This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.

Tynan, 9, has taken the whole breast cancer thing the hardest out of all of the kids. He's the youngest and, therefore, the most vulnerable, I think. And lately, he's been dealing with some heavy stuff, been quite needy, very cuddly...

School has been rough on him. He has always hated being separated from the family, which has meant he's never gone to bed well. As a toddler, he had to keep up with his big brothers. Now, he assumes he is on par with his older brothers and absolutely refuses to acknowledge that staying up late makes mornings hell on all of us. Here he is, falling asleep while practicing for his spelling test last week...
He's a good, loyal friend....here, he and Eli are getting wild at a Crew game...

And at the same time, he's capable of quite a bit of introspection (and this picture was rotated at one point and now won't rotate again, dagnabbit blogspot)...

Tonight when I came in from yoga, he presented me with a gift: a rose quartz necklace. It seems that after school, he met up with some friends at the public library. On his way there, he stopped at Happy Badger to see if they had any Tynan sized baja jackets. When he got bored at the library, he returned to Happy Badger to browse some more. The woman working asked if he was looking for anything in particular and he said he wanted to get something for me, to help me feel better. She asked him why and he told her I have cancer. Long story short, he decided a rose quartz crystal on a necklace would be appropriate, and offered his his $1. She discounted the necklace by $15 and didn't charge him tax.

How sweet is that...on her part as well as his.

His father shall be stopping in soon with $15. But we won't tell Tynan.

Somehow, he also ended up with a little bag of selenite chips, which supposedly can recharge my huge hunk'o'quartz next to my bed and has something to do with healing. As he told me, "I didn't tell her I don't really believe all that woo-woo, but it can't hurt and it might help, and she was so nice to me..."

This makes up for those days I'm ready to send him overseas to boarding school....