Today was picture day at school. DD loves having her picture taken. Although she wasn't quite sure what to expect, she knew it involved a camera and that was good enough for her. She wore her favorite green hoodie sweater and wanted her hair in ponytails "Up, not down, Mom."

I asked her aide to make sure that her ponytails were even on both sides, and that her face was clean. Can I just say how much I love having an aide follow my daughter around? In previous years on picture day, my sons had been known to have messy hair and obvious food or dirt on their faces when their pictures were snapped. (One year, it was so bad, that I refused the pictures and demanded my money back. What kind of photographer thinks it is okay to take the picture of my son with chocolate all over his mouth and up to one ear where he tried to wipe it with the back of his hand? Retakes, anyone?)

DD's aide is also an aide to one other girl. I do not know this girls reason for needing an aide. She looks like the typical kindergartner. (This is harder in a way. When people look at DD, they see that she obviously has Down syndrome and immediately understand and have compassion. If a child has a disability that the public can't see, said public often wonder why the child acts as she does and put it down to bad parenting.) This girl walked into the photography area and immediately was scared. I am not sure if she was scared of the photographer, the bright lights, or having to sit on a stool by herself, but she refused to go.

DD immediately headed to the chair. DD's aide started to stop her since her picture had been taken earlier that morning, but the photographer told her to let DD come. DD sat on the chair, photo was snapped and lights flashed. Then DD went to her friend and said "See? It not scared.", and led her to the chair. Her friend, reassured that nothing bad would happen, allowed her picture to be taken with DD close by but outside of the picture frame.

Yep, I am proud of my daughter.