This one goes to eleven

Today is Mia's eleventh birthday, and while I don't have much to say about it, I will say that while it's certainly a milestone, I consider every day Mia is alive a milestone, so this just happens to mark the amount of time she's been on this earth. Obviously, there was a time when we thought she might not make her first birthday, much less her eleventh, so we're very glad she's healthy and happy and enjoying herself as much as she can. She still learns so slowly it's almost glacial, but she does learn, and we can tell she knows more than she did, say, a year ago. The fact that she's less limber now than she has been in the past is still vexing (it's been vexing for two years, which is when her muscles suddenly got even tighter than they had been and has kept her from walking or even standing too often since then), but she's in a stander more often these days and we hope that will continue to improve. Basically, I just wanted to note that it's her birthday, and we're very happy she's still around to make our lives brighter.