And another one turns 11

Today Liam turned 11. Is it just me, or is that the older they get the less exciting the birthday becomes? Normally I would have invitations out 3 weeks before the event, but 2 weeks ago I had nothing planned. I gave him the option of a party and a smallish present or no party and a Wii. He chose the Wii, which we don't even have yet because everyone is sold out. This was supposed to be his last big party and I feel bad that he didn't get it. He doesn't mind though, I guess he's thinking it's better to have years of a gaming system over one $200 party that only lasts 3 hours. He ended up getting 3 games for his playstation (all ones that I would not have approved of, this is what I get for sending him and William out together!), some clothes and a new soccer ball. He received presents from his dad and my mum last weekend. Not even a phone call from the paternal grandparents, this really pisses me off. I can bet a card and some money will arrive from William's parents in Australia in the next few days, but nothing from his own grandparents. Once their dad passes away, they will lose virtually all contact with his family. H's sister already will not allow them to come over there, so they have to meet him at the mall. Anyway, that's a supersized post in itself, and I shouldn't get into it now.

So my baby is 11. I am not allowed to call him my baby anymore, of course, but I still do. I found today really sad. He is growing up so fast and I worry about him so much. He is 11. He is 11 and he cannot read. This absolutely breaks my heart. I think I let Liam's dyslexia define him, and I know I shouldn't do that. But...but how do you go through life as an illiterate adult? For unless things change quickly that is what he will be. He did so well in his first year of academic support, in Grade 4, but now, in the fifth and with a new ( and not very able) teacher he is really struggling. Since he was diagnosed with his learning disabilities in Grade 1, I have resisted putting him on meds. I think I am going to have to break and do it though. He just can't focus at all. Ask him to do something and it goes right out his head. This has been a hard year for Liam, fighting at school with his friends, struggling with teachers who he thinks don't like him, his father's progressing illness.

And yet, he is such an amazing kid. A whiz at math, he can do multiplication in his head that I would do on paper and then double check with a calculator. He has unending quantities of patience with Saoirse. He will watch any Disney movie with her over and over. He loves soccer, snowboarding and skateboarding. He refuses to cut his hair and it is now at his shoulders (that's not amazing, just annoying.) He loves his dad and is willing to see him while his sister will not (again, another post!), he loves his step dad and even possibly his mother. At 3, he used to make himself sandwiches, now he cooks himself eggs most mornings for breakfast, and can make any number of meals.

All in all, he's a great kid, I have been blessed to have him in my life for the last 11 years.

He doesn't like to have his picture taken, and with the camera unable to upload for the last 4 months there are few to choose from. Notice he is not looking directly at the camera in any of them and that his hair tends to cover his face. These pictures are from this past summer.



Letting Saoirse attempt to choke him. Excuse the mess in the background, this was right after we moved and there were boxes everywhere. The blue container got moved up to the girls room, where it still sits to this day. I'm pretty sure it was mostly crap really important things from my bedroom.



At the Welsh pavillion at Heritage Days, He refused to look up, whereas the picture of Taylor you can actually see her face. That's Saoirse in the pink hat behind him.


Holding Sophie in the hospital. I love this picture of him, even though you can't actually see him. To me, it's just a picture of adoration. And how different from 21 months earlier, when he wanted nothing much to do with Saoirse and cameras!

Hallowe'en

I love Halloween. Not for the actual holiday itself, though I certainly enjoy it. No, what I love about Halloween is the next day. November 1st. The official kick off to Christmas. As soon as the last kid left my driveway tonight, I started putting up Christmas decorations. For the most part, I use snowmen until the middle of November and then start adding the actual Christmas decorations. In a place like Edmonton you could potentially have snow decorations up for 5 or 6 months. Even I get tired of them eventually and they usually come down at the beginning of March to be replaced by the St. Patrick's decorations. And on and on the cycle goes.

Anyway...back to Halloween. The two little ones were absolutely adorable, I will download the pictures tomorrow. I did their portraits in their costumes as well and will post them when they arrive next week. Sophie was a bat and Saoirse a monkey. We really lucked out with that choice, because she has become obsessed with Curious George. Tonight as William was taking her to bed she was crying for her costume "Monkey, monkey." It was very cute.

We went to Taylor's school parade. It took almost an hour, as the school has recently exploded in population. We are definitely feeling the effects of Alberta's booming economy. Need a job? Come here, just don't expect to find a place to live. At the very end, the principal invites all the younger siblings to parade around the gym. Taylor carried Sophie and her friend Ashley took Saoirse. Everyone loved the girls in their outfits.

William took Saoirse around our neighbourhood. She got a lot of stuff, but chose to eat the Halloween candy we were handing out. He then took Liam and his friends Josh and Tyler out for a few hours. Taylor went out on her own this year, for the first time. She went with her friends Connor, Theodore and Ryan (who she has had a crush on since Grade 3!) I was a bit worried about her being the only girl and being left behind, but she had a great time. Initially Ashley was also supposed to go but her mum changed her mind. She was out for over 2 hours and came home with 2 pillowcases full of candy.

Which leads me to a big problem. The candy...god, the candy. I have been going so great, I've lost more weight than what I gained with Sophie but between now and Christmas I am really going to struggle with not eating junkfood. Although I hate the fact that all my jeans are falling off me, I don't actually want them to fit properly ever again. I look forward to going out and buying new jeans, I don't want them to be too tight by January. Damn that candy tempting me. Bad candy! Bad!

Visiting the sea lions

Yesterday after Taylor finished school we went over to the mall as it was customer appreciation day and all the attractions were free. Our plan was to go to Galaxyland, but we ran into Liam with his friend Josh and Josh's mum and apparently it was extremely busy, full of teenagers jumping the line and generally being teens. (In a little under a year and a half I will be the mother of one of THEM and I am sort of dreading it. Even though the majority of the ones I know are very nice.) They were going to go play miniature golf instead and I said that I would take the girls to the sea lions instead.

It's a half hour show, called Treasure of the Mall or something like that and is complete with cheesy acting, 2 sea lions and a penguin. It was cute, if not a tad boring and a little long for an antsy almost 2 year old. Taylor was picked to throw rings at one of the sea lions and she did a pretty good job. At the end you could have your picture taken and I was sure Saoirse, who loves the sea lions, would be great. I was so wrong. Taylor was holding her and when it jumped up it splashed and she immediately started crying and buried her head on Taylor. Ah well.



Note that I still can not get Taylor to brush her hais properly and I DID NOT buy her that hideous shirt. My friend did. Those Mary Kate and Ashley clothes are some ugly.