In a guest blog post, Tara McCallan explains the importance of celebrating what makes us all different.

#DifferentIsBeautiful: The special-needs calendar everyone should see

a:1:{i:0;s:3739:"In the fall, Syona participated in a photo shoot for a very special calendar. In this guest post, a fellow special needs mom explains the importance of celebrating differences and how love and pride for our kids connect us all.
By: Tara McCallan
My little girl Pip is different. Plain and simple, no way around it – She has physical differences due to Down syndrome, congenital cataracts, vision problems and more. My little girl is different and my little girl is outrageously beautiful. 
Pip has been on magazine covers, including Today’s Parent <https://www.todaysparent.com/family/parenting/my-daughter-has-down-syndrome-and-i-wouldnt-change-a-thing/>, thousands of billboards across the country, newspapers, TV and is the inspiration behind Happy Soul Project<http://www.happysoulproject.com/>. So as a mom, and as a special needs parent, I personally know how it can feel to be overwhelmed with pride when you not only celebrate who your child is, but when the world does so with you. That is what inspired the #differentisbeautiful 2015 Calendar <http://www.shophappysoulproject.com/products/2015-differentisbeautiful-calendar>.
We held a casting call asking for children to come out and celebrate what makes them different, whether that was freckles, diabetes, one arm or allergies. We wanted whatever they felt made them different to be the very thing that made them feel beautiful. 
The vast amount of differences and diagnoses we saw was eye-opening, amazing and something I'm so very excited to feature in our calendar. But what blew me away the most, and gives this calendar such purpose were the similarities in each family despite the different diagnoses.
I got to really understand through each parent what their child's difference{s} was, the struggle, the constant medical appointments, the therapies, the worry, the treatments, the future prognosis. And while the journey for each child was different, the core remained the same: the path may have been harder but the love and pride was overwhelming.
The #differentisbeautiful Calendar is for these families. It's to let them share that pride that I got to see at the casting call, photo shoot and calendar launch party. It's to show them we think their child is amazing just the way they are. It's to honour the hours, days, months they spent in hospitals, doctor appointments, seeing specialist and therapies. It's to stand beside them and pat their backs for a job well done. And it's to allow them to shout from the rooftops that their child is special, important, valued and awesome. And it’s an opportunity for all of you to bring some of that into your daily routine.

We also want the calendar to help build a community of kindness . Every month there is an Awesome Eh Act, some random act of kindness to leave someone with nothing left to say except, “Awesome Eh”...Every month on the 15th those thousands that have already purchased the calendar will be challenged to put that positivity out there in the world – Whether that is leaving a post it note in a public bathroom that says, “You are Beautiful” or donating a coat to a child in need, it’s something to make someone else’s world brighter. 
Just like the kids in this calendar make all of ours. 
It’s time for others to see the beauty in differences and I am so proud that Happy Soul Project is demanding that change. The confidence I saw rise up in certain children during this process, the laughter it brought out in others and the pure joy it’s now giving and will continue to give in those that have it proudly hanging on their walls is humbling. 
And to think one little girl, who just happened to be a bit different inspired all of this. Happy 2015 friends. 
";}

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Here at Today's Parent we aim for diversity in our photography—which is why we’re featuring this exceptional little girl, who happens to have Down syndrome. We met 18-month-old Reid, who goes by Pip, through our Today's Parent community when Kingston, Ont. mom Tara McCallan shared her <a href="http://www.happysoulproject.com/">Happy Soul Project</a> blog with us. We fell in love with Pip the moment we met her, and we know you will, too. Watch our video for a behind-the-scenes look at Pip’s cover shoot with big brother Noal, and see what makes this little girl so amazing.

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