Flint the Donkey

As part of his birthday gift this year, my Mom sponsored a donkey in Liam's name at a farm near her that rescues donkey's and cares for them.  The Donkey Sanctuary has over 60 donkeys, and opens their doors twice a week for the public to go and visit them, so we got to visit Flint in person.

Flint was born on the sanctuary on July 20th,  2014.  They don't breed the donkeys in their care but Flint's Mom Diamond was pregnant when she was rescued.  He's a fiesty little guy that likes to eat the other donkey's harnesses when he's out in the field with them. 

Liam is an avid animal lover, so adding a donkey to his list of creatures was a great birthday gift and he can't wait to go back to visit Flint again next summer.

Much Ado About Nothing

Every year the grade 7s at Liam's school study a Shakespeare comedy and then put on a stage production a a local theatre.  This year was Liam's turn to star as Conrade in Much Ado About Nothing.

The kids all worked on making the sets, but they had proper theatre costumes.  Liam was not impressed that he had to wear tights, but he managed.  Unfortunately because of his injured toe, he couldn't wear his boots.

All the kids did an amazing job, delivering their lines on time and with a lot of humour.

Liam isn't planning a career in acting, but he had a wonderful time last night!

Liam and birthdays

Hilary's 40th birthday was spent sitting in an ER room with Liam while he went through his first migraine.  We were supposed to be sitting poolside at the hotel we had booked, but kids have the darnedest way of changing your plans.

My 45th birthday doesn't have the same pizazz as an ER trip. I just got to sit in the waiting room of our doctor's office so that this could be dealt with.

Last week while we were on vacation, Liam casually mentioned that his toe had mould on it.  Intrigued, I got up to check it out.  Yeah... that's not mould buddy.

After having already spent 3 hours of our vacation sitting in a walk-in clinic for his ear infection, I decided to attack the mould with peroxide and Polysporin till we got home.  He now has a 10 day course of antibiotics and ointment to try and clear it up.

Another birthday to remember.

Goodbye Elementary

We had a very busy and exciting day.  Fair, school picnic, a concert and Grade 6 graduation!  

This was Liam's last school fair.  Twice a year, for the past 9 years, we have attended a school fair where we got to see what Liam has been studying.  This semester they studied biomes. Liam's areas of study was mountains, with focus on Mount Everest and Snow Leopards.  He wrote a story about the two and Fair culminated in a book signing!

This year at the end of school picnic they had the grades 6-9 bands play for the crowds.  I had missed Liam's concert in February, so this was he first time I got to see him in action with the band.

After the concert, they gathered the graduating grade 6s all together and handed out their certificate.  Each kid then when through the line of their teachers and got a hug from each of them.

And with that, Liam has finished elementary school.  The adventures of Middle School will start in September.

The last art card

This is Liam's last year in elementary school, so this is the last year that he will make an art card.

It was hard to fit all 9 into a single shot so I ended up having to stitch them together.  His art card this year is titled 'The Lively Triangles" and was inspired by his study of microbes under a microscope.

Microbiology

Today we attended Liam's second to last elementary school fair.  Twice a year, at the end of each semester, from pre-school to grade 6, the parents are invited in so that the children can share with us what they have studied.

Over the years he has studied Humming Birds (his first fair when he was 4), bio-luminescent sea creatures when he was 6, the human body at 7 and the mysteries of Oak Island at 11

This year, at the ripe old age of 12 he studied microbiology.  I learned more in their 30 minute presentation then I did from a whole year of Grade 11 Biology class.  We learned about atoms and cell parts, what a macrophage was, the difference between bacteria and a viruses and the history of the microscope and how they work.

For one of their experiments they created an environment for penicillin to grow in and wrote up their findings.

Luckily they used really strong bags because Liam had left his experiment in his tray of work that Hilary and I went through on parent-teach night, 2 weeks after the experiment had ended.

Liam explained drug resistant bacteria to everyone.

I can't wait to see what he learns next!

Cadet Drouin

Liam was very excited to finally get his uniform last night!

Now he can practice polishing his boots, and learn to tie a tie.  He'll also be gaining some great life skills when he learns how to sew on his badges this week and how to iron a shirt.

