all about Brandon take 2!

Okay, so if you are wanting to read the first "all about Brandon" I would suggest you grab a cup of coffee or tea and settle in. What I basically did was realize at the end of the post that I hadn't posted much about my son, but had posted about his disease and that is not who he is...so lets start again.
Brandon is in 2nd grade this year. He's quite a charecter. I kid you not, he can aggrevate the daylights out of people. And he picks out the weakest links and goes in for the kill. Often, I guess I'm the weakest link because he sure aggrevates me. Like when I tell him he can't sleep in our bed only to find him hiding under the bed an hour later! Or when I tell him I'm pregnant (with Sydney) and amoungst all the other kids laughing and being happy, Brandon tells me (with a totally serious face) "Mom, people don't like when you have too much kids....and we have TOO MUCH KIDS!"
He also informed his dr. that "there aren't any good snacks today at clinic. Clinic is supposed to have good snacks." Usually there is a regridgerator and cupboards stocked with snacks and drinks for patients but they were running low that day. Such tact Brandon has!
Or my favorite. This past October when we were planning his birthday party and I told him we'd need to send invitations out to the whole class so as not to hurt any feelings, he replied "But Mom...I don't really like most kids in my class. Let's just invite some."
He is very honery! He also has a heart of gold burried somewhere inside there....way, way deep down. He is very sad if we have to miss church and always wants to have a family devotional time. He is his dad's sidekick. He wants to go everywhere with his Dad...and really loves it when its JUST he and his dad. I can' t count how many times I've heard "Mom, are you comming too?"and when I say yes, he says under his breath "awwwww" Gee, thanks Brandon!
He has a very tough shell but I think that is in part from all he's been through. He doesn't like to make friends, and at clinic, will rarely play with the other children. I suspect its because he doesn't want to deal with the fact that often, our friends from clinic pass away.
His sense of humor is huge. If he thinks he's going to get a spanking, he'll put on several pairs of pants! He LOVES family time more than any kid I've ever seen. Almost to the exclusion of the rest of the world. He doesn't really love doing things with extended family or friends unless its someone he hasn't seen in a long time. He doesn't like to invite people over because he claims "they're going to wreck my room and I'll have to clean it up." And indeed if you have him make his bed, he'll sleep on top of the covers the next night, no matter how cold he gets to preserve the "made-ness" of his bed becuase forbid he should have to take the 3 minutes to re-make it. The concept of re-making a bed each morning so that you'll have a comfortable place to sleep at night if foreign to him! Okay, so it is to me as well but I don't sleep on top of the made bed...I just hardly ever make mine! Why bother...there's always a kid in it!
Brandon is also really smart. He catches on very quickly to most things (though counting money in school is posing some problems) He is behind his peers acedemically though due to the tons of missed school that we thank his medicine for (it lowers the part of his immune system responsible for fighting virsus'...you can imagine then going to public school and having 7 siblings!)
He loves football and is so excited that he'll get to play this year. It's all he talked about last year. We can't wait. He was so sad that he wasn't well enough last season and now his dr. has given him the green lght (and told me that he actually probably could have played last season...but we'll just keep that between us!) So he is pumped up for August! So are we.