Since that time, there have been a lot of ups and downs, but throughout it all there was always a smile on Noah's face. At three months of age, we were told that Noah had lost over a third of his brain tissue. The neurologist said it was likely that Noah would have severe physical deformities along with sever mental retardation (though I would now say that the neurologist is mentally retarded in comparison with Noah). I will say that he changed his tune a great deal when he saw how alert Noah was at five months of age (though we now know that alertness is not a necessary sign of a brilliant brain-injured child). Anyway, this is a photo of Noah at around 7 months of age.