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I've always been that mom with the camera, with the phone, for every one of their events, baseball, dance, all of that
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But I knew this was going to be so special. And it was so special
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Riley, who has Down syndrome, was performing for the first time on the big stage
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And her big sister, Gracie, helped her every step of the way
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Riley was born with Down syndrome. And also, she was also born with congenital heart disease
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So she had a little bit of a rocky start. She went into heart failure around four months
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and she ended up with two open heart surgeries and a pacemaker
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But she slowly just started to gain in all of her milestones
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and her big sister has been there. Like from day one, she just was so excited to have a baby sister
0:47
and she's helped her crawl, sit up, walk. Gracie has been dancing since she was a baby
0:54
So, of course, little Riley wanted to dance too. How she looks at her older sister with, like, you just a look on her face, you know
1:03
and she just loves her big sister and wants to do everything she does, everything
1:08
And when Riley started dancing at 18 months, Gracie became a helper in the class
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I really like when I'm, like, teaching her the moves and the dance
1:19
and then I love watching her, have so much fun. And they practiced together in class and at home
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all the way up to the recital. Riley's been through so much in her life
1:34
and this was her first dance recital and as a dance mom and I danced and you know it so important to me to have my camera So I took my camera and I videotaped it and there was not a dry eye It was so perfect They did
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baby signs. They sang the twinkle twinkle little star with their voices and their hands. So as I'm
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holding the camera, I'm trying to hold back my tears because I was so proud, so happy
2:05
She has improved so much, and I'm really proud of her. She did so good in the day of this idol
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Really proud for her. And little Riley is going to keep on dancing
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and her big sister is, of course, going to keep on being her number one supporter
2:34
What are you looking at? forward to about dancing with Riley in the future
2:38
When we're older and for competition dances, I'm excited if we could do a dance together
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That'd be really awesome, right you think? Yeah. It's fun dancing with Riley
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That she's capable, she is worthy, and that with a little bit of help, she can do anything she wants to do
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Riley, do you like to dance? Raise your hand if you like to dance! Yay
