My fine gentleman

Yesterday morning Liam had apparently set an internal goal to not sass for a whole day.  He got ready for school with no issues, no yelling, and no sassing.  We were impressed.  I even said to Ian, “What did you do differently this morning?  He is so great!”  He replied with a reality check, “Gina, it’s only one day.”  Um, yes, I guess that is right, but he later came home from school with a “super” rating and then the rest of the night he was a dream child.  He listened to my requests and would say okay instead of the normal belligerence.

It was so wonderful! 

He politely asked me after I got home from work if he could do his Thursday and Friday chores so he could get his allowance early.  I thought about it and complied.  He then asked politely if we had time to go to Target to get a new Skylander figure for his video game.  He had finally saved enough for it!  I said if he could get all his chores done in 30 minutes then we could go.

And he did.

And we did.

From Target we went over to Pei Wei to have his favorite noodle dish and had a nice conversation and here is a fraction of it:  He said, “You know how when I get a “super” at school that you will snuggle me?”  I said, “Yes.”  He went on, “Well I wonder if I am getting kind of too old for snuggling at night.”  This made me smile a big smile.  I said, “You know, Liam, all ages of kids grow out of all kinds of things at different times. It is up to you.  And we don’t JUST snuggle – we talk to each other too.”  He nodded as he considered that and agreed saying, “That is true.”

Now, I don’t know if he’ll suddenly be okay with no snuggle time at night, but this is surely a sign that it may be phasing out in the coming weeks, months, or years.  IF it does phase out, I will miss our sweet pillow talks.  Wonderful information, curiosities, and teaching moments come to the surface when it’s time to say good-night.

Bros Gotta Stick Together

Liam and his two buddies, Gavin and JJ, were out playing around today in the nice weather... after a couple hours of playing Liam finally comes in for the evening and announces he got hurt on his knee, "gushed" blood, and his friends rushed to the office to get him a bandage. (Why they didn't get a parent is beyond me.) JJ (12) put the bandage on him and Liam says, "I am even so lucky to have you guys!" 

Holy sweetness! Love that little trio. They call each other brothers. Sure will miss them when we all get out of this communal living situation.

One blessed child

I just have to say that the past month or two Liam has had a pretty nice perk each morning.  Well since September I guess - when we took him out of daycare.  So now a days he's got this dad of his who comes home from a night shift job at 7am AND THEN rolls his reluctant son out of bed to get him ready to catch the bus on time.  So that is great enough, but recently Dad has taken it up a notch and goes to the kitchen to make pancakes with sprinkles and then sits at the table with his boy (most mornings) and chats while he stuffs his face.  Sometimes Ian will read Liam's Zoobooks magazine to him and they discuss different kinds of animal life.  And sometimes they just act goofy and the conversation is pretty ridiculous... Well, at least it is from my perspective... as the grumpy bloodshot eyed mom.  I am not a morning person - and they apparently are.  And I am so glad they have each other.  Really glad.  It takes enough energy for me to get them reverent long enough to say family prayer and get out the door.

In other news, the past two weeks Ian has taken Liam skiing at Brighton.  The father and son time is paying off... their relationship and cooperation skills have gotten even better in the mornings.  Very proud of those boys.  I love them very very much!

(I forgot to mention that Ian has taught Liam how to pour and flip the pancakes this past week... Liam thinks he's hot stuff.)