Sunday, October 10, 2010

31 for T21: Will He Look Like Us?

Neither Toby nor I knew much about Down syndrome before Reid was born. I actually made him promise he would not start any research until we were both ready. I felt really strongly that I did not want to know Down syndrome.... I wanted to know my son.

Probably the only piece I really knew previously was that there were facial characteristics associated with Ds and this lead me to wonder if Reid would look like us... would Luke and Reid resemble each other?

Well, a few months back one of my brothers commented on this picture of me at 3 that was sitting on my moms bookcase and how much it looked like Reid. Well....I declare he was right. Perhaps it is the longer hairstyle but I do believe he looks a lot like me. That makes me happy, I love how genetics leaves a footprint of who we belong to!

And what about these two?..... look at this side profile and tell me you can't tell they are brothers?
Have a said lately how much I love these two??

In an effort to aid in Down syndrome awareness below is a list of facial characteristics commonly found in individuals with Ds.... though an individual may have only a few or all of these.

Almond-shaped eyes
Small nose
Slightly flattened bridge across the nose
Smallish ears, positioned slightly lower on the head, with a small fold at the top of the ear
Mouth may be small
Slightly protruding tongue, due to low muscle tone and or shallow roof of the mouth
Teeth may be smaller
Flattened back of the head

** I have to put a little input in here though because I don't know why but I had a hard time typing those above. One in particular...the slightly protruding tongue. As I have scoured blogs and spent time with Reid's buddies I have not seen kids with protruding tongues unless they are really tired...heck I'm sure I even do that when tired! ;) But, I point it out because our children are born with low muscle tone which contributes to the tongue finding its way out onto the bottom lip on occasion BUT.... our children receive early intervention via occupational, physical, and speech therapy that those 10, 20, 30 years ago did not receive so you do not see this characteristic like we once did.

Photobucket

6 comments:

The Sanchez Family said...

Love this! SOOOOO much alike!

Becca said...

I remember how I would cringe right after Sammi was born when people would say she looked like me or she looked like Steve. I was so sure she looked more like some alien race and would never actually look like one of us. Glad I'm thrilled to hear that she looks like me now!!!
Great post. Reid's a cutie with definite visible genetic ties to his family!! :-)

Anne and Whitney: Up, Down and All Around said...

LOVE the picture of you at age 3 next to the one of Reid + the one of the profile of "the brothers" do either of them look like your husband when he was younger??? i love the pics of him in his spider hat, by the way in your previous post :)

Elissa said...

I wondered so much about Abbie looking like one of us right after she was born. Truth is, I already knew. She looked just like her big sister did as a baby, so basically nothing like me and everything like her daddy.

I still look at pictures of them and think the same. Yes, Abbie has some DS features, but overall she looks a lot like her sister.

Your boys are darling, and I LOVE that hair!

Heather said...

The pictures of the two of you ... wow!!A lot alike.And the picture of the boys ... I love your guys too!



*As for the tongue thing ...we have heard on a number of times,"Look at that tongue.She sure like sticking that out."Seriously people?

Nan P. said...

He does look so like you!


Every one should remember: people with Down Syndrom are:
55% Mammy
55% Daddy
= 110% perfect

;-)