"I'm Gonna Sit by That Baby!!"

Last night we spent our evening at California Adventure... we love that we are so close that we can often frequent California Adventure or Disneyland for a few hours of escape. However, we have never been much of "parade people" until last night... 

We usually use parade time to enjoy rides when the lines tend to be a little shorter, but last night we decided to sit and watch the parade and I am so glad we did, I guarantee you we will now be searching out parades. I only wish I had taken pictures!! When Reid first heard the music approaching he started to get excited and began to move his arms up and down a little bit but when he saw the characters it was all over... he stood up and started waving hi with both hands and making sounds only he could interpret...he then blew kisses and continued with the arms going crazy. He was so excited...and he got A LOT of attention. As the characters came by there were very few that did not come over and high five him or say hi. In fact, he got so much attention that a little girl who was sitting several people over from us said, "I'm gonna sit by that baby!!" and she joined us for the remainder of the parade. :)

It did my heart good to see him so engaged and excited. It was funny though because there were times I could see this look on the faces of a few of the parade participants/characters who realized he had Down syndrome, right there in the middle of their performance, and the looks on their face was this sort of, "ohhh", a nice, kind "ohhh" with a sweet smile, but definitely an awareness that he stood out (I don't know if that makes sense). I actually was very touched by the sweet smiles and the attention they gave him...it was encouraging, but there were times I used to be very sensitive to this. There have been times I have caught people staring at us, at him, and the momma bear in me wanted to pull him close to me and then kick those people, hard, as I walked by. I am sure they were only trying to register what his diagnosis was if they weren't familiar with Down syndrome, or who knows what, but still I felt sensitive and didn't want the looks. My husband has always encouraged me to just walk proud and show people how much we love him. And, of course he is right...because I am Reid's advocate, his protector, and his vessel to show people how lovely, capable, and amazing he is...extra chromosome and all. So, I don't desire to kick people hard anymore...but walk as the proud mommy that I am, of both of my boys.