We've had Ashlyn in our family for over a year now!

It's so hard to believe that it's been a year now. My sweet little girl came into our family as a skittish little 20 month old, but now she's a crazy, jumping in the deep end of the pool, 2 year old. She's just an amazing little girl who isn't afraid to try anything. I had my concerns about fetal alcohol syndrome ( still do ) but I'm not as afraid of it like I was before, because I know that if Ashlyn, does indeed have FAS, then she's been mildly affected. She's such a well behaved and happy little girl. I can't imagine her having to live in an orphanage right now. Really, I don't think that she could/would survive it :(. Ashlyn's speech is still delayed, but she's pretty much caught up in other areas of her development. She tries so hard to pronounce words, but it just doesn't come out right. She's very social though, and is always trying to mimic other people ( she's a visual learner) , so we put her into a mother's day out program 2 days a week. The teacher confirmed that she was smart, a quick learner and just fit right in with the other children. Her last day of school is tomorrow, but we're looking forward to the summer and going back to Mass. for the month of July. I have a niece who's a few months older than Ashlyn, so I'm looking forward to the interaction between the two kiddos. I'll post photos soon, but for now, here's a list of Ashlyn's growth over the past year:

1. Couldn't walk at 20 months - runs all the time

2. Afraid to be outside - can't get enough of being outside. She loves to climb, ride a bike, jump off the deep end of the pool.

3. Couldn't eat solid foods- will eat anything now.

4. Her hair was so thin and damaged that you could see her scalp- it's nice and thick and curly now.

5. Didn't know how to put her arms out to us when we tried to pick her up- always hugs and kisses us now.

6. Was startled pretty easily by the boys- now runs and laughs with her brothers, making just as much noise :).

7. Very sensitive to touch. I wasn't able to cut her nails without her pulling back and crying . she was also very sensitive to me touching her ears- now she sits still so that I can trim and paint her nails.

8. She would gag BIGTIME when I tried to brush her teeth- she's good about keeping her mouth opened when I brush her teeth now.

Here are some of her likes:

1. Dancing/music

2. Strawberries

3. Reading books

4. LOVES animals

5. Swimming and playing with water

6. She's very animated and loves to make people laugh