A date with a genetic counselor

Yesterday we hosted a future genetic counselor who is graduate student at Sarah Lawrence College. A woman who has a child with down syndrome worked with someone at the college to pair students with families who have someone with down syndrome in their immediate family. Most of us are families with young children. 

The purpose was so the student could live a day in the life with us and hopefully take away the fact that we're raising children. Not freaks of nature. 

Olivia came & she was lovely. I picked her up at the train station and came back to our house to feed Sean lunch, finish getting our stuff ready to go & then head to the zoo. Right from the start she got to see that we are "normal". I got both kids out of the car & both of them up 3 flights of stairs. I swear I do this multiple times a day. Up & down. Up & down. You'd think I would be BEEFCAKE!!! by now, but sadly.... I'm not. 

Anyway, she watched me wrangle Sean to eat, including pulling him by the back of his pants to slide him back to me. Try as he might to get anywhere, but near the food...... I won & he eventually finished eating. Then we were off! 

We went to the Staten Island Zoo . Even though I like the Prospect Park Zoo  better, there is no parking dedicated to the zoo and the trains were running funny. The zoo is cute. They have a petting zoo with goats & llamas and a few exhibits. 

 

Do you see the drama llama being all dramatic? Apparently I offended him. So he turned his back to me.

It was pretty busy and it seemed like most of the people there were lacking in manners. Oh well..... The kids didn't seem to mind. 

Meredith took to Olivia like no one's business. To bad she doesn't live closer to us. I might have had a new babysitter. Ok well I might have had one if she had wanted to be one. 

Meredith even allowed Olivia to get her into trouble :) Ok.... what would've been trouble if she'd gotten caught. 

Seany had an awesome time too. He even got his little fingers nipped by hungry chickens. Poor kid. 

 

As we walked through the zoo she asked some questions about our lives. I hope that what came through was that even though life is hard at times and down syndrome isn't all rainbows & puppy dogs, our lives are normal. I'm still shuttling both kids to something. Their schedules read like a football play book with lots of lines, X's & O's. 

I hope she takes away that like EVERY other family, we get on each other's nerves, but we always love each other. And that we find a way to make it all work. 

Olivia is going to make a great genetic counselor. She's warm & personable. She really listens and relates. I reassured Olivia that this is a typical day for us. When plans don't pan out (we were supposed to play on the beach), we pick up & head somewhere else. I pack them up & we go! 

After the zoo I invited Olivia to have dinner with us at Rob's parents' house. It was a long way back home for her. So she declined. But here are some pictures to see what you missed, Olivia. More of Seany walking, daddy & daughter reuniting. And of course..... there was me forgetting my cell phone & camera there in the rush to get the cranky kids home to goto bed. 

 

And of course you missed the view from the balcony.

I promise you, Olivia. You are more than welcome to come play with us any time. Thank you for caring enough to ask the questions and "live" a little while with us so you can better counsel your future patients.