For all of you regulars, I just wanted to let you know that we all took yesterday off from writing to celebrate my daughter Ashleigh's birthday. She turned six yesterday and she was very excited For those of you who didn't know, I brought Ashleigh home from the hospital alone when she was four days old. She was two weeks premature and underweight. For the first two weeks she had to be fed every half an hour. Amazingly I did it! My wife's illness hit a critical point while she was pregnant with Ashleigh. She spent most of the last two months of her pregnancy in a rehab facility, and wasn't allowed to come home after she gave birth. Let me tell you, I never saw that coming! But, like a good pitcher, every once in a while God will throw you a curve ball! Ashleigh is my little joyful one. Almost every day, you will hear her laughing and talking excitedly. She is always smiling and likes to surprise us with little gifts. She loves to draw, color, take pictures, and make videos. My refrigerator is covered with her pictures. For the past two weeks Ashleigh has been patiently waiting for her birthday. The countdown started in December, but really hit a crescendo in the past ten days. Each day, she would say, "only ten more days to my birthday!" (and counted down each day). To be honest, it was really a celebration weekend for the little one. On Sunday, I took her to a matinee to see "Norm of the North", a movie about a talking polar who goes to New York to save the arctic from an evil condo builder. In the evening, we all bundled into the car to go to Texas Roadhouse for a birthday meal for Ashleigh. It's funny, Ashleigh doesn't like steak, but she wanted to go to Texas Roadhouse anyway because she likes their Mac & Cheese. I really lucked out because I love their steaks...as does Maddie. By Monday, Ashleigh was bursting at the seems for her presents. She got the day off from school as well. Ashleigh spent the day playing games, watching videos, and doing karate. When we left karate, she gave everyone who was still in the sitting area a hug for her birthday. Ashleigh has come a long way in a short time. When she was first born, She was a little over 5 pounds. Now she weighs about 45 pounds. I used to be able to hold her in one hand. Now it takes me both hands just to pick her up. Since she was about a week old she has been coming to the dojo with me. When she turned three, she started her own martial arts training. After three years, she is now a purple belt and is working on her third form, leopard. She is the highest rank in her Little Ninja class. The above is a picture of Ashleigh at her yellow belt test.
Over the past year, Ashleigh has learned to read, and do basic arithmetic. She can both add and subtract up to four-digit numbers. She now writes out by hand most of the posts that she posts on this site. She also types them into the computer herself. I help her with the spelling, and occasionally fix her punctuation. If you would like to wish Ashleigh a belated happy birthday, leave one in the comments. She loves to receive emails and comments on her posts. If you'd like to see some of her schoolwork, go to www.reportsbyashleigh.weebly.com.
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