(Edited: New picture and commentary added.)

I can't believe my son is officially a teenager!  We have been through so much together, namely doctor appointments.  I had a complicated pregnancy and was ultimately air evacked 350 miles to a major military hospital where he was born 6 weeks early at 4 pounds 13 ounces.  He was in the NICU for 3 weeks while learning to breathe...because sometimes he'd forget.   

 Over the years, the doctors have kept a close eye on him medically for a host of concerns. I don't remember them all but off the top of my head some are cystic hygromas, brain bleeds, failure to thrive, feeding issues, developmental delays, reactive airway disease, scoliosis and constantly being checked for Marfan's Syndrome.  I used to be on the phone with the pediatrician on a weekly basis, but the thrilling news is that all of these issues have been overcome!  Honestly, our knees have gotten worn out from much prayer, yet our faith has grown through the process.  He has 2 surgeries down and a third one is looming in the near future for pectus excavatum.  It looks like a caved in chest that will only get worse with puberty, eventually squishing his lungs and heart.  In the next few years, he will need surgery to correct this, which has an excellent prognosis.  However, he is wearied from all the medical treatment.  I told him that when the time comes, he will want the surgery because he'll be in pain.  Thankfully, he is now more open minded about the surgery.  

Through it all, it's taken a while for him to grow.  The doctor ordered a bone x-ray that determined that his bones think he is 6 months younger than he really is.  Here he is, a month and a half old and he still didn't fit into newborn clothes...

Eventually, he started crawling. Watch out world!   I've been chasing him ever since!  He always wants to get hands-on with everything.  Here he is helping his Dad screw the doors onto the cabinet...

We celebrated his first birthday a week early.  He didn't eat much food and his weight had dropped off of the growth chart. We were headed 350 miles to a major military hospital for testing.  As a result of this visit, he (and his sister) was diagnosed with Sensory Integration Disorder.

This is not a kid to turn your back on!

Despite the constant poking and prodding by the doctors, he has always had a positive outlook on life. He was always running...

Did I mention he always had to get involved?  I'd put him to bed and then try to have story time with his big sister.  She never got one on one time with me because he couldn't stand being left out.  He loved story time!

Either he was always ready to jump into the middle of things...

or he was always running away...

Fortunately, Texas sized "sand pits" slowed him down for a while...

He loved riding horses for Sensory Integration Therapy...

We rarely kept him on the Sensory Integration equipment for long.  This is a rare picture...

He always enjoyed loving on Luke, the therapy dog...

He enjoyed going for hikes...

This is one of many silly pictures.  He always thought the Mr. Potato Head glasses looked better on him.  Actually, he was never one to use toys for what they were intended, like the time I found his tinker toy container in the middle of the wagon in the back yard.  Inside the tinker toy container were the tinker toys...and dirt and grass and leaves and water! Horrified I asked him what was going on.  Seriously he told me, "But Mom, my train needed steam!" (I never got a picture of that.)   

I had his crib taken down and we were waiting for a new bed.  Actually he was waiting, and waiting, and waiting...

First history costumes for school!  I think we were destined to do this! (He's holding his Wishbone, "a little dog with a big imagination."  They loved the tv show about Wishbone encouraging kids to read the Classics!)   

Here he is reading to big sister.  Shhh.  Don't interrupt.  

Enjoying the River Walk immensely one moment...

and bored out of their gourd the next...

Who?  Him in trouble with the law?  Never!  Actually, a lady here had him turn around so she could check his back.  She wanted to know if he had one of those wind up things.  He is a steady chatter box and she wondered if I wound him up every day! I have no idea where he gets the "gift of the gab".

We were visiting the San Antonio Missions and I was excited that they let me work the loom.  Ahem.  Have I mentioned yet that he likes to get in the middle of things????? I nicknamed him "Stealth" because when he was little I would suddenly became aware that he was sitting on my lap and I had no idea how long he had been there.  He was so light and little, he just sort of snuck in.

Here he is helping John Meusebach negotiate the peace treaty with the Comanches for Fredericksburg.  (BTW, this peace treaty is still in effect today!) 

Here we are at a living history farm near the LBJ Ranch.  The good news is that he successfully got the turkey eggs.  The bad news is that when he took them into the house, he tripped over the sill, landed on the floor and the eggs went splat!  He was so upset about that, but I am sure this has happened to many a child in the past.  However, one of his goals in life has been to go back and conquer the turkey eggs! 

