She's not an idiot -.-

<span style="font-size:85">Alright. Well, this is about a rant for a little girl we babysit that has Down Syndrome. <br><br>Alright, we'll call her Ruby for this post, k? <br><br>Anyway. Ruby is the niece of my mom's friend. Ruby's mom (We'll call her Becki) is 53. Ruby is only 3. Becki is 53. Becki didn't think she could get pregnant anymore & wall-ah! Ruby happened. <br><br>Becki isn't abusive or anything, she doesn't hit Ruby or anything but she does (well doesn't) do something that irks me. <br><br>Ruby has Down Syndrome. I'm not sure exactly how severe it is, but I can tell you this:<br><br><br><ul class="bb-list-unordered"><li class="bb-listitem">Ruby can hardly talk, she can say <span style="font-style:italic">some</span> words (Mom, Dad, Buh-bye, Num-num, etc) Basically, she can say words that a child just learning to talk can say. [/*]<br></li><br><li class="bb-listitem">She communicates in Sign Language. She can't do full sentences but she can tell you when she's hungry, thirsty or anything like that. [She can tell you if she wants Popcorn, Candy, if she's hot/cold, etc][/*]<br></li><br><li class="bb-listitem">She's three but my one year old cousin is bigger than she. [She's only in a size 18 months in clothes, still][/*]</li><br></ul><br><br>Well, Ruby's mom used to have someone come in and teach her Sign Language, she stopped that. Ruby did start "school" this passed year. Anything Sign-Language Ruby has learned, has mostly been from us. <br><br>My family has been around people with disabilities forever and everyone basically knows sign language. <br><br>The whole point of this rant:<br><br><br>We have Ruby ALL the time [usually 3-7 times a week] and a lot of the time, overnight. Which I <span style="font-style:italic">love</span> cause I love that little girl and she is just too adorable. That's not what I'm complaining about. What I'm complaining about is:<br><br><br>When Ruby is home with her mom, she teaches her NOTHING. Nothing. She doesn't even know what the Signs mean, we tried to tell her mom "This mean such-and-such" but she has no desire to learn them. She basically has no patience for Ruby. Which Ruby is a handful, but <span style="font-style:italic">she</span> had her. Ruby is her daughter and whether or not she's a handful (but what kid isn't?) she needs to take initiative and work with her, teach her signs so Ruby can communicate with the word. <br><br>I don't know whether or not this post makes sense and it's not about abuse, really...it's just Ruby's mom doesn't take the time to work with Ruby and show her the things she needs to learn, there's a whole world waiting at Ruby's fingertips but she only knows what we can teach her.<br><br><br><br><br>Another thing that irks me: Ruby has older brothers and sisters, only one of them have seen her because the rest say they don't have a sister with Down Syndrome. That just...ugh.<br><br>[/rant]</span>