Having Down Syndrome Doesn't Matter

When Beth was born we were told all kinds of things, some were true but others turned out to be false. One thing was that if you allow her to do it in your home (excessive hugging or whatever) she'll think it's okay to do it in public. Which, turns out is true for any child not just someone with Down Syndrome.

We were told she'd never have long hair. That one was not true.

Something else they told us at the hospital was that Beth was going to be more like the people in our family, rather than other people who have Down Syndrome. 

She'll have our traits and characteristics and habits and be more like us; Down Syndrome will tell us the shape of her eyes, but not decide her personality. That little extra chromosome will dictate the size of her hands but it won't tell us if she'll grow up to be a motivational speaker. Our family unit will dictate her behavior and choices and actions, and for some reason that surprised me. I don't know why, I guess as a 23 year old, brand new mom hearing that diagnosis for the first time I just figured that people with Down Syndrome were all the same. But they're as different from one another as the rest of us!

Beth has developed some good traits and some not so good. Made good choices and bad choices. Which again, can be said of any one of us! When it comes to developing habits, an extra chromosome doesn't make that much of a difference.