Living with "The Happy Syndrome" (It Makes You Friendly)

- Are you ready? - Yeah!

- For your big, awesome interview?

(Bess laughs)

This is gonna be fun.

- Yeah. (laughs)

- [Chris] Who is this?

- My mom.

- Hi baby. (laughs) - Hi.

- [Chris] Tell me about your mom.

- 'Cause I happy about my mom.

- I know you are.

Can you tell him about mom?

- My mom is so cute.

- You're cute too.

- All right, my first question for you-

- Okay. - And it's a big,

important question, so let's put on our listening ears.

- Okay. - Dah dah.

- Dah dah. - Dah dah.

- Dah dah. - Did you put on

both your listening ears? - Yeah.

- Okay, mine are on too.

This first question, do you wanna be friends?

- (gasps) Yeah!

- Yes! - Yeah!

(both celebrating)

- [Chris] Tell me about Bess.

- Bess is my little sweetheart, that's for sure.

She's my buddy, huh?

Yep, we like to go shopping together-

- And be besties together-

- Besties together

and everywhere we go, she makes a friend. (laughs)

- We like friends to be best friends forever.

You, Chris, and me, you're my best friend forever.

And we laugh and play together.

- [Chris] What's it like to make a new best friend?

- 'Cause we like to play together!

- [Chris] What is it like to be brother, sister?

- I like playing tag.

- [Chris] What do you think, Rogue?

- Playing with my sister.

- And we love Rogue.

Aw. (laughs)

Aw, Rogue.

- [Chris] Why do you love Rogue?

- Because he's my best friend forever.

(Rogue hums) (Bess laughs)

- Bess was a miracle baby for us.

We were together nine years before she was born.

- Yeah. - And then,

we didn't think we'd be able to have another child

and Rogue was such an amazing surprise to us.

And it was especially exciting for us

because we knew that Bess wouldn't be alone in the world

and that she would have a sibling.

And then Rogue came along and we didn't wanna

put that expectation on his shoulders

to be a super supportive brother.

That's a lot for anybody, but I mean,

they get along so well and they're the best of friends

and that means the world to us as parents,

just knowing that they've got that support for each other,

and love.

- My favorite thing of my brother is makes me happy.

- [Chris] What does he do that makes you happy?

- He likes to tickle with me. (laughs)

And laugh and play together.

- [Chris] Rogue,

what's your favorite thing about Bess?

- To play dinosaurs with her.

- [Chris] How do you play dinosaurs?

- You just stand up and stomp, stomp!

And roar! (Rogue roars)

Like a dinosaur. (Rogue roaring)

Roar! (Rogue roaring)

- Now I have this screen right here, tah dah!

- Tah dah! (laughs)

- And we can see ourselves. - Yeah.

- How do you feel when you see yourself?

- Happy.

- Why do you feel happy when you see yourself?

- Because I like seeing the screen

and wave at each other. - Hi.

- Hey! - How are you?

- (laughs) This is our vlog.

- [Chris] William's Syndrome is often known as

the disorder that makes people friendly.

Would you say that's correct?

- Absolutely, absolutely.

She is friendly all the time.

Bess could be friends with anybody,

and I love it 'cause we go out to eat and next thing I know,

people are inviting her to join their table. (laughs)

- I like happy.

And excited.

Not frustrated or mad.

- [Chris] Do you ever feel frustrated or mad?

- No, just happy.

- [Chris] What's it like to be happy?

- 'Cause we like to be happy!

- [Chris] Do you and your sister ever argue?

(both laugh)

- Oh, that's funny.

- [Chris] What do you and Rogue argue about sometimes?

- We just laugh and play together.

And we can roll around.

- Do you sometimes feel excited?

- Oh yeah.

- What does it feel like to be excited?

- 'Cause we like to silly, like (makes silly sounds)

(both making silly sounds)

- [Chris] I have a question for you.

- Huh?

- [Chris] If you do feel frustrated, what do you do?

- Just calm down.

One, two, three, four.

- [Chris] Did somebody teach you how to count and breath?

- Yeah.

- [Chris] Does that help?

- Yeah, that makes me calm down.

- [Chris] I'm really happy that you know how to calm down.

- Yeah, you just take a deep breath, like calm down.

That makes me so proud.

That makes me proud.

- [Chris] Are you proud to know how to calm down?

- Yeah.

- [Chris] You should be, that's a really smart thing you do.

- I'm proud of you.

- [Chris] I'm proud of you.

- Aw, thanks.

We love skipping together.

- [Rogue] Skip skip skip skip skip-

♪ Skip skip ♪

- Skip skip skip skip- - Skip!

- Yeah, you guys like to play a lot together

and that's important 'cause it's hard,

and with William's Syndrome, as they get older,

it's hard for them to make new friends

and so to have a brother she can come home to, (laughs)

and play with, it makes it nice, huh?

- Yeah, and it makes me laugh, I'm like, "Boom!"

- Boom. (Bess laughs)

- [Chris] Is it easy for her

to relate to people a bit younger?

- A bit younger or with adults, you know?

And so her age group, sometimes it's tough.

Huh Bess? - Yeah.

- Yeah, that's okay, that's a part of growing up, huh?

Yeah. (laughs)

- And we play Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Ready?

- [Together] Rock, paper, scissors, shoot.

- I got you. - No! (laughs)

- I cut your paper. - Let's do it again!

- I cut your paper. - Let's do it again.

- [Together] Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!

- I cut your paper, I cut your paper.

- Ouch, you'll never get me and my paper!

- I ripped your paper off. - Oh no!

- [Chris] What grade are you in?

- Second.

Do you remember my mom says?

- [Chris] I do remember that.

What's your favorite thing about the second grade?

- My favorite second grade is my best friends.

- What do you do with your best friends in the second grade?

- I was riding a bike, I did so good riding a bike.

- [Chris] You rode a bike?

- Yeah, 'cause it's not tricky.

- Yeah, but it can be complicated

because not everybody's a friend

and so we have to teach her about, you know,

making sure Mommy and Daddy are close by,

or people we trust.

We learned about, who do we trust, Bess?

Who are safe people?

- Like my friends?

- Your friends, uh huh.

- And Mr. Chris are safe to me.

- Yeah, yeah, exactly, mmhmm.

- What would you like to say to all the people

who are watching this video?

- Hi.

- Hi everyone. - Hey.

- Do you like saying hi to people?

- Hey. - Hey, hey hey hey hey,

hey hey hey hey hey. - Hey.

- How do you hope that people watching this feel?

- Happy.

- What can they do to make themselves happy?

- Because they're laughing.

- Should we make them laugh?

- Yeah. - All right,

let's make them laugh.

(pair making silly sounds)

What is it like to have a child who

does have that authentic joy and trust in people,

but have to teach them that not everybody deserves that?

- That's hard