Correction

After posting the picture of James thinking he took it of himself, I was informed by Holly that she actually took the picture. While it is not a self portrait everything else I said about him taking multiple pictures of himself and his love for a computer is still true.

I just want to give a shout out to all of my other children who have complained that Dad has only put up a blog for one of his kids. Hey kids, I have not favorites. I love you all with everything in me. I am not so sure you want me blogging about everything going on in your lives. Furthermore, I just would not have the time to chronicle all of the fun stories and drama we share around the table. James does not ask to be able to shape my posts to his liking like as you all would. So just a word of clarification. You all are great but you if you want a personal blog, you will need to write you own. Love you, Dad.

James Self Portrait

James loves his Mom's new Macbook. It is amazing how much he can do with that computer. Most of what he knows he has taught himself when he steals away with this wonderful machine to experiment. He loves the photo booth program. The built in computer allows him to look at himself, pose and then snap the photo. We are constantly taking pictures of this little guy of ours. Amazingly one of our favorite pictures of all times was one he took of himself. It says, life is good and I am a happy boy.

A picture is worth 1000 words.

Motorcycles are cool.















School I like.



















Haircuts I could do without.

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Late Afternoon Labor Day Shopping

James was less than enthusiastic about a quick run to the mall. He does not like the idea of walking around the mall very much. But then after the sad resignation that his protests were not going to cancel the plan, he saw a reason to shop - THE ESCALATOR. In a flash he was off to ride the escalator. As he walked away I firmly said, "James, come back here." He took a quick glance behind to see me. He clearly had decided that whatever the consequences for running were going to be, they were worth the thrill of the ride he was about to enjoy. I quickly picked up the pace catch up to him. I did not want him to fall so I told him to turn around and pay attention to where he was going. After a nice ride up and down, before we knew it, he was off again. This time Mom went to get him. If James is not looking for an escalator he is looking for a place to sit down. Our mall is great because there are some great places to just sit and wait for Mom and sister. A little shopping at the mall with James goes a long way for both James and me.

Summer Ends

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.

"Na hase me" "Na hale it"

The other day, I had the pepperocini peppers out and James was showing interest in this new food group. I asked him if he wanted one and he said “me try”. I warned him that they are little bit hot but he still wanted to try one. Knowing that he may not make it through a mouthful of peppers, I parked him beside the sink just in case. He took a big bit and all was well for a second or two and then he grabbed his mouth and said. Oh hot, hot. He discovered that he did not like these peppers. The next day I asked, kind of jokingly, if he wanted a pepper and he said with a bit of disgust, “I hale it.” Which interpreted is, “I hate it”. He picked up this “hate” word from school. As much as we try to discouraged its use and encourage a more gracious alternative, like “I don’t like it”, he continues to use the “hate” word. It has kind of taken on its own meaning for James.

The other night the family went out to eat. It was one of those end of the week, let’s get re-connected as a family and share the week’s stories moment. Needless to say, the stories lasted a lot longer than the meal. After a while James grew impatient and said, “Let’s go.” We told him not just yet. To this he replied, “Na hase me.” No James we don’t hate you but you are going to need to wait for us all to be ready to go. Pretty much any time James does not get his way, he has pulled out the phrase, “Na hase me.” It has become a family joke. James asks his siblings for chicken and they tell him, it is not time to eat to which he replies – “Na hase me.” James go clean up your room and if he does not want to do that he says, “Na hase me.” So pretty much if anyone does not give him what he wants, when he wants, he feels this emotion he describes as “Na hase me.” No James, we love you but you can’t always have what you like. James we love you, but when you do wrong things, you have to have a time out and sit in the thinking chair.” “Na hase me” and “Na hale it” have become part of James’ limited vocabulary. Somehow, we all have found use for this new “James speak” even while we still hope to make him a more gracious boy.

Me Drive...Show Me

Today while I was checking out my newly planted patches of grass, James ran over to the car hopped in. He crawled through the car and strapped himself into the drivers seat. James then motioned to me and asked me to get in. I did go sit with him, primarily because his mother insisted that he should not be in the car alone. I assured her that she was being a bit over-protective and that he could not really do anything to hurt the car or himself. After my husband-like resistance did nothing to change her mind, I went over to sit in the passenger's seat beside him. To my surprise, he had the keys in hand and had already put the house key in the ignition. (Why is Cindy always right and I am such a knot head?) Thankfully, he had the keys for the other car. He kept saying, "Dad, I drive. Show me." "Buy ice cream." Well, at first I told him that he was too young to drive. I then realized that his age would not change his prospects for driving instruction. I am not sure how to handle that just yet. James wants to do everything his brothers and sisters do including driving. Anyway his prompting at least got him some Andy's "banilla" ice cream. He was pretty please with the ice cream. Then on the way home we stopped by the newly opened Walmart and bought him some new "spiderman tennis shoes with lights". Life is good and we are going to have to start hiding the car keys.