Little Anne squeezed my index finger with her left hand (affectionately known as lefty) ever so slightly today! i have asked her to do this repeatedly since May and she has never been able to muster even so much as a wiggle. But today, something in Anne’s brain connected. God is slowly bringing back function!

We have noticed that little Anne seems to be learning a new skill – effort! We see now when she really tries hard to move her legs in her walker, she holds her mouth wide open and cocks her head a little sideways. You can see the effort on her face. When she applies herself she really moves forward – literally :-) She exerted this same great effort when i was asking her to squeeze my finger. GO ANNE!

Anne continues to make us laugh. We were putting her to bed, and pretending to make Anne into a pizza. This is a silly family ritual that involves lots of tickling and squeals as we ‘stretch the dough, apply the sauce and toppings, and put the pizza in the oven (couch) to bake.’ When we finished and Anne was exhausted from laughing, it was time to eat the pizza! As we were pretending to gobble her up, she said very sweetly, “But, I’m a person.” We just laughed and laughed!

-eric and kathryn