Leo the Male Model

Leo had a photo shoot for a national magazine last week. It wasn’t a paid gig or anything like that (let's just say I have a connection) and don’t get concerned, I’m not about to throw it all away to become a stage mom. I hope it works out and they got something they can use (I’ll make sure to post a link to it if/when it happens). I think it’s great for everyone when “special needs” kids are featured in mainstream media and the story has nothing to do with the kid’s “issue.” It’s just a photo of a kid doing his or her thing and it’s great for the world to see and it’s great for moms (particularly new moms) to see their kid isn’t the Only One. That they are not the only one. I remember after Leo was born getting my obligatory free copy of Babytalk magazine and none of the babies looked like my baby. It was painful.

More on the photo shoot. I was nervous even though I promised myself I would try to be cool. I had the whole Down syndrome Ambassador thing stuck in my head again. I wanted Leo to be cute. And sweet. And funny. And to follow directions. And to be the Down syndrome poster child so that all the photo editors and stylists and assistants didn’t talk about us when we left and say Oh My Goodness what were we thinking asking that kid to do this he was so badly behaved!

Thankfully I think it went fine. In fact, it went way better than I expected (maybe that’s the key—have no expectations so whatever the outcome you are not disappointed). Leo was charming and mostly cooperative and much to my surprise, he even sort of followed directions! My favorite moment came before the shoot even began. We were sitting with one of the photo editors while they were readying Leo’s set (Leo had a set!). There were crayons and a big pad of paper to keep the kid models occupied and Leo settled right down to draw. I was chatting with this editor and at one point she looked down at Leo and said “Leo just wrote his name!” I looked over and sure enough, there it was clear as day in green crayon, “Leo.”

I beamed. That’s my guy.

Then she asked me how old he was. She said her four year old could barely right her name.

I think what was so satisfying about this was that it wasn’t one of those situations where I was trying to get Leo to perform. He just did it on his own accord.

Sometimes Leo impresses me when I least expect it. Sometimes I think I don’t give him enough credit.