This weekend they head off on their first overnight expedition.  This will also be Liam's first time truly roughing it in the woods.  Hopefully hurricane Gonzalo heads out to sea and doesn't hit us.

9 Stripy sweaters

Slightly by coincidence, and slightly by design, Liam wore striped sweaters for his first 3 years of school pictures.  You can check out how little and cute he was here!

After 3 years in a row, it became a tradition that even a 12 year old boy who has no interest in clothes wants to participate in now.

The proofs came home today for this year's pictures and we have a slight smile and a non smile to choose between.

Which one do you prefer?

Ignore the bad colour - we don't have a scanner, so I took pictures with my phone.

Once we get our order back and we have this year's art card, I will have to update my Facebook header.  It will be a sad day as this is the last year that he will make art cards at school.  But then again, I'm going to need a taller chair just to be able to fit one more into the montage!

Changes

Liam got his hair cut today in preparation of joining the Cadets.  After more than 2 years with shoulder length hair, it's going to take us all a while to get used to it, but I think he looks pretty handsome.

Books

I love books.  I learned to read at an early age so that I could escape the alone-ness of growing up as an only child in the country with no one else to play with.  Hilary is also a voracious reader and as such our house is filled with books.

Liam struggled early on with reading and we feared that he would never find the same joy that we do in losing yourself to a great story.  There is nothing better then curling up on the couch on a raining day with a good book where you find yourself swept off to far away lands.

Our fear has proven unfounded.  Liam has developed a love for books and stories.  It could be listening to me read out loud to him before bed, carrying his Ipod and speakers from room to room so that he can follow his current audio book, or the best one, him choosing to read a book over any other activity.  He now reads above grade level and enjoys books of all styles and ranges.  From Divergent to Stephen King's IT to his currently love of Warriors.

I'm so glad that we are raising a reader.

Sour!

Liam loves all things sour, especially candy. It’s almost like he needs it, even beyond just a craving for it. After some research, it turns out that he may very well be onto something. The shock of something sour can have a similar effect on a brain with ADHD as the stimulating medicine that is prescribed for it. Even the Center for ADHD Awareness, Canada lists sour candies in their “Adaptive Equipment” list. The stimulation of the sour taste gives one part of the brain something to focus on, freeing up the rest of the brain to focus on the true task at hand like homework or reading.

While we don’t mind Liam having candy, we obviously don’t want him having it all day, every day.   One of his favorite sour candies is “WarHeads Spray Candy”.   I’m pretty sure it is 100% chemical with no redeeming quality to it – other than it’s sour.  Luckily I stumbled across a fresh, non-chemical alternative that Liam loves just as much.

Yes, Liam loves to squirt fresh lime or lemon juice straight onto his tongue. It makes my mouth dry up and shudder just at the thought of it. He’s offered for me to try it, but I have politely declined.

I wonder what the school would say if we started sending this in his lunch everyday?

Before and After

Shared Interest

Sometimes I wonder if Hilary feels like she lives with TWO 11 year old boys.  Liam and I have quite a few common interests.  Our current obsession interest is Star Wars, and more specifically Star Wars Lego.

I love Lego.  I had it growing up, but of course back then it was simple rectangle pieces in 4 primary colours.  Now sets come with such oddly shaped pieces, that I can't tell which way is up.  The new sets are pretty awesome though.  Liam and I have been coveting some of the bigger Star Wars sets for a while now.

Last week we headed out so that Liam could spend some money that he got for Christmas.  He really, really, really wanted the Millennium Falcon set, but only had half the money needed.  So he started his sales pitch.  "Mama, you love Star Wars as much as I do."  "Mama, wouldn't it be fun to work on this together?" "Mama, haven't you always wanted this set too?"  "Mama, don't you have some Christmas money that you got?  You could put it towards the Millennium Falcon."  I'm pretty sure this kid is going to grow up to be a con artist... he can talk his way into a lot of things.

So I pooled my Christmas money (and then some) with his and we came home with a 1200+ piece Lego set.  We worked a lot on it on Sunday, and surprisingly, we finished it tonight!  Now the only question is where to keep it.  It needs to be played with (check out the detail!) but we don't want it to get smashed or broken.  Hilary doesn't seem to keen on my suggestion that we box up some of our antique tea cups and use the sideboard as a Lego display case..... I'm not sure why, it seemed like a perfect solution to me!

