My grandparents weren't happy with the choices my mother was making at the time. They were control freaks and if you didn't do something the way they wanted, then it was "bye-bye." She decided to convert and they weren't happy. She decided to date my father and they weren't happy. My grandfathers were friends in college and my maternal grandfather STILL did not like my father. She got married at 19 and moved out, smart woman. And yes, they are still married 28 years later. The sad part about all of it is that my great grandfather set up trust funds for all of his grandkids to go to college, and none of them did. She tried to dictate what my mom's older sister did. She only went for a semester because she hated the school. After a semester, my grandmother told my mother that she "didn't have the money". My uncle got a girl pregnant and married her. Ironically, my mother is the only one married still out of her siblings. Anyway, my grandmother died three years ago and we found out that she gambled away all of the money. She was addicted to the lottery, and my grandfather had no clue. My grandparents did not speak to my mother for 25 years, basically until my grandmother died, and not from my mother not trying either. She tried calling them, she tried talking to them, but then after I was born and they didn't care (didn't come to the hospital, didn't call my great grandparents to tell me I was born, etc.), she decided she was done trying. She and her dad talk now, which is nice. Her mother was the problem unfortunately. My grandfather is interested in my brother since he is the only grandson. I'm just another granddaughter.
So sad grandmother story aside, my brother is 12. Loves Disney, loves anything theme-park related, loves elevators. Builds beautiful buildings (and elevators) with his blocks. His main difficulties are language-related. He reads on a 2nd grade reading level, does straight math fine but has trouble with word problems. Sometimes it's like living with Sheldon from Big Bang Theory. Things have to be a certain way (for instance, in MK, we have to ride the People Mover first), he fixates on things (recently the old Living Seas. He found a Youtube video and we have never heard the end of it), and socially he has trouble, although he has friends, both normal and ones with difficulties. And he also has to sit on the same spot on the couch every day. Oddly enough, he loves Big Bang Theory and told us tonight Sheldon is his favorite character.
We think he's got an eidetic memory and perfect pitch, and probably engineering skills. It's just a matter of figuring out how to get it out of him.
I love The Plaza.
