Ten and a Half...nearly

Well, here it is almost October, and I never even mentioned Liam's birthday (from MAY).  Oh, it's been a slow year for blogging.  I have no excuse, except that my brain has been working at half speed for most of the year.  I feel like brain activity has been slowing, slo-o-o-o-wing, slo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-wing.  So there is a good chance that it is still only May in my brain.

So, Liam.  He moved into double digits!!  Exciting, and frightening, all mixed up in a pile.  He has started his final year of Elementary School.  Oh, how I remember that first day of Kindergarten.  I can see him changing more rapidly now, especially since the start of school.  Good Lord, he is becoming...drumroll.. a Tween!  Still, Liam usually eases into things, so I think he is going to go easy on me for a while.

The other day I was suggesting some lunch options (food has always been a somewhat difficult area for Liam), and he asked if he could have a bagel for lunch.  "Sure!" I told him.  "In fact, you can put turkey and cheese on it and make a bagel sandwich - doesn't that sound good?"  And Liam answered, in typical Liam style, "Uh, no thanks.  I was thinking just a bagel with cream cheese (which is what he has almost every day for breakfast).  You know, I don't really like things to be DIFFERENT.  I like them to just be the same."  And right there, he summed it up for me.  That is his truth.  And it hit me hard right then, how very difficult this last year must have been for my oldest boy. He does not like for things to be different.  He likes to know what to expect, and he doesn't mind repeating the same things over and over.  Yet, there he was, forced to move across the country during Holiday Break, a time which is usually just family, Christmas, and fun, move into a new house, a new community, a new school.  He really did not complain.  That is another thing about Liam - he is not usually a complainer.  Of course I love that about him, because it can make my mother's life easier.  Then again, I don't always feel like I know what is going on with him, because he wants to smooth it all out and not make any waves.

Just lately I feel like Liam looks more comfortable here, and is finding some friends and getting his groove.  Actually, at the very start of the year, he seemed to take a small step back and was expressing how much he missed Texas.  Maybe it just took him that long to express it.  Then he met a new friend, one who seems very similar to Liam, and started to show a lot more interest in the Here and Now instead of the past.  Now I see smiles more often.  He has even shown an interest in hanging around some of the 5th grade girls at the bus stop.  Wait - what kind of craziness is that?!?  Usually just the mention of the word "girl" sends him scurrying away in embarrassment.

Liam has a young, male teacher this year, and he is loving that.  His teacher is into writing, and I've noticed a huge change in Liam's interest and creativity in writing this year.  OK, I'm not sure that any teacher will overcome Liam's aversion to capitalization or punctuation, but my little e.e.cummings is developing quite an interesting voice in his writings.  I love it.  Plus, he joined a math team that meets once a week after school, and has come home more than once very energized about things like the Fibonacci sequence and cool math games that make good party tricks.  I love to see that, too.

He is taking swim lessons to be ready for the neighborhood Swim Team next summer (something he did enjoy about our new neighborhood this year), and is playing more golf.  I wonder if he misses the camaraderie of his Texas baseball team.  I know Jim misses it a lot (Coaching).  I have the feeling it wasn't that hard for Liam to leave behind though.

I sure do hope my sweet, dreamer boy has a good final year in Elementary School.  Good, fun, and predictable, with just enough things that are "different" and lots of things that are the same.