Happy Father's Day

To my husband, the father of my three girls, to my Godfather Al, to my dad Ralph, and my pastor, Fr Joseph Tito, Happy Father's Day.

We love you and appreciate all you do for us!
God bless you, and give you a wonderful day.

Bedtime was a nightmare tonight

So I got this link from Jen (Conversion Diary) on Twitter, and now I feel better.

Dads of Down syndrome

Here's a link to a short NPR radio broadcast from a teenage girl. Mary Warm and her father, David Warm.

The honesty of their discussion and their closeness is truly touching. This is fatherhood at it's best.

Happy Father's Day!

Christina read her first word!

I can't believe it!

Isabella casually mentioned to me that Christina read the word CAT on the Starfall website, with the sound off (meaning she had to read it by herself).

In the normal linguistic development of children, listening comprehension is followed by speaking, then reading then writing. But nothing about children with Down syndrome is typical, as we are learning in the toilet training process.

Christina is skipping large parts of speaking and going right to reading!

I obvioulsy have a lot to learn about how children with Down syndrome learn, and I know who my primary tutor will be. Thank you Lord, for my husband Francisco who introduced her to this wonderful free learning tool, spending the time to teach her how to use the mouse, and for buying her a customized tiny mouse to fit her tiny hand.

Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever!

Ite ad Joseph Go to Joseph

For a world that's longing for authentic fatherhood, St. Joseph has the answers. Go to St. Joseph.

Dan Lynch has an article here on the approved apparitions of Our Lady of America to Sr. Mildred Neuzil which occured between 1957 and her death at age 83 in the year 20000,

"On the eve of his Feast, March 18, 1958, St. Joseph came to Sister and said:
All Fatherhood is blest in me whom the Eternal Father chose as His representative on earth, the Virgin-Father of His own Divine Son. Through me the Heavenly Father has blessed all fatherhood, and through me He continues and will continue to do so till the end of time.
My spiritual fatherhood extends to all God's children, and together with my Virgin Spouse I watch over them with great love and solicitude.
Fathers must come to me, small one, to learn obedience to authority: to the Church always, as the mouthpiece of God, to the laws of the country in which they live, insofar as these do not go against God and their neighbor.
Mine was perfect obedience to the Divine Will, as it was shown and made known to me by the Jewish law and religion. To be careless in this is most displeasing to God and will be severely punished in the next world.
Let fathers also imitate my great purity of life and the deep respect I held for my Immaculate Spouse. Let them be an example to their children and fellowmen, never willfully doing anything that would cause scandal among God's people.
Fatherhood is from God, and it must take once again its rightful place among men."

HT Catholic Exchange

Flying turkey surprise

Have you seen the ">Turkey commercial that folks are circulating this Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving Dinner promised to be somewhat quiet, just my three girls and us over at Mom and Dad's house. Francisco asked to carve the turkey, which my father gladly surrendered, as he hates that job, and the fun began. The large turkey was precariously positioned on the counter, and when Francisco applied the right amount of pressure, the tray flipped the 20 pound bird off the counter for it's last flight, accross the kitchen!

The carver adroitly rescued the turkey from the waiting hounds, and offered that he had already carved off the best parts anyway. . .So, we ate what was already carved, and, well, no one was enthusiastic about the turkey leftovers this year.

Here, doggy. . .

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Special Needs Dads

Vicki Forman in her Special Needs Mama column wrote about Special Needs Dads. She writes:
"Special needs mamas trade articles, books, websites, names of specialists. We research and discuss how to get the best educational bang for our buck, what benefits are available to our kids. We call each other to talk about medications, doctors, educational plans. But the fathers are different. I know of only one support group in our area for special needs dads. Amidst the hundreds of websites for special needs mamas, I can think of only a handful written by, and for, the dads.
Maybe it's because the moms are frantically sharing resources and information that special needs dads tend to stand back, watching, vigilant and aware in a different way. My husband used to spend his days making computer games for kids. The hours were long and the pay was good but the work itself became increasingly meaningless in the face of what was at home: a kid who would probably never play one of those games, and whose needs went far beyond tossing a ball in the front yard."

Tears welled up in my eyes as I recall chiding my husband for not being like me, which, I felt was the only way to respond to the challenge of raising a child like Christina. Blogging, posting on forums, publishing articles, attending conferences, and starting conversations with perfect strangers who have a child with Down syndrome is my style, but it' s not the only way to parent. Memories like this sprang to mind:
It's nine o'clock on a Saturday morning. I am reading my email, and I hear the familiar sounds of a computer program Francisco has on his laptop in the next room. "A . . .Apple". He is sitting as he so often does, with Christina on his lap, patiently teaching her to speak, and read her letters.
Anything Daddy does fascinates her, so her attention is riveted on the computer screen, as she attempts to repeat the sounds she hears, "apple". I suddenly realized how much time they spend doing this slow-moving exercise, with Christina happily perched on Daddy's lap, and I wondered how much of her burgeoning vocabulary could be attributed to this activity. I felt convicted of never giving Francisco credit for his patient work, helping Christina in the area of her greatest challenge, speech.
My mind races to other areas where he is helping her grow. . . tossing her ball in the living room, teaching her to climb the jungle gym, and the way she'll eat anything he offers her when they eat alone together (the latest surprise was her eating sardines!) With mommy, her palate is far less adventurous, and I worry that her diet has little variety.
Special fatherhood may be different than special motherhood, but it is no less important. I thank God for giving Christina the wonderful father she has, who sees her needs and quietly meets them, up until now, without recognition.

Spiritual Fatherhood

As we celebrate Father's Day, let's not forget those spiritual fathers to whom we owe our faith. Both my mother and I wished our priests a Happy Father's Day for their service in the sacraments, and teaching in their homilies. Priests give up physical families for spirtitual families, and need to hear some praise from them sometimes. Like our earthly fathers, they too can be taken for granted.