Parenting

Boy with Down syndrome sings ‘You Are My Sunshine’ with his sister and fills our hearts with joy

Their mum got a lovely surprise when she came out of the shower to find the pair mid sing-along.
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Every mum knows that a few quiet moments to yourself are blissful and rare. But when Amanda Bowman Gray asked her daughter, Lydia, to watch her 2-year-old brother Bo while she took a shower, she probably didn’t think what she’d come out to would be even better than those few minutes of relaxation.

After her shower, Amanda found Lydia playing her guitar and singing along with Bo.

“If she didn’t have a guitar, I don’t know if she would know how to babysit him,” Amanda wrote in a Facebook post.

“This is her go-to.”

As adorable as two siblings singing sweetly together sounds, it’s even more meaningful for this mum. Bo has Down syndrome, and his mum says music has been a major tool to help him learn.

“It’s proof that music therapy works,” Kim captioned the video of her children singing. “Bo is 25 months old and has a 12-word vocabulary. Every word he has learned has been through music and singing.”

During the video (watch it above), Lydia — who is a talented musician — starts playing guitar while Bo moves to the music. She starts singing ‘You Are My Sunshine’ and pauses at the end of each phrase, so Bo can finish the sentence.

One of the sweetest parts is when Bo exclaims, “Happy!” with a huge smile on his face. As the song ends and Lydia’s guitar playing starts to fade out, one of Amanda’s other children restarts the song, and the cuteness begins again.

What might have been a sweet family memory for Amanda to share with her Facebook friends has gone viral — the video has more than 802,000 shares and 32 million views. Of course, people are absolutely loving the duet.

“What an amazing sissy!” one commenter wrote. “Bo is adorable and so smart. Mum, you have done a wonderful job with your children. You should be full of pride and love!”

“What a beautiful person you are, Lydia,” another person wrote. “Through your music, you take Bo to a beautiful place. You can see how he loves you and how happy he is.”

Amanda posted another message after the video gained attention: “We were told awhile back that our lil’ caboose Bo would inspire and teach the world someday,” she writes in the post.

“He has changed our lives and humbled us beyond measure. All he knows is how to love —simply love unconditionally. What more could parents ask for? To everyone who has viewed, commented, shared, and messaged us personally… thank you.”

And we’d like to thank Bo for putting some extra ‘sunshine’ in our day.

This article first appeared on Woman’s World.

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