Heidi, I have got to tell you what my other daughter wrote last night. Ann has Down syndrome.

First I will tell you that when she was in the 5th grade, her teacher told us that they were not going to attempt to teach her to read because she didn't have enough "horsepower up there". Yes the teacher really said that! We took Ann out of that school, enrolled her in another one and then got her 4 months of tutoring in a reading program created by "Engelmann-Becker". She learned to read in the first two months. Today she reads slowly but with understanding. She has forgotten some of the strategies to "sound out" words but she understands a lot and does not need to be encouraged.

When she writes, she will write things like, "I love you Dad" or "Boys, stay out of my room. I am watching television. Do not disturb! Leave me alone!

Ann loves magic and fantasy and she doesn't quite understand why she can't live in the television set for instance -with the cartoon characters; but last night she broke my heart when she came into the kitchen and handed me a note that said:

"Ann is struck by a magic ray and is turned into a super genius!

It took me back to a dream I had of her when she was 7. In a lucid dream I was walking with Ann and she asked me why the sky was blue. I looked at her and I could see what Ann would look like without Down syndrome. I felt just like I had met my “real” daughter for the first time. I have a picture of Ann when she was about that age and in it I can still glimpse the "whole" Ann. I may post it on this forum if I can figure out how. Ann is so full of fun and humor and her whole Soul is intact- but the hard wiring is wrong- it hurts.

We talk openly about her condition and once she asked me for my three wishes. I said (honestly) “One- that you would be cured of Down syndrome" Two, one billlllion dollars, which makes her laugh at my bad impression of Mike Myers. I don't remember what the third wish was but every few days she asks me. "Dad, what is your first wish?" If I feel like kidding her, I will say, "One billlllion dollars!" and she will laugh and say, "No, no, your FIRST wish". I will tell her and she will hug me and say "That's alright Dad. It's OK. I'm sorry".
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