"Difficult things take a long time, impossible things a little longer." ~André A. Jackson

I was told recently that current studies have shown that if a child with Cerebral Palsy is not walking by age six, the likelihood of ever walking, is reduced significantly. Zoey has CP. She is 6 and well, she certainly isn't walking. It's not like I haven't heard similar things in the past. I usually just file the info in my " who the hell cares" part of my brain, and move on.

 For instance, do you know how over I am when it comes to obsessing on whether or not Zoey will ever eat real food by mouth? Sure, on a long car ride to oh say, Yosemite, would it have been nice to hand the child a PB&J, rather then risk life and limb and climb back and gtube feed, or spoon feed her baby food? Yep, not gonna lie, it would but I cant, so I let it go.

* I literally sat on that portable potty seat and fed her 5 times a day, on our trip up north. No joke

Now, the walking thing, I'd love for her to walk. For her. Not me. Her teeny-tiny size for the time being allows me to get her to where she needs to go and wants to go, quite easily. Her chair is fairly lightweight and does its job when we are tooling around on errands and such. And, she still loves being in a backpack carrier, so that makes both of our lives more enjoyable when we head out into this world ... especially, amazing and beautiful parts of this world.

But I do know, or at least I am fairly certain, that my little social butterfly would love to keep up with her little buddies, and with her brothers and niece, while standing all upright and on own two little feet. I do get little heart pangs now and again when I pass a kindergarten playground and see all the little ones running and chasing each other and climbing the jungle gyms. I do. But the ache doesn't last long. I can't let it. Does me, and does Zoey, not one ounce of good.

So we go with what we've got. We continue with the slow and steady mind set and we rely on all that Zoey has shown us in the past and that is: She defies all those studies and statistics and percentages. She's Zoey after all and she never ceases to amaze. Don't believe me, check this out. Even WE didn't know she could do this:

More picture from our trip to come soon. Spectacular place Yosemite is. Really and truly magnificent. I will share one of my favorites for now. Took it Sunday morning as we hiked through Mariposa Grove where the Giant Sequoias are. We are always keeping our little Gracie with us. Always.