CALGARY — The mother of an Alberta boy who has been in foster care in the United States for almost two years says all she really wants to do when he comes home is to hold him close.

"Aside from that, making him dinner, going for rides, just being with him," Lisa Kirkman said Saturday from her home in Calgary. "Doing the everyday, day-to-day things."

An Oregon judge ruled Friday after a hearing that took several hours that 12-year-old Noah Kirkman can return to Canada. He is to live with his grandparents for a time of transition before moving back in with his family.

Noah was taken by Oregon state officials in 2008 during a summer visit with his stepfather, who wasn't considered a legal guardian. The Department of Human Services said it was concerned because Noah had open social services files in Canada. His mother has said the files were necessary for him to get help for his special needs. Noah has a severe form of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Kirkman said she hasn't actually seen her son since July when she was allowed to visit him for three hours. And, she said, phone calls that were supposed to be allowed regularly every two weeks sometimes didn't happen for three or six weeks at a time.

"They had to be supervised (by department staff) and could only be made during their (office) hours," she said. That made it difficult because Noah would be in school during that time and she'd be at work back in Canada.

Nor could she talk to him on holidays, when offices were closed, or even on his birthday March 21, which fell on a Sunday this year.

Friday night, after the judge's decision, she was allowed her first unsupervised call with her boy.

"I told him that I love him more than anything, and that I'm so happy, so happy he's coming home and that I'm very proud of him for being so brave and being so brave in speaking with the judge."

She said her son replied that he loved her, too, although he was pretty intent on watching "Avatar" in the hotel room with his grandparents.

"He was bouncing off the walls. I could hear in his voice he was really, really excited."

But Kirkman, who said she hasn't heard from anyone officially about her son's return, added she will remain wary until Noah is actually back in Canada. "It's just that we've been burnt so many times before and so it's made me a little jaded at this point."

She said both she and her Noah were told in December that he would be coming home soon, but it didn't happen, something she characterized as "very cruel."

Judge Kip Leonard in Eugene, Ore., made it clear Friday he was still concerned his decision might not be in Noah's best interest.

"I am confident in my legal decision that Noah return to Canada," the judge told a local newspaper. "I am not as confident in my social decision."

Leonard said in his opinion Kirkman abandoned her son in Oregon by leaving him with his stepfather.

Kirkman has said she thinks U.S. justice officials were hung up on the fact she has edited marijuana-related magazines and has a criminal record for growing medical marijuana for her husband, who has chronic fatigue syndrome. Her sentence for her conviction was a short period of community service.

"There's nothing I can really do to change that (judge's opinion)," she said. "As long as he's sending my son home ... I'm just thankful."

Now she looks forward to taking drives with Noah and his younger sister to amusement parks or just around the countryside.

"They day before they took Noah, he and I ... took this wonderful day trip through Oregon," she recalled. "It was the best time I've ever had with my son. And he was just elated.

"We went to the ocean and played on the beach ... and, you know, I just want to pick up where we left off."