You Just Have to See...

... She's excited...because she knows it coming...




just look at that baby concentrate...do you see her index finger?




... shes searching for the right level...





Woo Hoo!!! She smashed some pigs!



Ashley Kate loves to play Angry Birds. We love watching her. We love listening to her laugh as she flings the birds toward the towers of pigs. She gets so excited. Its so much fun! We love watching her mind work. She is the smartest kid trapped inside a body that doesn't want to work. Using the parts of her brain that do function and adapting to the portion that does not. How I wish her brain would allow her to speak. How I wish her voice could form words. If she could speak I know she would astonish everyone with all that she knows. To see her maneuver her way through the apps on her Ipad is amazing. She knows exactly which one she wants to play. She can turn on whatever application we request. She knows what folders they are in and what icons to touch. She can turn it on. She can turn it up. LOUD! Its all or nothing with Ashley Kate.

I love this beautiful baby girl so very much. Every day she shows me something new she's learned how to do. Every day I stare at this face and am captivated by her beauty. Every day I whisper a "thank you" for all that we have been given and I focus on her abilities while I try desperately to ignore the disabilities.

She is now doing everything she was doing before becoming so ill last summer with the exception of standing and taking steps. For some reason she just can't stand. It took us 4 years to learn how to stand and step with assistance and only 6 short weeks to lose it. She can lay herself down. She can sit herself up. She can roll over. She can scoot across the room. She can "run" if she so chooses. Its hilarious! Scooting at high speeds to get somewhere she wants to go.

She's learning her colors, her shapes, and her numbers. I was playing with her last week and she got 7 out of 7 in a row when asked to choose a specific number out of a sequence of three. I couldn't believe it! We had no idea she was actually learning them.

Ashley Kate is an amazing child. Simply amazing.