Hi everyone. This is my first post so I’ll do an introduction of our family and then I want to share some recent successes. My name is Clare, I live in southwestern Ontario, Canada and I have four kids. Bobby is 19, Mary 16, Russell will soon turn 15, and Kathleen is 11. Russell has translocation Down syndrome. All my kids provide me with a lot of joy, but because I am a single mom, there are challenges too.
I’m passionate about building a good life for Russell.

For me that means educational and social inclusion as well as building friendships for him and for me through our local and national Down syndrome associations.

Recently we all attended the Canadian Down Syndrome Society’s annual conference in Ottawa. We had such a good time. All the kids were well behaved, and the dinner and dance that ended off the weekend was a blast. Russell never sat down once—he spent the whole time on the dance floor. Here’s a picture of the five of us, something you don’t see very often any more.

Also recently, Russell attended a Special Olympics track meet through his school. Although he has always participated in “regular” sports teams, he’s never the strongest player on those teams and he works darn hard to keep up. Special Olympics gives him a chance to shine, and that he did. He came home with three ribbons and a big smile on his face. It was a really, really hot day, but once he got that first ribbon he just wanted more.

I look forward to reading all the other bloggers’ posts and I thank you for sticking with me to the end of this one.