Happy Birthday, my sweet Justin

It's Justin's birthday today, he's eleven. Justin is number 3 out of 4 in our family - he's our youngest son. When he was born, he weighed nearly 10 pounds, if my doctor didn't induce me (two weeks before full term) he would have been bigger than everyone in our family. Justin had a full head of black hair just like his brothers, the eyes were big and more almond. - shaped. Of the three boys, he got the best looking chin , my 'Thai' nose, and fair skin. His first cry was so quiet, almost like a cat's purr and I didn't believe that it was actually a cry, since both Brendan's and Nicholas' baby cries were very loud. and could wake up the whole neighborhood. As a baby, Justin was calm and quiet and he started to talk much later than Brendan and Nicholas. We were living in Thailand at the time and all our kids were brought up in bi-lingual environment. Justin would have the hardest time expressing himself and I could tell that he tried to make the best of his limited vocabulary. He's also known as strong-willed determined kid who always fights for what he believes is right (still does) If rules are set, and they make sense to him, he'd strictly go by them. But, if he feels that they are not reasonable, you would never get him to follow them! I have to laugh every time when Justin stands up to his belief - he's not any different than me! I had such a hard time growing up because I was brought up in a strict household, that, plus having gone to a Thai school for all 'refined' young ladies, which put even more restrictions to my need to be independent. I was always the one who stubbornly broke the rules, if I believed that the rules were 'wrong' and 'unreasonable' I got myself in troubles many times. Now, seeing how Justin and I are so much alike, I have to use what I know to make it pain-free for him, to function well within a society. He's also fiercely loyal to his brother Nicholas, who believes in a non-confrontational peaceful way of life. There were many incidents of an almost 2-year-old Justin going out of his way to 'protect' his 4-year-old brother in pre - kindergarten. His limit in vocabularies didn't stop him. In his attempt to scare away the big bullies (K-1) he would string together all the words he knew and screamed them out repeatedly."PeSin drives the van, PeSin drives the van, PeSin drives the van" as he put his tiny little body between Nicholas and the bullies. The so-called K-1 bullies covered their ears and quickly ran away. Justin was also notorious in his pre-k, k, and grade schools of putting in requests to be seated with different groups of students in his classes because other children - ".......don't pay attention to the teacher, that was very wrong, and it bothers me" Last year in fourth grade, it took a homeroom teacher, a counselor and his school principal some 2 plus hours of sitting and talking, even begging him to please finish the PSSA test. They got him to finish it and the result turns out that he was above average. He explained to everyone that he didn't want to do it because he didn't feel that it was necessary since he just did the school foresight test and that should have been enough. We did not talk or discuss about the PSSA therefore we did not influence him in this matter. I believe that he finally agreed to finish the test only because he didn't want to get his teachers and his school in trouble. I still have fears that Justin could seriously get himself in troubles because of his fairness and his righteousness. But then again, he's very smart. Hopefully he will have easier time blending his own rules from black and white to something more compromising. He's also very sweet, very kind, and, as I said before, is fiercely loyal to the ones he loves. When our little Kaitlyn came along, Justin would stay up with me to help me with his little sister. He's very proud to finally become a bigger brother and this never changes. His sweetness and earnestness touch people around him. Last school year, the school counselor and his 4th grade teacher were involved with helping him see the world from other people's perspectives - or, plainly, to help him understand that things will not always be the way Justin sees and wants them to be. Justin understands, but probably still doesn't agree. At the end of the school year, they were sad to see him leave, and they had tears in their eyes when they said goodbyes.

I asked Justin what his wish was for his birthday. Instead of running down a gift list, he simply told me that he wanted ice cream cake with 'kao niew' - a delicious sweet sticky rice cooked in coconut milk and coconut sugar. He'll get this wish today, plus a few other things.