October 31, 2020
So bittersweet. Not only is it the last day of Down Syndrome Awareness month, but it is also a sort of weird little Halloween. As is the usual now, the girls had their own plans and path to take today, so it was mostly Eric, Bradley, and I.
The morning started with Eric, Madison and I heading to the library and waiting in line a hundred minutes to get in and vote in person. This is the very first election that Madison was old enough to vote in, so I told her we would wait in line and we would do it together so she would see how important it is to vote. So we got our “I Voted” stickers and came back home.
After that, we were on our own. While the girls worked on cleaning rooms and homework before their Halloween Plans, Eric and I took Bradley to lunch at Johnny Rockets so we could all say Hi to some of our favorite people. One yummy hotdog for Bradley later, and we came back home and got a look at the girls in their Halloween Costumes before they took off for the evening.
Sydney left first. She wasn’t planning to go anywhere for Halloween, but at the last minute decided to head out - so she wore her Baymax onesie.
This is Bradley’s favorite costume, and she is lucky he was sidetracked by his movie or he would have been trying to crawl inside it with her. HAHA!!
Then Madison headed out with her cousin for a party tonight. She chose Rei from Star Wars, complete with Light Saber. 😂😂. This Kid!
Pretty cool costume overall. She was very happy with it that’s for sure.
That left just the three of us and the animals for the evening. I’ve been keeping track of the neighborhoods that were listing potential Trick or Treating for the night on a Page on Facebook I follow. After three days of dressing up for Halloween for therapy, Bradley was primed and ready for Halloween and Trick or Treating. With all the COVID restrictions, I wasn’t sure he would get too. Seeing that so many places were spread out, we tried the area closest to us, but there were only dark houses, so we decided to drive over to see if we could see our old neighbors like we do every year. But when we got there, their house was locked up tight and dark. Although it is always tempting to knock and say Hi, it is really hard on Bradley when we don’t continue down the street. So we drove the area we would normally go walking down, and though there were a few places there was nowhere to park. So I knew of one more area that might be a possibility. In terms of huge participants? Not really. But for Bradley’s needs, it was doable.
Turns out the only tradition we kept tonight was Mom and Dad taking Bradley Trick or Treating for a little while. We walked him in a Big U as we worked around a couple streets and then back to the Van. Bradley was so great. He walked like a big boy between Eric and I, carrying his orange Winnie the Pooh pumpkin in his left hand while he held tight to my hand. I think I might have been carrying most of the weight, but that’s all right...it started to get surprisingly heavy. There weren’t a lot of houses with lights on and treats out, but the ones that were participating really made up for their neighbors that didn’t.
The second to last house we went to had a bunch of scary decorations, lights and sounds - and you had to walk around a corner to get to the table they set out on their patio area; and it as intended to be spooky and scary, they did good because it was. Bradley got to the first set of three sets of Tombstone decorations with red glowing eyes on them and said very loudly, “NO!” HAHA... We said okay, turned him right around and walked him away from the house. After the next house, he pulled his hood down and he handed his bucket to Dad. The timing was perfect, we could see the Van at that point and we thought there was one more house between us and the van, but it actually was just decorated and no treats. Which was just fine with Bradley, he was already trying to figure out how to strip out of his shoes and his costume. 😂😁
Anyway, for the last day to celebrate Halloween, he went super creative as a Stick Figure. 😂. This is one of my all time favorite costumes. He wore it last year, but we got cut short because of the fires and the smoke in the air; so I decided, might as well get another year out of it. Bradley grows slow, he can do that. And yes, this really is him.
So in the end, Bradley had a full bucket, he practiced saying Trick or Treat and lots of Thank you’s and Byes. And then towards the end of our night, Bradley started trying to say Happy Halloween. He would sort of say Happy, and then Halloween would come out as “Howl-oh-weeeeeN!” And he was so proud of his himself, maybe because Mom and Dad were pretty excited by his efforts.
We got back home about 8 and set him up with meds and jammies...and then Bradley was down for the count. We’ve had one little nightmare - probably that house he said No too, but he seems settled now, so we’ll see. Halloween is a lot of fun, but it is a lot for any kid to process and vent off later...Bradley just needs a little more time to process and vent and settle that over stimulation that happens. Over-all, the night was a lot better than we feared it would be, the people that were out were super nice, and there were no crowds...allowing for the treat givers to talk to us from afar and really enjoy Bradley’s costume. And it let us see how a relatively mid-size town still wants to come together and make something a little better for the kids in an otherwise really difficult year. The efforts to make it safe were appreciated, we still have to be careful with Bradley any year, but it was a little easier to be careful with him this year. So bonus for us.
Our Stick Figure is sleeping, Baymax has made her way home already, and Rei is out fighting the Empire for a while longer. Not sure if that young Jedi will be home before her mom goes off to bed or not.
Life with Bradley is a walk uphill for sure, but we always seem to find the best views and run into some of the best people that humanity has to offer. There is no glamour on this road, just a lot of twists and turns. Sometimes we come around a corner and we find a cliff we have to work around, or we might find the most beautiful image that recharges you to your very soul. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what’s around the corner, all that matters is the feel of that little hand clinging to mine and my knowing that he loves me and trusts me to help him navigate the road ahead no matter what comes.
Down syndrome Awareness month might be coming to an end; but the truth is, we live it everyday. This day is no different than the next because each is built on the life we have with Bradley. And up or down (yeah, pun is kind of intended here), it is a great life. What he gives us, what we give him, what we create as a family...there is nothing better than that. One of the greatest gifts is looking into the eyes of your children and seeing your Blessings unfold. God has Blessed our Family with three amazing kids And I am thankful for all three of them every single day. Thank you all so much for walking on this journey with me; again, for the last 31 days. Your support is so appreciated and I am grateful for each of you!
Happy HalloweeeeN my sweet friends!
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