The most wonderful thing happened yesterday afternoon when Liam came home from his camping trip. Normally, this little boy has a tough time giving full out hugs or showing any affection at all, for that matter, at appropriate times. He is more apt to hug you at a time when he needs some affection or when he wants to show you some affection but not when one is expected to give out hugs like hellos and goodbyes. But Liam surprised me this time around by running up to me, dropping his sleeping bag and pillow and giving me a big hug with his arms wrapped fully around me. I find myself wondering if this remarkable action took a great deal of concentration or whether he was able to do this spontaneously or a mixture of both perhaps. For Liam, the social niceties we perform daily does not come easily, not unlike the effort it takes him to speak. At the same time, Liam loves big (not to mention falls apart big) and that means he’s coming out of his shell just a little bit more.

Ok, so on to the falling apart stuff—I had promised Liam McDonald’s for supper this evening and it was only 3:45pm when we picked up Jake together at his basketball camp. Liam of course decided that we needed to go to McDonald’s right at that moment and got a little upset when Jacob wanted to have his supper a little later. So depending on my mental state on that particular day, I usually have only two options: give in to Liam and make Jacob have an earlier supper (the number 1 choice on most occasions) or risk a huge melt-down and say no to Liam. Today, given that I wanted Jacob to have some sort of say in the matter and given that I felt somewhat human, I courageously told Liam we were going home and heading back in later for supper. Well, this went over like a lead balloon and well, you probably know the rest, Jake and I endured kicking, yelling and the untying of his seat belt (but only once). In the past, I could barely drive during these times but these days, Liam manages himself much better and has stopped hitting me while driving which I consider huge. This small act of aggression curtailed has made a tremendous difference in what I am willing to do and not do. Five years ago, if Liam was in a bad mood, it would most likely result in some pretty unpredictable behaviours while out but now, Liam gets past his bad moods so quickly that almost any outing seems doable. And that makes a better life for our family.