One day Marisol dragged me to her room and I loved playing the game with her in her room. The star game. I noticed that she really wanted to play with me because I got new toys and she went in her room and tried to play

Emery enjoys playing with Marisol in the Jacuzzi. Marisol and her like to practice kicking and splashing in the water with their floaties. They have the sweetest cousin bond.

When Marisol began communicating with us using sign language and making sounds, I tried my best to be able to communicate with her. She started with signing more, eat, and up.

We remember when the first time we had to take her to school we took Marisol Loading because she did not walk and over time we were filled with joy to see how she made an effort to stand up and try to dance like the other children did, we were surprised one day.

Each time I pick up Marisol from school she is very happy when she sees me and runs towards me. Even the teachers are impressed by how she runs to me when she sees me arrive. I wish I had taken a picture of her at that time so that I can see her face light up just when she sees me. Each time I see this it reminds me of her efforts to learn how to walk from when she was small.

When Marisol was little her little feet would bend and move when she tried to walk, it was impressive to see the effort she put in. Since she was a baby she has had to put in effort into everything, we gave her the chance to go to therapy, but her effort is so big and it makes a difference. I am impressed by the progress she has made and everything she is able to do today.

Over the course of the last year, Maya has been the person that Marisol has spent the most time with. Marisol is very caring for Maya, one day Maya was crying, with a concerned look on her face, Marisol came over and put her arm around her, in her own way saying, ‘it’s going to be alright little sister,’

As Marisol’s big brother Matthew says, we need to take care of Marisol because her muscles are not as strong and we need to work hard with her to get her stronger.

A lot of times we take for granted all the little things that come easy to most kids like walking, jumping, climbing and sitting up. When it comes to Marisol, these things are more significant as I see all the time, effort and support that has gone into her being able to do these things.

One day I was sitting in the human resources office working with a colleague when a call from the geneticists came in. That was NOT supposed to happen, they only call when it’s bad news. I had to let it go to voicemail and when I called her back I told her this, she said 'I’m sorry to scare you' and I felt relief but then she said Marisol’s results came back with markers for Trisomy 21. I don’t remember what I did after that, maybe call my husband….. What I remember next is being at my friend’s Kim Cole’s office, she was the Director of Special Ed at the time. She didn’t seem afraid when I told her, there was no expression of shock or regret. She just told me stories about people she knew over the years that had Down Syndrome.

The most important thing Marisol does everyday is showing up and participating. She perseveres through very challenging tasks without really complaining, other than to insist she do it herself. She likes to dance and spin to the Freeze dance song even if nobody is looking.