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OK, so, I have been blogging every day this October in honor of Down syndrome Awareness.

But I am tired. And I am running out of ideas.

When Polly was still a baby I read somewhere about how a girl with Down syndrome handled ridicule one day in elementary school.

A boy was making fun of her, “Hey Mongol. Mongol. Mongol.”

He was calling her Mongol short for Mongoloid, an old school term for people with Down syndrome. It’s out of date. It’s derogatory. It’s just not cool.

The girl, a fifth grader just looked at him and said, “At least I’m not a butthole”. (And um, she didn’t use the term “butthole.” Ahem.)

We are all born with advantages and disadvantages, and we still have to live our lives. But superiority, degradation, ridicule, those are hand crafted by our sick, sinful selves.

When it comes to my children with Down syndrome, I set the tone for acceptance in their lives.

Every day I have the chance to accept Polly and Evie for who they are, and believe in who they can be.

Polly and Evie provide me the opportunity to educate. I am an advocate for and about people with disabilities.

I am an advocate for them.

Do I want to be an advocate all the time?  No, I want to sit around in comfort watching The Voice.

But it doesn’t matter what I want all the time, thank God, because if it were up to me I would surely screw it up.

Another father of a child with Down syndrome said that we parents have been admitted into a special club through our kids. We can be the president or the ones hiding out in the corner, either and both depending on the day are fine.

But we won’t ever leave the club.

So even though I am tired, I am going to attempt to keep my commitment to blog every day this October for Down syndrome awareness.

I’m doing it for my girls.

And to pre-emptively attempt to educate any future well, you know whats, who may try to mess with them.