twelve

Two weeks after Thomas has his birthday, Sam has his. Its been that way for the last 10 years and will of course continue ad infinitum. Sam was very excited to have his birthday in Australia this year. He, more than anyone else had expressed this desire whilst we were still in Canada. The thought of having just one more birthday on the wrong side of the ocean was really too much for the poor little bugger to bear.

At twelve, Sam is still possibly the most emotional of the boys. He’s a bright kid and has his own independent streak, choosing his own way. There’s still a bit of his fear to try something that he doesn’t think he’ll be good at, but he has also been happy to tread a different path, choosing volleyball in Canada and now, rather than taking up cricket, he’s going to give tennis a go and is playing indoor soccer with some friends.

Sam is still happy to offer a hug and was taking great delight in standing one side of you and tapping you on the other shoulder so that you’d look the other way. Having realised that people tend to pick up on this, its now evolved to be a tap on the shoulder and a duck down such that it doesn’t matter which shoulder you look over, you’re not going to see him there until you glance down to see him smiling up at you from around your knees.

It has been great to see how happy Sam has been since he’s returned to Oz. He’s reconnected with some friends and has settled nicely into school. He hasn’t been too forthcoming with how he’s going with the whole friends thing with me thus far, but he’s coming home happy and heading off to school each day with a smile on his face, so one doesn’t like to push too far.

Happy 12th Sam!