Continental soldier at Yorktown in 2004...

At Rocky Mountain National Park at over 12,000'...

In Colorado he dreamed of catching his first fish.  He persevered every night while I cooked dinner at the cabin.  Everything went wrong...he talked the owner into giving him a reduced price for one fish instead of 3, the fishing pole broke, his fly didn't work so he needed to buy bait with his dwindling money, his line constantly got tangled and broke...Finally the night before we left, he caught his first fish, a rainbow trout!

Last year at Rocky Mountain National Park we went horseback riding.  My son couldn't wait to get a fast horse and gallop across the snow capped peaks into the sunset.  However, they gave him a plunky horse that usually stopped in the middle of the path. My son got so frustrated, kicking his heels into the horse to nudge him along.  A few times the guide had to help him out.  (I was the one who got the fast horse! lol)   

Over the years, the medical specialists have also kept a close eye on his intellectual growth, since he's had so many inhibiting medical issues.  At one point, he was seeing a physical therapist, speech therapist and occupational therapist.  He was like his sister in that he always refused to do treatment with the therapists. So the time became OJT for me to learn how to do therapy at home with the kids at teachable moments.  By age three though, the therapists strongly suggested I put them into special education classes at the local public school.  I put my foot down.  I had taught for 6 years in public school in an excellent school district.  Nevertheless, I knew those kids got stuck in the cracks and never advanced to their potential.  I started to consider to homeschool them.  I knew I could at least do as well as the special education teachers, and with the Lord's help, perhaps even more.  My philosophy of education is to help a child reach the highest stars.  I had no idea how high those stars were for my kids, but I was determined to let them have that opportunity.  I was elated when the pediatrician one day asked me if I was going to homeschool my kids!  I took that support and ran with it! After six years of teaching public school, teaching my own son has been an adventure.  I never know what question he will ask next.  He keeps me on my toes and I am always trying to stay one step ahead of him.  Between this and the way medical professionals used to worry about him, I get a great big smile when he amazes people. 

When my brother came to visit with souvenirs and pictures from his recent vacation to England and France, he was stunned when my then 3 year old son and 5 year old daughter told him everything they knew, which was mostly what he had planned on telling them himself!    

When my son was 5, he had quite an intelligent conversation with a USAF general about the 2000 election. The general was impressed!

On most vacations, tour guides are amazed.  Then my husband and I had the most wonderful time seeing the Marquis de Lafayette's reaction to my son's question about the Hundred Years' War a few months ago. 

Last week we met a Christian author at our church and my son went to talk to him afterwards.  I enjoyed standing nearby to see the reactions.  My son had a question and also gave the speaker words of encouragement.  The author afterwards told my husband and me that we had a sharp son.  =) 

I am grateful that I have the opportunity to homeschool my son, so that he can reach his unique potential, instead of being severely limited.  That is one thing I like about our unit celebrations.  I allow the kids to pick their favorite historic or literary character, or to create their own character from the era we have studied in the 9 week unit.  Then we creatively plan how they can present that individual to our guests.  He loves his art projects that he gets to show off.  Also, he loves to make noise!  

He's been an Ancient Egyptian blowing on the shofar he made...

He's been a Phoenician trader of purple dye which is made from the murex shell.  I think he did try to blow the murex shell he made.

 He's been a Greek hoplite and managed to incorporate noise (he made his own costume)...

He was the Apostle  Paul who gave the speech on Mars Hill and found effective moments to get loudly emphatic...

He's been Robin Hood, who acted as the herald for our Medieval Feast.  (He made the boots and loved blowing that horn!)...

He's been a Musketeer, yelling out all the fencing commands. (He made the sword.)... 

He's been Squanto (he made the bear claw necklace)...

 Although he portrayed a boy who lived near Yorktown and helped supply the soldiers with ammunition, he also played his fife and made a lot of noise with his Patrick Henry speech!

We are now a couple of weeks away from our next unit celebration.  My son purchased a noisy souvenir at Colonial Williamsburg that is his inspiration for his next character who lived during our current historical study, 1800-1825.  He and I have done a great deal of research on this character, trying to get the details of the costume just right.  We've even referenced some pictures we took while in Colonial Williamsburg. Here are the parts of his costume that I have so far. Any guesses as to who he'll be?