My Daughter And I ~ A Portrait

Did you know that I accidentally spilled a huge blob of printer ink halfway through sketching this portrait? Yes, I did. You can't tell where it was because I quickly used my brush and some tissue papers to clean it up. It was a mess but I am very glad that I used a heavy duty watercolor paper. If it was a generic drawing paper it would be totally ruined and I had to start all over again!

So whose portrait is this?

That's me and my firstborn, a daughter. This picture was taken 7 years ago to when she was about a couple of months old. I was a new mother who had little idea what parenthood would be like. Like most mothers, she was my first for many things, you named it - breastfeeding, poo cleaning, diaper changing, feeding, disciplining, so on and so forth.

I made many many mistakes with her that I care to admit. Some of which I am too ashamed to admit.

She was my training ground in parenting, still is. I guess it's true for every parent.

When she was 3 months old in my belly, we did several routine scans at the doctor's office and they detected that she had Down Syndrome. The doctor told us that we can choose to abort the pregnancy and save us the hassle of raising a special needs child.

We were shocked and devastated. I was shocked not because I would have a DS baby BUT I was horrified that the doctor could suggest such a thing! How dare he gave me that suggestion to murder my own baby?! Of course, our answer was a loud resounding NO.

I knew the doctor meant well but don't special needs children have the right to live? I don't condemn those who decided to terminate their pregnancies and I don't intend to start a debate on this post. But personally for me, I would not get rid of my child simply because she is different.

Despite what the doctor said, my daughter is perfectly fine. She is 8 this year and in Primary 2. She is a very talented girl who loves to draw and paint.

I sketched this portrait because she requested it. She came to me one day and said she wanted to put it up on her wall. Of course, I said yes. How could I refuse her?

Here is the reference image of this portrait.