I Take You Down!

Kellen and his dad have always loved to wrestle. When Kellen was smaller we had wall-to-wall carpet and they would often go at it in the middle of the living room...with me trying to protect the furniture and make sure no one got hurt. Then, Kellen got bigger and we took up the carpet to reveal hardwood floors underneath. Hardwood was no good for wrestling. The rule became, "Wrestling is only for the pool." (Okay, sometimes Sweet Husband breaks this rule in order to wake Kellen up in the morning.)

I have heard of a lot of adults with Down syndrome who particularly like watching "professional" wrestling on television. I have always been intentional about carefully avoiding those channels and Kellen hasn't found them on his own. Even so, Kellen picked up on the phrase, "I take you down!" somewhere. It has become his phrase for wrestling with his dad.

The pool is generally a great place to wrestle...but as Kellen and I often swim together, I occasionally have to remind him that "wrestling is only for dad."

Today Kellen and I went to the outdoor swim club. It was empty except for a couple swimming laps. Kellen and I swam some and shot some baskets. At one point the couple had stopped to rest in the shallow end and Kellen spotted them. I was in deeper water and noticed him start to walk towards them with a familiar glint in his eyes. I called to him a couple of times and tried to put some authority in my voice...but he was clearly on a mission. Sure enough, he came up from behind the man and gave him a bear hug around the shoulders. It startled the poor guy to death. I don't blame him...170 pounds of wet, slippery flesh grabbing me from behind in the pool would scare me too (if I didn't know Kellen!)

Mortified...I briefly explained that he is used to wrestling with his dad in the pool and distracted Kellen away to shoot baskets again at the side of the pool. In my mind I am picturing people like this complaining to the board and us getting our membership at the pool revoked. (Yes, sometimes my mind goes to dark places.)

About 20 minutes later, the couple was coming out of the locker room and about to leave. We were still in the pool and as they walked by, they made a point to say a friendly good-bye to us.

Go figure!

Once again, Kellen demonstrates that he knows how to win friends and influence people.

"I take you DOWN!"