(for those who have watched Big Bang Theory, you will get that comment)

Anyone else care to share their challenges?