Nine Years Old

My sweet child has turned nine!  This is a mostly cute antics update, but it's worth noting that he's growing in so many ways.  While still socially/emotionally young, he's growing and learning at his own pace... this is definitely a kiddo who marches to the beat of his own drummer and, while challenging, that can be really delightful :)
... and the antics:

• insisting that I was being "too literal!  (Oh, the irony!)

• deciding to lift the silent treatment on me (which I hadn't noticed was placed) because I started laughing about making the same mistake that he had just made.  (He started reading comics while listening to history class and was thoroughly miffed when I stopped playing the class.  He was apparently giving me the silent treatment while he continued to read comics.  Then I started laughing because I had tried to write an email and realized I'd missed the last minute of the high school history class (which I listen to) so I had just done the exact same thing (tried to focus on two things that needed full attention at the same time).  Apparently, admitting my mistake and finding it funny earned me suspension of the sentence... he continued to read quietly though after telling me that he'd canceled my punishment.  I also hopefully modeled that it's a pretty easy mistake to rectify by replaying the last minute of the class recording... I often get major push back with that.)

• when listening to me chat with my mom about the psychologist's praise of me, she asked him if he agreed and he answered, "It's a long way of saying that, but Yes."

• spelling "social" shoshol

• playing a game where we made up a funny phrase with a given set of letters, for W,N,C he came up with "what a nutty Cleisthenes" (He does like him though!)

• saying 9 million flies got into our house and then adding "I'm over exaggerating!"

• opening the door to the empty classroom and sing songing like in Animaniacs, "Hello classroom!"

• correcting me when I reminded him that Wednesdays are half days, "No, they're minus two days!"  (The day lasts two hours less, not precisely half of the usual day.)

• insisting "I didn't fall for the trick." (I was mentioning how video games can trick kids into expecting rewards after a little work because that's how they're designed, but real life often requires lots of hard work before a reward.  He was adamant that he wasn't tricked… we'll see :) )

• being so overly eager to do his chores that he brought in the trash cans before the garbage truck came!

• describing for me extensive details about "fief cats" (After a half hour of describing these cats in his game, I wondered and asked him if he meant "thief". He'll still get that sound mispronounced and for the first time, he seemed to actually want to correct the problem.)

• responding to my mom's story of seeing a great white shark while scuba diving with, "You're a very risky woman!"

• calling shivers "personal earthquakes"

• when Daddy answered a question with "hmmm", Cameron said, "Give up the noncommittals and give me a committal answer."

Enjoying his chocolate sundae as a birthday breakfast :)