For some odd reason lately, I’ve been waking up at 5 a.m. and it takes me forever to get back to sleep because my brain won’t shut up. I’m finally being proactive about it and getting up, using the bathroom, making myself some instant breakfast, and putting on a podcast. However, these are my thoughts this morning.

Michael Morris, one of the Quick Takes bloggers, has blogged on occasion about his son Tommy who has holoprosencephaly, a brain abnormality that occurred in utero. (Basically, the brain didn’t separate into hemispheres or something? His blog has an entry that explains it.) One of his posts from June talks about how he would just like to be Tommy’s dad and not his advocate and I totally resonate with that. One thing mentioned is going to Applebees and having to explain the situation to the waitresses and the looks he would receive.

I mention all that because I deal with it when it comes to Daniel. He’s not verbal yet (though he has figured out ways of communicating) and I have to explain to people that he isn’t going to wave at them. What has been really wonderful is that there are some for whom that doesn’t matter. Some of the people in the drive-thru at McDonald’s wave and talk to him anyway and the people at Trader Joe’s will have conversations (albeit one-sided) with him. I can’t put into words how much better it makes my day when people do that. Doing it grants him personhood in a way that seems kind of duuuuuuh… but that people forget to do.

OK… back to sleep for me!