In another post I mentioned in passing that Thorin loved the show So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD). It’s a fun show to watch except for that loud, cry baby, hillbilly girl. Ye gads!

He has a great memory for the dance moves – sliding his feet along the floor, arching his back, arms high over his head, a little Elvis, a little of The Worm, a little break dancing and a very little of what looks like popping and locking. He is content to go in the living room turn on the stereo and dance for about twenty minutes uninterrupted. To mimic the sidekicks he pushes himself off the coffee table.

So, I did what any self-respecting “good parent” does in this day and age. I enrolled him in a dance class. The other thing is that our focus starting last spring has been to have Thorin do things he loves in a typical setting. A typical setting is a non-therapeutic setting where the focus is not on the developmental needs of children with special needs, blah, blah, blah. There is a dance program for children with Down syndrome in town but most of his educational interactions are as a kid who has Down syndrome. We want him to have the typical kid experience, too. And – he starts kindergarten in a year. Or, as I refer to it as – The Thunder Dome.

The lady at the dance school said he would likely be the only boy in a room with girls in pink tutus. Ye gads, isn’t that typical! Thorin was enrolled in the three year old class and was still the littlest one. (Even though he will be five next month Thorin does some things like a two-year-old, some things like a three-year old, some things like a four-year-old and most things like a really cool surfer dude who everyone wants to hang out with).

I took him to class Saturday. During the class, he and this little girl started pushing each other and then putting their heads together and then rubbing each other’s back. He got talked to but I didn’t really see the teacher say anything to the girl. It was so clear she was asking for it! Not really but it was consensual. Then he started going up to everybody in the class including the only other boy – who was sort of stunned – wanting to hug.

I have to say my first thought was, “Hey, Thorin what’s with reinforcing the DS stereotypes, huh?” I admit it I was kind of uncomfortable. But, mostly I was ashamed of myself. Is hugging really atypical behavior?  After class the teacher told me he can’t touch the other kids.

When I related the story to my sister she said, “Oh, he probably felt like he just took Ecstasy with all the dancing and he just wanted to hug everybody.”