Shopping

Shopping with kids is daunting, shopping with Emma-well let's just say daunting is an understatement. Recently, I went on a holiday shopping trip to an outlet mall with my sister, brother and sister in law. Emma was struggling, probably because it was lunch time and the only source of food in the entire facility was a vending machine. I hope to always remember the kids sitting on the floor with their lunch, it was sad and funny. Chips, m&m's, reece's-it was a great "lunch"! There is this thing kids, even adults, with Down syndrome do. I call it the plop. When they are done walking, they just plop to the floor. It doesn't matter if we are in a parking lot full of slushy snow or in the middle of wal-mart. Em sure was plopping that day and one can only carry her for so long(I need to get a stroller that fits her). My sister graciously offered her stroller and things went a little smoother. But, my comment to my sister was "you know you have a child with special needs when the 6 year old rides in the stroller and the 1 1/2 year old is walking".

Yesterday, I had some errands to run and had no choice but to take all the kiddos along. Leaving during the middle of the afternoon, can mean trouble for Em. That's usually when she'll crash from not sleeping in the night. I mean crash, a few days ago it took me 2 hours to wake her up after she napped for a very long time. So naturally, Em crashed on the drive to the store and I knew it was going to be somewhat challenging. She weighs about 50 lbs now and it feels like twice as much when she's asleep. It is dead weight. I'm not very tall so it's hard for me to carry her for long. Thankfully this store happened to have shopping carts and thankfully she still fits into them. The problem came when I was trying to get her in the shopping cart. It was quite the scene-me trying 3 times to lift her in that cart while she slept like a log. The cart kept moving and for the first time I could not get her in. It was a one of those moments that hurt inside a little bit. I was near tears and felt so incapable when a man grabbed her and started helping me get her in the cart. Even with 2 of us, it was quite the scene and challenge to get her in. His sweet act of kindness meant so much to me. I could tell by the way he looked at her that he knew she had Down syndrome. It was very sweet the way he looked into her face, as if he loved her as much as we do.

They say it takes an army to raise a child with special needs. I guess we can even include shopping. Take notice of the "special" mommies while you are out and about. I know first hand how hard it can be and how even small gestures of help go such a long way for tired, depleted moms.