Grayson Grows with GiGi’s

GiGi’s Playhouse Indianapolis gladly welcomed Grayson into the GiGi’s family back in 2020! Grayson and his family have enjoyed attending LMNOP each Friday lead by Miss Molly & Mr. Tom. In addition, we got to see him and his family in-person during our Books & Blitzen drive-thru in December of 2020. Enjoy learning about Grayson and his family below!

“Molly and I are both originally from Ohio but met each other through playing rugby when I lived in New Orleans and Molly lived near Nashville, TN. Molly is active duty in the Army and I work from home in creative marketing and photography. Through reciprocal IVF (Molly’s egg, but I carried the pregnancy), we became pregnant with Grayson in August 2019. We received his prenatal diagnosis of Down Syndrome that November.

Being an Army family means a lot of moving. In January 2020, on the first day of my third trimester, we moved from Clarksville, TN to Sierra Vista, AZ for Molly to complete her military intelligence officer training at Fort Huachuca. Sierra Vista is a small town an hour and a half south of Tucson. Then, the pandemic hit in mid-March and Grayson was born 3 weeks early on April 4th. Grayson was in and out of the hospital the first month with jaundice and other health complications. Since then has had a clean bill of health, which we feel extremely grateful for. We were able to find a new normal for just a few months before we moved again in August to Indianapolis.

Like most, we grappled with what Grayson’s diagnosis would mean for our future and we looked to make connections with other families like ours. Between all the moving, living in a smaller rural town in AZ,  and the start of a global pandemic, that was pretty challenging to do in person. When we found out we’d be moving to Indianapolis, we had a few family members and a friend who were familiar with GiGi’s Playhouse in Chicago recommend we check out the local playhouse in Indianapolis. I signed us up for our first LMNOP class the first week we moved and we’ve been in love with GiGi’s since!

It was so nice to find a community as soon as we got here and it’s helped us to feel more at home faster than usual. Miss Molly and Mr. Tom and the whole GiGi’s team have made us feel so welcome. I’ve been so impressed with how they make sure to tailor LMNOP activities each month to Grayson’s development level. It’s been so fun to watch Grayson grow up with the LMNOP gang. Raising a child during a pandemic has truly been a crazy experience and we worried how we’d get social interaction for Grayson. The virtual classes have been a great introduction for him and I’ve been surprised to see how excited he gets each week when he sees all his new friends on the screen. We can’t wait until things are safe enough to return to in-person classes and Grayson can finally interact with everyone! I think it will blow his mind to actually be able to play with the other kids.

I feel so fortunate that our family has found GiGi’s. The resources they provide will help Grayson grow for years to come. I can only hope that every time we move in the future, we can be close to another playhouse! It’ll feel like we’ll already have some built-in family before we even move!”