Thursday, November 25, 2004 12:09 AM CST

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Later on today we are going down to Fresno to have Thanksgiving Dinner with Aidan's grandma and grandpa, and at least some of his aunts, uncles, and cousins. Aidan has been looking forward to this for several days!

We feel we have a LOT to be thankful for this year. Aidan's been doing so well. He is still on an antiviral medicine as a defense against EBV (see http://www.classkids.org/library/classqa/ebv.htm for the details on EBV and the liver transplant child). His liver numbers are still elevated, probably because of this. But that's really all the "medical" news we have about him.

All the other news is more "little kid" type news. Aidan is going to be 5 1/2 in about a week. He is homeschooling for Pre-K, but gets speech therapy through the school, occupational therapy through the Hawaii Elks, and physical therapy through Children's Hospital in Fresno. He loves to cook meals with his oldest brother, sing and dance to Irish folk music with his sister, and play with his other brothers. He also loves to go to the park or in fact, anywhere. Even a trip to the post office or the market is fun and exciting to him!

He loves to "read" his favorite books and push his stroller around the house. As usual, he has his own unique way of expressing himself and some of his current phrases are:

"Bunches and buckets of trees visit Aidan!" (he has a book with trees in it)
"I need to close the double-garage door!" (he thinks this is hilarious for some reason)
"Hello, Pharmacy, I'm talking to Dr Rosenthal right now, talk to you later, bye bye!" (He picks up the phone to say this!)

He can "sing" several Irish folk songs from start to finish, thanks to his sister's teaching! He is really a joyful and fun presence around the house.

Aidan's younger brother Patrick is almost two and is becoming a little more of a playmate for Aidan. He still has to learn not to grab toys away from Aidan, but they share treats like chips with each other. In fact, Aidan will let Patrick feed him by putting things in his mouth, which he won't let anyone else do. It's funny to hear Aidan trying to talk in "baby language" to communicate with Paddy, who is just starting to say short phrases. Aidan is a good older brother who will scold sometimes when Patrick seizes a toy, but never hits or pushes. He's a good role model for Patrick, who unfortunately DOES do the hitting and pushing things sometimes.

This has been such a "normal" autumn for us, the first in a long time. Aidan's oldest brother Liam has been filling out college applications, taking SAT exams, and working towards getting his driver's license. Clare is taking fiddle lessons up here in Shaver Lake. Brendan has been visiting and reading about Giant Sequoia groves, and taking pictures of them with his digital camera. Sean and Kieron like to play football and play with Bionicles, and try to "finish school" as fast as possible in order to do so!