My Buddy

 Today I shall introduce you to my Buddy. He is my first born. He came into this world five weeks premature. We weren't ready for first few weeks that followed his arrival. It took the medical profession three days of avoiding us before telling us that he is Down syndrome. Immediately there after social workers tried to convince us to give him up into social service care. It was standard practice to do this in this situation. We were told it we should do this because of his condition. It would be very difficult to manage him especially in his teenage years. The pressure was huge. We chose to believe they were wrong. We were trusted with a special child to raise and we chose to view it that way. So once I recovered from the two separate near death postpartum bleeds that ensued, I was allowed home with Buddy at my side.
 My sister became an advocate for our well being from the beginning. She was there right from his birth. It was a good feeling. He was accepted by my closest family and that meant a lot. We treated Buddy with the same enthusiasm as anyone would with their first born. He grew in leaps and bounds because he had lots of affection and stimulation. What you don't know is that Buddy helped us to be pioneers of a new generation of acceptance of special needs infants into the main stream of local communities. He is extra special Kleinste Motte.