A little bit of David

David finally turned 7! He has waited and waaaaiiiiiited along time for this special day. He has really matured this past year. He is doing amazingly well in school.....reads like a champ and his handwriting would make even Aunt Stephanie proud. Whenever he is in a difficult situation, his first response is to shut down, hide or look away. But, he is really trying to pull himself together, look straight at the person he is talking to and use his words. It's a beautiful thing.....we have been working on it for awhile.....so when he is frustrated.....it's nice to finally be able to negotiate with the little guy.

We had a fun time celebrating his 7 years. It was my bright idea to have a "Camp Out" themed slumber party. I'm NOT one to love a sleepover, but I knew David would think it was special. Thankfully, the older kids were a huge help this year. The boys had a blast playing flashlight tag, bug hunting, and gorging on hot dogs and smores. One good thing about being 6 or 7 is the "early" bedtime. They snuggled into their sleeping bags for a movie and were all asleep by 10. We cheated and paid William and John $20 to play "camp counselors" and sleep in the basement with all the little campers. Best bargain EVER!

Later, after the party was over, David thanked me and very uncharacteristically patted my back (he is not the most affectionate one in the bunch). I asked him if he had fun. He said he had and then said he was sorry. I asked him why he was apologizing. He sweetly said, "because I kept bugging you and asking you when my birthday was". Just another reminder that his time frame is so much slower than mine. My world tends to get busy and hectic, but I can remember those days when I thought a "special day" would never arrive. Awwww.....to be 7 again!

The day after the party....sound asleep!