Baby Hulk ~ "That's Retarded"

I have been waiting for someone to say "that's retarded" or call someone a "retard" and to be angered by it. People have said it, I just haven't been angry yet. I actually felt bad for Buttons when she herself let the "R" word slip. She cringed the moment it left her lips and covered her mouth and apologized profusely. I wasn't angry though.
 
 I just don't feel angry about it. I feel like "retarded" has become like the word "dumb". It has been used incorrectly for so long that it has lost it's power. I feel like retarded is the new dumb. Were people unable to speak offended by the usage of the word "dumb"? Are they still offended by it?

What I find offensive is when I read about down syndrome and in the list of symptoms associated with it says "mental retardation" that makes me angry because as far as I am concerned my son is no such thing! I was reading to him off the list last night and telling him what the symptoms of his syndrome were I got to mental retardation and was angry! I skipped it. I wasn't about to tell my son that he was mentally retarded!  That is worse to me than just throwing the word around! After discussing it with Darling Husband I found that it is more accepted in the community to call it an intellectual disability.  Don't call my son retarded. Call your friends retarded all you like but you better not use it in its proper form and you certainly may not use it in reference to my son! He is chromosomally fancy! (To find out more about preferred language visit here)

Baby Hulk has been his regular awesome self. He keeps sneaking smiles at us. I am not 100% sure that they are real smiles but I am pretty sure... They happen at the appropriate times but then I think we get too excited because they quickly vanish and then are replaced by a very shocked and uncertain look like, "Wait! What did I do!? Why are you squealing!?" He has also started talking back. At first I wasn't quite sure about this either because the noises he was making almost sounded like cries but it was just one shout and then he was quite content and would look at me like he was waiting for an answer to the question he had apparently just asked me. Today at exactly 6 weeks I got the 100% sure he is talking, "agoo" once again right on schedule developmentally. I love how he is paying no attention to the developmental chart of children with downs.  He really is just a normal baby.

This baby pretty much rocks! You should be jealous.