13, A, Batman and X

12 turned 13! Yay! or is it? Another teenager in the house! Will I survive?? Only time will tell...

Helping him cut the cake that our sweet friend W made for him!!

A cute birthday mailbox his aunt, Jessie, made for him.

I love the look on his face when he sees the money that Grandma G gave him...

Jessie and Joel's kids each drew a special picture for him. They were so cute!!

I LOVE to do hair, and sometimes I get creative... This is french braided to look like an "A"

Batman! She loves to put this mask on and play with her brothers! Too funny!

I have been reading this book called On Sparrow Hill by Maureen Lang. It is a fictional novel based on lives affected by Fragile X Syndrome. It is the sequel to one of my favorite books, The Oak Leaves. Man, it is a good book. It is not just for people affected by Fragile X Syndrome but, really for anyone who enjoys a good read that is clean, uplifting, inspiring and romantic. But, I really love it too, because I catch myself chuckling every time I read about "Royboy" who is the main FXS affected character in these books--because I can relate. There was one paragraph I just read about Royboy and his sister-in-law has started this school and she has painted a bunch of pictures for him to identify and name so that he can learn speech. Anyway, he picks up a butterfly picture and looks at it and tries to repeat "butterfly" when she tells him that it is a butterfly. Then he takes it above his head to observe it's beauty... and then begins to tear it into multiple pieces as she is telling him to stop and then he proceeds to stuff all of it into his mouth. In a panic about him eating the watercolors and paper she sticks her hand in his mouth to fish the picture out and he bites down on her hand... I laughed so hard because I cannot tell you how many times 9 used to do that, and now 3 has done it to me several times. Oh the joys, and I am so glad that I can laugh about it. I mean if I couldn't how else would I get through it. So thanks, to Maureen Lang, who having a son of her own with FXS, was inspired to write these books. Fun read!