Josie was a fresh-faced little two-year-old when Moses was born. With her, my focus was more on helping her adjust to having a new baby invading her space than explaining that her new baby brother had Down syndrome. At that point in her young life, telling her that would’ve meant absolutely nothing to her anyway. Still, part of me wondered when the time would come to explain it to her.

While we didn’t explicitly tell her that he had Down syndrome, we didn’t hide it from her, either. When she asked why people were coming to see him, we explained that they were there to help him get stronger and learn how to do things. That explanation was good enough for her, and she quickly began to interject herself into his physical and speech therapy sessions. In fact, there are still times that I have to remind her that the therapists are coming to see Moses, not her.

My question of when I would have to explain what Down syndrome was and that Moses had it was answered this past spring. Josie had found a medal from the Step Up for Down Syndrome Walk we did in St. Louis the previous spring. She had been wearing it around the house for a while when she came to where I was sitting on the couch and asked me to read what it said. I told her it read “Step Up for Down Syndrome”. She looked at the medal again and said, “I don’t cheer for Down syndrome.”

“Oh, yes you do, sister.” was my immediate reply. Of course, her next question was promptly, “Why?”

Taking a deep breath, I said, “Because Moses has Down syndrome. We cheer for him all the time, right?” (As a matter of fact, we cheer for him so much that when he has even the smallest of accomplishments, he looks at whoever is around to make sure they’re properly cheering for him.)

Here came the hard part. Not because I thought that it would somehow change how she looked at him or felt about him, but because explaining the science and complexity of Down syndrome is hard. Explaining it to an adult who has at least heard of a chromosome is hard enough. Explaining it to a 4-year-old is downright difficult.

I did my best to break it down so she could maybe understand part of it. I told her how we all have chromosomes in our bodies and that most people have two of each chromosome in our cells, but Moses and others with Down syndrome have an extra chromosome that changes some of the things in their bodies and makes it harder for them to do somethings. Thankfully, I could tell that she was losing interest and that she was ready to go about her business, so that extremely over-simplified explanation was all she needed.

After that, Josie didn’t ask any more questions or say anything else about Down syndrome.

Until last week.

While I was getting Moses ready for bed one evening, Josie came in his room and asked, “Why doesn’t Moses talk yet?”

“Well,” I started, “It’s because he has Down syndrome and that makes it harder for him to learn how to talk.”

“Oh. Will you tell me about Down syndrome and those chromo-somes again?”

Impressed that she had apparently really been listening to me when I had tried to explain it the first time, I reminded her that most people get two of each chromosome but Moses got extra of one of them which makes it harder for him to do some things, like learn how to talk. This time I added, “But it’s also part of what makes him awesome.”

Without missing a beat, that smart-mouth came back with, “But you don’t have an extra one so you’re not awesome.”

I swear it was all I could do not to come back with, “Well, little girl, neither do you, so what’s that say about you, too?” Instead, I returned the playful smirk she was giving me and told her to go get ready for bed.

What I love most about telling Josie and other kids about Down syndrome and what it means for Moses is their reaction. It’s almost like a healthy indifference. Having that information doesn’t make or break anything in terms of how they feel about him. There’s no looks of pity towards him or me. They don’t say, “I’m sorry.” There’s no uncomfortable pause or change in conversation. There is simply acceptance.

For Josie, beginning to understand why some things are different about and for her little brother hasn’t changed a thing around here. She still loves him because he’s her Mo Mo. It’s that simple.