14

Who would ever believe that this:

would one day turn into this?

(you can't tell from this but he just dyed his hair black and purple)

Liam, the middle child, concieved after a loss, six years younger than one brother, five years older than the other.

At first he was a quiet child.  Too quiet.  We soon learned that with Liam, quiet is bad. (Noisy isn't that great either).

Too smart for his own good, no baby-proofing device could stop him.  He could turn on the oven and crawl in it in the time it took to answer the phone.  He could open the door and leave by the time he was two.  Thank god for the fenced in yard as he could get out of his crib (by somersaulting over the rail) when he was one.

When he was two he broke his bedroom window when put in there for a time out. He was obsessed with pots and pans and would only watch cooking shows on TV.

He came down with chicken pox on his 5th birthday.  He had to put up with a baby brother just when he was enjoying being the youngest.

During the "bad years" before his father and I broke up, Liam ended up being the responsible one to get him and his older brother off to school.  Too much responsiblity for an eight year old. (I did not learn this until after we split -- he and his brother hid much).

In grade 6, when the school decided he was too much of a handful to be in the classroom, all his teachers and principal told me that he wasn't bad -- he never hit, or bullied, or was mean to anyone, ever.  He just didn't do what he was told unless he felt like it. (I can identify with that).

Liam in the most like me and the one that drives me the craziest.  He is my best kid and my worst kid.  The one I want to spend the most time with and that I need the most breaks from.   He has the best sense of humour, is smart as a whip and an excellent listener (unless you are telling him to do something).

Where did 14 years go?

Happy Birthday, Wonderful Boy!