Going into this month of posting in support of Down Syndrome Awareness Month, I am struck already by how there are many days when I have to make an effort to isolate some unique Down syndrome-related quality about the day. When you first hear the news about your baby it is hard to imagine a day could go by when you aren’t thinking about, even agonizing about it. But you find as the weeks and months, then years, roll by that the fact of the diagnosis slips from your thoughts. Oh, it’s there, you’re aware of it, but most of the time it is a low hum in the background.

Davey has Down syndrome.

Davey is also so much more complex than what that sentence represents. Those words can’t begin to capture his essence as a person. And it is that living, breathing, Hi5- water- and dog-obsessed, goldfish-cracker devouring, belly laughing, tumbling little boy who - along with his brother and sisters - monopolizes my thoughts and energy every day.