David is nine! Yeah! Yeah! We've had two great birthday celebrations with one to go. On Thursday (his actual birthday), he had the classic Montessori celebration in his class. He made a timeline with one picture for every year of his life and a caption for each one. He also made a collage and glued on pictures of all his favorite things. What I'm saying is we had a lot of homework this week, and aside from a few freak outs, it got done calmly and with reasonable diligence. Frankly, I was surprised. Instead of treats, he bought the class a book about earth science. Then the class all interviewed him and sent him home with a book of compliments. "What I appreciate about you is you help me with reading." It was lovely, and he poured over it.

That night we crammed in a family birthday celebration. He really wanted it on his actual birthday, which, because of Rose's GEMS event, gave us exactly an hour. Pizza, cake, ice cream, and presents in one hour. We made it. I am so grateful for the good gluten-free cake mixes that now abound in our local supermarket and for John doing the cooking.

In up to the minute news, David's head hurts, his stomach aches, and we have another birthday party planned for tomorrow. Stay tuned.