Oh No, It's a Muffalo

Liam's school play is next Thursday and he is playing one of the "Muffalo's" children.  He looks pretty scar to me with his big bad claws!

7 pounds

These days most of my blogging is about weight loss, not weight gain.  But today we are celebrating a gain of SEVEN pounds!

and no, I don't think all the weight gain is hair.

Liam went to the doctor today for his regular checkup and we are happy to say that he has gained 7 pounds in the last 6 months.  This is a huge accomplishment.  Usually we leave these appointments celebrating a gain that is measured in ounces.   His last "big" gain was more than 2 years ago, with a whopping 33/4 pounds.

He continues to be in the 10th percentile for height but today's gain has pushed him over the 25th percentile for weight.  He's never going to be a tall kid - his parents were 5'2 and 5'11, but he does continue to grow and thrive.

Food continues to be an adventure, with the repertoire of things he enjoys remaining fairly limited.  We have noticed in the past few weeks that while the kinds of food hasn't changed, the quantity of food he eats has been growing.  In Liam's case, every calorie is a good calorie, so we go with it, even when it's meant making Transportation Noodles at 9:00 at night.

Art Cards

Every year Liam's school undertakes the huge project of having each child produce a piece of art that is then scanned and printed onto blank note cards that we then sell as a fundraiser. Today I was looking back over the 8 cards that Liam has made so far.

This is by far my favorite fundraiser (even being on the committee who spends hours producing the final product). Liam only has one more year of elementary school so I will only have one more card to add to my collection.  I think I will need a taller chair next year to stand on if I want to fit them all into one picture.

The 5th Doctor

Liam got to meet Peter Davison who played the 5th Doctor Who.  He got his autograph, chatted him up a bit and had his picture taken with him.

Liam is a very happy Whovian now.

Hal-Con Highlights

Even though it was overbooked and we couldn't get back in after stepping out for lunch on Saturday, we had a great time at Hal-Con.

We did all things Dr. Who.

We saw some amazing costumes.

Liam even got to try on 60+ pounds of 16th century armour.

I'm sure this is now going to become a yearly tradition for us!

Future Electrician

Liam is picking up some great life skills while we get the apartment cleaned up.

Passing on a tradition

Growing up, my parents owned 5 6-plex apartment buildings.  My Dad had built them and we lived in one of them and they did all the landlord/maintenance work themselves.  This included cleaning and painting empty apartments as old tenants moved out and new ones moved in.

The Casa-Linda Apartments on Willow Rd in Guelph, thanks to Google St. view.

As landlords, my parents have hundreds of stories of deadbeat tenants and just as many horror stories of the mess tenants left behind.  There was the vengeful tenant that they evicted for non payment who dumped a carton of milk in the fridge, unplugged it and shut the door so that it was a sour mess by the time they got in to clean.  Angry people who smeared baby poop from diapers in every electrical outlet, and some who's level of day to day filth was just so horrible that I wasn't even allowed in the apartment while they cleaned.

As a kid, I hated that we had to look after the apartments.  It meant putting out smelly garbage for everyone once a week.  It meant picking up litter from the lawn since the apartments were between a corner store and a bus stop. It meant sitting around in empty apartments while my parents cleaned them.  The only up side to that was that often the tenants cable hadn't been shut off yet, and my Mom would set me up with a lawn chair and a portable TV so that I could watch Saturday morning cartoons.  We didn't have cable, so this was a real treat. I did have one job to do anytime my father had to paint an apartment.  I had a bucket and my own screwdriver and I had go around and remove all the plug and light switch covers for him.

As a teenager and young adult I vowed to never be a landlord.  Who wanted the headaches, the dirt, the middle of the night phone calls from drunks who had locked themselves out?  Karma is such that I ended up being a landlord anyway.  Our current house has a basement apartment that we rent out.  It's only 1 unit, and we are 2 for 3 for having had good tenants.  The latest ones have moved out, and unfortunately they fall in the group of "level of day to day filth" that is going to require some major cleaning and painting before we rent it out again.

In preparation of painting, I am passing along a tradition.

I wonder if one he will be a landlord too?