A Man’s Wife Said His Brother with Down Syndrome Was Too Unpredictable to Be Near Their Baby – One Night, They Heard a Scream From the Nursery and Ran In

Jamie looked down at his fist. He’d been clenching it the whole time.

Slowly, he opened his hand.

A tiny wooden bead sat in his palm.

P.

Claire stared at it. Then she looked at the crib rail, where the clip dangled, broken.

S-O-_-H-I-E.

She’d made it with her own hands.

    “What was she choking on?”

***

I remembered the clip then. A week after we brought Sophie home, I’d found her on the couch, stringing wooden beads onto it. They spelled S-O-P-H-I-E.

“Isn’t she a little young for that? Loose beads shouldn’t go near the crib.”

“It’s a pacifier clip, not a necklace. I’ll hang it on the crib rail.”

I’d let it go.

***

At the hospital, the doctor confirmed it. The bead had snapped off the clip, and Sophie had put it in her mouth.

“She’s going to be fine,” he said. “Whoever got to her first did exactly what needed to be done.”