Problem Solver

You know, I think that Playette may be afraid of the dark.

(When do kids start doing that, usually?)

She doesn't cry or whine about it though.

It's really interesting to observe.

She goes to bed pretty easily. I tell her that it's time to go to sleep and she recognizes the routine and I can pretty much follow her lead at that point. Sometimes, she even tells me, via sign, that she's tired and we go from there. She knows when dinnertime is, too. If I go one minute past 6:30, she's flipping out.

That's not to say that we don't have our issues (see: toothbrushing nightmare), but in this area, we're cool.

So the way the last part usually goes is that Playette gets in her bed and allows me to cover her with a blanket. Sometimes I sing (poorly, but she doesn't care). Sometimes I read. Sometimes, I just exit quietly.

What she has started doing is waiting a moment, getting back out of bed, walking to her door, opening it, looking out, closing the door, turning on her light, and getting back in the bed.

After a few minutes, she falls asleep.

I love seeing her solve her own problems. She can't quite tell me that it's the dark that she doesn't like, but she's figured out that she can reach the light switch and create an environment that better suits her.

I was talking to a friend today about why the r-words offend and hurt me so much. She told me that she hadn't made the connection that Down syndrome automatically meant mental retardation. She didn't realize that it was a given and saw it more a learning disability (interestingly enough, she attended school where people with disabilities were included). She doesn't see Playette as mentally retarded. She sees her as smart. She said, "She teaches me!"

She gets it.