Teenage Kicks

So what do you give a 13 year old on their birthday that gets a grin like that? Well for this one it turns out it's a mousemat printed with a picture of Albi. If he is going to become sullen and unappreciative there were certainly no signs of it today.

Birthday shenanigans started early as Anna had to leave at 7.15am for her school residential. Dropping her off all went smoothly, well once she had run back and got her sleeping bag, pillow and rain coat...and that is the last we will see of her until she returns no doubt exhausted and with a suitcase full of mud Friday evening. The bookend of birthday week.

Jackson's starter bookend has been a great day:

- a fabulous present haul (thank you lurkers!),
- breakfast pancakes
- played Qwordie - new word/quiz game
- paprika chicken lunch
- table tennis (main present)
- oldest friends over for pizza (savoury and chocolate) and mayhem - well by the sounds of it, I wasn't permitted entry to do more than deliver said pizza. There was a particularly joyous moment when J got outvoted by his friends that they would sing happy birthday to him
- watching footie with Carlos

It's a bit of a crazy work period, not helped by something being dropped on me from a great height late this afternoon due to someone else's incompetence. The sort of thing that a few years ago when I was starting this job would have completely thrown me into meltdown. Whereas now it just caused a severe outbreak of swearing and an evening working. Which was fine as the menfolk were watching the football.

And I can kind of say that legitimately now as one of his presents was a t-shirt (very fine, Icarus Removals, for anyone for whom that means anything) in Small Men's size. So it must be official.

So relieved and happy that the boy has had a really rich, full day filled with lots of loveliness.

Oh, and I bought myself some magnificent alien-like dahlias as my present for all the hard work I did 13 years ago. You may well get to see them tomorrow.

Lesley x