The summer has ended and has been one James enjoyed very much. He is a boy that is never bored. He has enjoyed being the co-host of the Eddie or Cindy Lyons cooking show. He has also been full of inventions like the one in the picture. His favorite event of the summer was of course his birthday, July 1. He is now 12 and already planning his 13th birthday party. His birthday list has gotten a bit more sophisticated - he really wanted a flat screen tv and a hattop (laptop computer). This summer Cindy joined the Mac world with a white Macbook. Shortly after the computer arrived I walked into my room to find a very startled James sitting on my bed with laptop on - his lap. Looking quite guilty and wondering if he was in trouble he said a "Hi Dad". I asked, "James what are you doing?" He answered, "my homework". I took a look and was surprised to see that he had on his own found the Word icon, and had opened a new document and was in fact typing away. His love for a laptop only increases over time. He found Disney.com and the games he can play. His favorite feature at the moment is the movie making capabilities of a Macbook. He loves making movies. One of my favorite was both very cute and at the same time incriminating. He holds up the opened jar of peanutbutter with spoon in hand. (He had snuck into the kitchen and gotten the peanut butter without permission). In his feature film he grabs a spoon and begins to spoon peanutbutter with a peanut butter garbled commentary. It was great. School began today and he seemed comforted by a familiar routine in a familiar class, saying the pledge of allegiance.
I have recently seen some things about the decision of some families to terminate the life of their baby because it was determined that it had Down Syndrome. The idea is that we do these babies a favor because they would live difficult lives with not much hope or quality. I wish they could spend a day with James. He loves life, is always playing, pretending, creating and enjoying a family he adores. He continues to be the a sort of glue that centers our family. He loves us in a way that makes his life more meaningful than we can describe.
And now another school year. More is yet to come.
