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."