My Proudest Moment

O.k. I just have to say it. I am the mother of the most awesome teenager in the entire world (yes, I am shamelessly bragging!)
Just when I think that I know him inside and out, he surprises me again. And sometimes, his honesty and his sweetness bring me right to the brink of tears. I just can't believe that I am so very lucky to have him as my son......

I worried more about how he would accept Liddy having DS than probably anyone else. Personally, if my mom had come to me at age 12 and told me that she was having a baby, I would have been completely disgusted. Add into the equation the fact that he has been my one and only for so long and we could have really been setting ourselves up for disaster. He surprised me then by being so darn excited, even when he found out that we were having a girl instead of the boy he originally wanted.
He was there the day the doctors told us it was a girl. He saw her on the screen. He was the first to feel her move besides me. He loved her from the start....

When we found out about her heart, I was honest, just as I was when we got confirmation that she has DS. I told him the facts as we knew them and waited for the fall out. None came. Once again, he blew my mind with his grown-up approach to it all. He was every bit as impatient as we were for her to make her way into the world, even though he knew that her birth was going to mean the possibility of a prolonged separation from me.
That separation changed our relationship for the better. It brought us a new appreciation for each other that we probably never would have achieved had it not been for one tiny baby girl.
He doesn't always understand what having DS means. But he loves Liddy simply because she is his sister.....

He was at the appointment at the DS clinic with the nurse who rubbed me the wrong way. As we left, he surprised me again by expressing his own anger about the way she had talked about his sister. He knew that Liddy is capable of way more than that nurse gave her credit for and he was irate that someone would dare treat her as less than the miracle that she is.
He was beside me in the waiting room for my encounter with the precious little girl with DS and her mother. And again I was surprised and moved that he never realized that anything was different about her.
I am constantly surprised. I am constantly moved. I am always so proud to be his mother.
Then he does something even more amazing that completely blows me away again.
Last night, at his open house, he proudly showed Liddy off, which made my heart bubble with joy at the love he has for her. I thought throughout it all that it simply can't get much better than this. And then, it did.
As we were chatting with one of his friends and his mother, the mother asked how old Liddy was. Caleb answered before I could get the words out. Then she remarked on how tiny she is, and my wonderful son, without any reservation, looked her straight in the eye and said, "My sister has Down Syndrome." I was so moved by those four simple words that I almost cried.

It may not seem much. It may not even seem like that big of a deal. But to a 13 year old boy, anything that sets him apart is a HUGE deal. So to stand in front of his friends and proudly say those four little words is a huge deal, not only to him, but also to me.
It gives me a little glimpse into the person he is when he isn't with me, as well as the man that he will all too soon be. Obviously he's going to be someone I will always be proud to call my son. :)
I don't know how I got so lucky to have brought into this world three very different, but equally awesome, kids. But I am thankful. Truly truly thankful. And little moments like the one I had last night make it all worthwhile.