I’m not sure why, but I can feel my blood starting to boil. He’s pleasant enough looking, he’s ‘acting’ nice, but I’m sensing a tone to the whole I’ve just been reading about you comment! I’m still not sure how he came across the blog, or what relevance it has to her appointment, but again I’m sensing his, ‘I read big books brain’, has already pigeon holed Poppy into a pretty box labelled ‘DS – ONE SIZE FITS ALL’.

Will you now I think! Did I miss the test? Am I just out of a trance? Or did I just hear this MUPPET tell me that Poppy (she has a name Mr. Bigshot!) is getting bifocals without so much as an examination??

Well, she’s my Poppy the Popstar, and nobody is going to label her and presume she has dreadful eye sight. She might have DS, and maybe it is a characteristic, but give her a fighting chance for god sake and examine her first!!!!

And what do you know……..Poppy is doing brilliant! He puts a patch on her and says, “She’s ok, most babies who have a problem would go mad with the patch!” Ah, the ole most babies routine. That wouldn’t be another generalisation now would it? Maybe MOST BABIES YOU EXAMINE go mad! 

He then proceeds to show my 8month old a 3d image!!! Yes you read right, a 3D image. Now I’m not really one for the Krypton Factor (spatial awareness issues), but I can only see two out of the three!

“It might be too advanced for her”, he mutters”.  You think?  Well why you are showing it to her then? His muppet status is confirmed! Do you want her to fail?  

Anyway, my little Popstar does great! She’s spots more than I do! A little more waiting, some drops in her eyes, and we’re good to go! 

About twenty minutes, a toy store, and 4 Capri Suns later, I get to thinking…..how often do we generalise on a day to day basis?    I know I am Uber Sensitive and mega aware since Poppy arrived - which does upset me - so much so that I very often don’t realise that I’m saying ‘a room full of Poppy’s pals”. Could it be there’s a fine line between avoiding labels and self preservation?

Enter Keeper of the Cave 2, my amazing sister in law, Danielle. She is the one who gets the mad phone calls when I’m throwing a wobbly, who takes the kids at the mere mention of a hat being dropped or an appointment being made. She is the one who has indulged me with fun nights out when things were tough – the most notable of which resulted in a 4am bedtime and a 7am rise to bake loaves of bread for Poppy and Lucy’s school cake/bake sale! Not a good look…

She was there at the end of the phone when I had my first physio appointment. I’m sitting outside St. Aidans in Gorey, coffee in hand, having a total breakdown. I don’t want to go in. What if I see other wonky people? I CAN’T COPE!  What’s going to happen? What are they going to say? Her reassurance and knack for always knowing the right thing to say, gets me through it.  “Just go in, ring me the minute you're out, it will be grand POPPY is amazing, love you”.

She’s right. I can do this. In we go.

There was a little bit of  the, “Well all babies with.... can't do this, and all babies with…can’t do that or might be able to do this....” etc I somehow managed to hold my tongue that day, which is just as well, as Poppy was a true Popstar, rolling over in high performance mode, doing all the tricks I knew in my heart and soul that she could and would do. Feeling smug I couldn’t help but utter the words, “Oh she’s been rolling over for ages!!!!” Who’s to say the definition of ages isn’t 2 minutes!

I remember seeing a Poppy one morning in Dundrum. I was on a much needed night away with the girls and I wasn’t going to miss an opportunity for a bit of retail therapy. He was a young boy, no more than seven, and I saw him and thought, what should I do? It’s not like I can just walk up to him and say, ‘Hi, I have a new Poppy just like you!” What would I do then? Wouldn’t that just make me MISSLABEL.COM !  So I stopped, and I though, things are going to be ok. I’m going to be out somewhere and someone else is going to look at me and Poppy and think the same thing.