expand a div from both side (up and down)

Question

When we use slideDown or Up it slides the element up or down from bottom. is there a way to slide that from both side without centering the element continuously ?

edit:
element is absolute and should start sliding from center of page.

Answer 1

Yes, position the div using position:absolute and bottom:..px for example

Answer 2

Instead of using slideDown, animate the element's height and margin-top.

Here's an example