7 Quick Takes -- Down syndrome -- Spicer style

I've had my arm twisted to do a 7 Quick Takes Friday for Down Syndrome Awareness Month. The blogger in question should be ashamed...ASHAMED, I SAY!! More on that in 7.

In other news, if any new readers come over from Conversion Diary, please know that I did once have a very cute blog header. Very, very cute. And I somehow deleted it. And I haven't fixed it yet. And I really haven't made a firm plan to get it fixed. Please don't judge or I'll have to play the "I have 8 kids" card. 

1.

For someone who has three daughters with Down syndrome and a whole host of friends with Down syndrome, I often can't tell if a particular person has Down syndrome. My friends who have older children with Down syndrome report that they have the same problem. I may see a picture or a young child (that's the hardest) and just not know. I'll have to ask my children. They often don't know, either. So if you ever see my family staring at someone with our heads tilted and a confused look, more than likely we're trying to figure out if they have Ds or not. It's a weird pastime but we're a weird family. 

2.

One of my favorite hours in the week is the hour my three girls are in their special needs cheer practice. It's not that I want to be away from them; it's that the other parents are so fantastic. For sheer good humor, realism, and camaraderie...this is the place to be. If your child has a hard time that week, you will not find a speck of judgment but a lot of encouragement and smiles and...the big one...acceptance. We've all been there and we know we'll be there again. In a way that I've never seen on my other kids' many sports teams I can say with confidence: we are family. 

3.

My 8 year old daughter Ella has watched High School Musical 2 approximately 300 times in the last week. She has the dance numbers memorized. So do I. I won't be posting a video to prove it, though, so no begging. Just imagine it in your mind...where it counts. (Shout out to Aunt Paige for the Apple TV that makes this travesty possible!)

4. 

As I shared here, Vera (13 years old) loves to sleep on a pallet in our room. Although the snippets I shared were from cca 5 years ago, it continues to the present day. She knows that a good storm will always get her a free pass to Pallet Town and there are some clouds on the horizon today that she's made sure to point out to us. If that fails, she will simply sneak down in the middle of the night with her quilt, pull our carefully folded comforter onto the floor and set up shop, er, bed.

5. 

I have 8 children. They do lots of funny things, but the three with Down syndrome just seem to do it with the most flair. 

Well, maybe not all of them...

6. 

Another of my favorite hours in the weeks is Sunday School. And it is because I get to be away from the girls for an hour. There, I said it. I like being fed from the Word around actual adults. I'm very happy to see them when I pick them up. Promise. 

7. 

Thank you to the blogger at Kosher Kola for inviting me to join him (and a couple hundred others) for the 7 Quick Takes Friday and pestering kindly reminding me to finish it. For some reason, he's decided I have something to say about Down syndrome. So I had to prove him wrong. ;-) You're welcome!