Happy World Down Syndrome Day 2011

I am pleased to wish you Happy Down Syndrome Day!!! I did not know about this last year...gotta love Facebook, huh? There is some excuse for a party every few days... :)

BUT, I as I have taken every excuse to celebrate my girl and "dis" the establishment who tries to scare the Downs out of everybody's life....how much better than a WORLD acknowledgement of their beauty and their magical impact on our lives!?!?

I saw for the first time, the funniest T-shirt this week. "Don't Dis My ABILITY!" I got so incredibly tickled by it!! So to celebrate today, other than my totally awesome giveaway (if I do say so myself!), I decided to list some of Elise's latest accomplishments!

Elise's ABILITIES:
1) Elise can say her last name!
2) Elise can spell her first name!
3) Elise has more than 30 words that she can sight read!
4) Elise can curry a horse
5) Elise can muck out a horse stall
6) Elise can count up to 12 (and then to 20 but it gets a little patchy after 12!)
7) Elise knows the sounds to all the letters in the alphabet
8) Elise can go potty and take care of everything but the fasteners
9) Elise can do simple math
10) Elise can get away with more than any one human should be able to
11) Elise can break steel ball bearings due to her persistence
12) Elise can take her shoes and socks off in 3 seconds flat
13) Elise can put hats on her Playmobil figures
14) Elise can turn on the Playstation, the TV, the audio system, put in a DVD, select it, and watch it with joy
15) Elise can operate my iPod more easily than my parents and my in-laws
16) Elise knows her way around a computer
17) Elise can enjoy a book being read to her with a more magnetic concentration than anyone I know
18) Elise can exude joy at such a magnitude that you can feel it against you "like tall grass"
19) Elise can ask questions in such an abbreviated manner, you comprehend the "Much-ness" of the simple questions
21) Elise can give her love abruptly and completely to random strangers that truly need it and she seems to know, unfailingly, who really needs it!

For those who would like a simple education, THIS is what Down Syndrome is, technically.

For those who want to know what it is like to live with someone with Down Syndrome, here is a quote that quite sums it up for me today.

"The Lord's goodness surrounds us at every moment. I walk through it almost with difficulty, as through thick grass and flowers." - R. W. Barber

I am also going to unabashedly steal and tweak a quote from a friend since the sentiment is more than applicable (Thanks, Renee!):

When I was pregnant with Elise, I was 26 years old. We had a 1 in 1433 chance of having a child with Down Syndrome. We hit the jackpot!