my rainbow ovo

We had our first ever date night last night - 20 months after the birth of our boy, and 6 months into the growing of our girl. I wrote about it on our general family blog (http://www.doozeedad.blogspot.com/). I kept thinking of Moxie the whole way through. Perhaps inevitable given that she was thwacking me most of the time! Man, this girl is a kicker!

So I was sitting there absolutely relishing the show. The feel of my beloved's arm around my shoulder (he said it went numb from keeping it there so long). The beauty of the imagery. The music. And with her relentless whacking, I was thinking about her being on that stage, doing her thing. About the wealth of opportunities that I want for her.

I want brightness, colour. Joy. I want her to be expressive, and have outlets for expression that mean something to her. I want her to be able to do what she wants to do. I want her to wear a tutu and striped tights (if she wants, that is).

I finally called the Regional Center and set up a time to talk more with them. Coincidentally this morning, I talked to a co-worker that I hardly ever talk to and told her that Moxie's likely to have Ds. Turns out this co-worker used to work at the regional center as a case manager, with hundreds of people with developmental disabilities! How crazy is that!

I was pretty happy. She told me of a lot of good stories - excellent group homes. Highly independent women with Ds with brimming lives full of delight. And right here. In my own backyard.

I think there is a lot of hope to be had.