Thursday, January 14, 2010

Bones???

Jenna, Brennan and I were sitting together recently when Jenna looked at Brennan and then asked me "where's Brennan's extra bone?" With a confused look on my face I said "he doesn't have an extra bone!" to which she replied, "yes he does, mom - you said people with Down syndrome have an extra bone." At which point I realized that she had confused "bone" with "chromosome." I remember my friend and fellow-mom, Jennifer, writing about a good way to explain Down syndrome to kids called the "chromosome cake." So, I used this method and explained to Jenna how cakes are made with eggs, flour, oil, sugar and vanilla and that having Down syndrome is like adding more of any one ingredient. I told her the extra ingredient may make the cake fluffier or richer, but that the cake would still be delicious. This explanation seemed to make sense to her as she responded, "then I hope Brennan's extra ingredient is sugar so he'll always be sweet."

12 comments:

Adrienne said...

That is so cute! I love the cake description and the comment about sugar and Brennan being sweeter-so, so cute. Don't think you'll have to worry about him being sweet!

Rachel said...

What a beautiful moment for you! There is just something special about siblings and the love that they have.

Kelly said...

Absolutely priceless! Love it!

The Sanchez Family said...

OMG...that gave me goosebumps for some reason. She is so so so cute!

B. McKenzie said...

That's precious! And I love the cake analogy. I love how children are so sweet and accept those kinds of analogies without bias or judgment.

Emily said...

That is so darling! Love precious moments like that!

The Paskins Family said...

Perfect, perfect - I love that is how she responded. Beautiful!

heidi marie said...

what a cute idea to explain things. and i just love how kids think. the response is better than the explanation!

Wendy P said...

Thank you for sharing that! So sweet!

Monica Crumley said...

I LOVE that post. How precious. And thanks for the reminder of how Jen explained it. I've got to use that in my talk to the school. I think it's a great way to explain it to the younger set.

Shauna Yule Brasseur said...

Oh my goodness... that is just the sweetest thing ever. I love that little Jenna.

xo
Aunt Shauna

Derek, Kenzee and Gage said...

How cute! I definitely think she was right about the sugar, cuz he is super sweet!!