Lydia before the hospital—with pictures

= probably just blew her nose
= is usually reading a book (well, turning the pages or wheedling one of the older denizens of the house into reading to her)
= wears pink high-tops (their virtue is that she can't take them off)
= loves to answer "EHwoah" ("hello") when the phone rings
= makes friends faster than Dale Carnegie
= communicates by signing and talking (though you may not understand her speech very well)
= knows her colors!
= has red hair, but usually won't tolerate anything in it but pigtails
= turns 3 soon
= has 6 doting older siblings, ages 11 to 23
= has PT, OT, and speech therapy friends
= gets a bath once or twice a day, usually because of her exuberant eating habits
= lets Dad hug her and sing her to sleep at night but the rest of the day is too busy to get hugs from Dad -- Rose or Will or Mom get more hugs in the daytime
= has Down syndrome (trisomy 21)
= if you want to know how we ended up with this cute kid, go to Dad's mormon.org profile page and scroll down to Personal Stories
= See pictures of Lydia at home by clicking on this sentence.