"R we down about anything?

Don't you think that video is a fitting way to start Down syndrome awareness month? I did!!! Not to mention that it is one of the things I feel touches me the most about Presley's diagnosis, what it will mean for her siblings.
One day, my friend Heather and I were talking about something or other, and she said to me "Kele, Jett is going to be a better brother, a better husband, a better friend and a better person, because of Presley." I loved that! And I know that is true about both Mikah and Jett.
Do I think Jett is going to be a better person than your son? Mikah, a better person than my neighbor's daughter? Absolutely not! But, Mikah and Jett will be a better Mikah and Jett, because of Presley. As a mother, that is huge to me.
I have two sisters, sisters that, without a doubt, are two of the most important people in my life. We are always there for each other. I can't express this accurately in words, we always know that we will walk this life, it's ups and it's downs, together. I don't think that is true for every sibling relationship...I know it isn't. I have seen it up close and personal for myself. It isn't 'a given' that siblings are close and that siblings are there for one another, but for me and my sisters, it couldn't be more true. When Presley came into our lives, this didn't just happen to Mike and I, as far as my sisters were concerned, this happened to them as well. They have both made themselves 'aware', they have both, without my urging or my help at all, planned and walked in the 'Buddy walk', a walk supporting Down syndrome, in each of there home towns. They are amazing sisters, aunts and people!
I feel my children will know a closeness like this with one another, I truly do. Do I think it will only be because of Presley and the fact that she has Ds? Not at all. But I know that it will be a large part of it. And, I know that Presley's presence in my children's life will teach them things that Mike and I could not consciously teach them.
In the book written by Gene Stallings regarding his son, John Mark, who had Down syndrome, there is a part where he discusses coming home from work one day to have his other children and wife greet him at the door, walk him to the back patio to watch John Mark walking for the first time. They all clapped and cheered and cried!!! Coach Stallings and his wife have said, that to this day, forty something years later, it is still one of their happiest days as a family.
There is something to be said about that joy, that knowing to appreciate something so simple, so small, but so beautiful. Things Ds will teach you.
When we first brought Presley home I worried about Jett with her. I mean, this kid gives new meaning to 'all boy', he is rough, tough, bites, scratches...yikes, he is a mess! But I have been amazed to see how he just knows with Pres, to be gentle, he is soooo sweet to her. He calls her 'Sha Sha' (somewhere in there it actually does sound like 'Pres ~ ley').
'Sha Sha' is going to be a big part of the reason my Jetty and Mikah will be the amazing people I know they are destined to be!