{"id":287,"date":"2012-10-17T20:55:31","date_gmt":"2012-10-17T20:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jldesigntestsite.info\/desmoines\/?p=287"},"modified":"2012-10-17T21:19:44","modified_gmt":"2012-10-17T21:19:44","slug":"our-son-the-teacher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/desmoines\/awareness-2\/our-son-the-teacher","title":{"rendered":"Our Son, The Teacher"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I think back to the day Ian was born and clearly remember so many of the details. His birth, the diagnosis by the doctor, the phone calls to family and friends. It\u2019s often said that parents go through a mourning period after a diagnosis of Down syndrome. I remember being scared, but not sad. I remember a mix of reaction from friends & family, and some were sad.
\nI remember my husband\u2019s unbelievable sense of humor given the circumstances. We didn\u2019t know if we were going to have a girl or a boy. If it was a boy, we had chosen Seth, and joked during the pregnancy that Seth Kastner would be a tough name for a kid with speech problems. I knew we were going to be just fine when Mike looked at me after the doctor told us and remarked, \u201cI don\u2019t think the name Seth is going to work.\u201d (To this day, that still makes me smile.) I asked him to choose a name, and without hesitation, he said Ian Thomas Kastner. I remember after making the round of phone calls, this quiet & strong man also questioned, \u201cWhy can\u2019t people just congratulate us, we had a baby boy.\u201d I remember looking at him and telling him that we are teachers, and how we treat Ian is how others will treat him.
\nWe\u2018ve raised Ian without the label of Down syndrome. Not that we were shielding him or his brother (or us) from it, we just didn\u2019t want it to define him … and it doesn\u2019t. And through the years, he became the teacher.\u00a0 People who meet him are in awe of this boy\u2019s abilities. He\u2019s loving, perceptive, confident, funny, smart, active and athletic. He takes trumpet lessons every week and reads every day. \u00a0He\u2019s such a hard worker. He makes to-do lists, because he has things to do! He LOVES music. When I asked him who his favorites singers are, here were his top picks \u2014 Seal, Beatles, Rolling Stones, k.d. Lang and John Hiatt. His brother Joe sees Ian as the life of our family, and says he can make a quiet room fill with laughter & excitement \u00ad\u2013 and he does.
\nNot to say there haven\u2019t been challenges \u2014 there have been many. Our latest is puberty. Ian wants many things that a typical 13 year old wants, including; a girlfriend, to play video games beyond his age and to get his driving permit when he\u2019s 14.\u00a0 His pediatrician jokes that, \u201cIan doesn\u2019t realize he has Down syndrome, does he?\u201d Yet, on some level, he knows. When we see a kid with Down syndrome, he\u2019ll say \u201cHe\u2019s like me.\u201d As Ian gets older, he has a greater understanding of himself and the world. Our job as parents is to give him information as he is ready and in ways he will understand. I guess we are all teachers.\u00a0\u00a0 -Nadine, Ian’s Mom
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