Supercherub

The Cherub has turned 10. I know!! Where did that decade go? To mark this momentous occasion - it is double figures after all - we gave him a super-suit and some flying lessons.



...and as if that wasn't enough, we also gave him Lego. Because that child would not believe it was properly his birthday if there was no Lego.
 

There was also chocolate cake with smarties on top ...



... and extended family.



(Which is why I have such top-notch photographs of the Supercherub, and his celebrations!)



Happy Birthday, you crazy diamond.



Shine on.
 

Not as young as I used to be.

 

Conversation at the breakfast table this morning, as I opened and admired the birthday gifts the kids had given me. (Stripey purple fingerless gloves, a purple headband and some scented bathbombs).

Climber: We had to walk all around [large shopping mall] to find your presents.

Me: I didn't realise you went to [large shopping mall]! I thought you were going to [closer-by small shopping mall]. 

Climber: No we went to [large shopping mall], and had to walk all the way round it.

Me: (touched) Well.  Thank you.  I really appreciate that you went to that much effort for me.

Climber: Well, thank YOU for all the effort you always make for us.


Cherub: I hope you go to that much effort for MY birthday.

(taken this morning, he decided to dress up as Long John Silver with a bandanna and a pirate hat a'la Tim Curry in The Muppet Treasure Island)

(Taken on the weekend after a victorious soccer match)

They are two very different children...

I've been telling Cherub for the last 2 weeks that he wasn't allowed to think about his (October) birthday until after mine, clearly that only applied to up to the point of gift handover, now it's open season.

In his defense though,  Cherub bounced out of bed to cuddle me and wish me a happy birthday and had a musical toy lined up ready to beep out Happy Birthday.  Well, he thought it was lined up, it actually beeped out Camptown Races first off, but then it played Happy Birthday and Cherub sang along too.

Tie me kangaroo down sport

One of the things I like about our school is that it doesn't have a uniform.  I know some parents say a uniform is easier, but my kids are male and easygoing and we've never once had a clothing dispute, so this argument cuts no ice with me.  It would make my life harder, I reckon. I'd have to make sure a uniform was cleaned and possibly ironed, and it would cost  money, unlike the bulk of hand-me-down clothing my kids get around in.  And I'm a bit anti-uniform on ideological grounds too; uniforms seem to me repressive tools of corporate branding and homogenisation.  This is obviously because I am the sort of person who expresses myself via my clothing, and usually the message I'm expressing is: I really like purple.  Fortunately the high school we're looking at for Climber has just changed their uniform from navy blue to purple, thereby making it slightly more acceptable to me.

Anyway, at our non-uniform school, it was school photo day today. In terms of appearance, I had the kids wash their hair the night before and this morning asked them to pick out a nice t-shirt.   Climber came and consulted over his choice, but Cherub knew exactly what he wanted to wear: a tie or bow-tie, because and I quote ties and bow-ties are cool.



And actually, although I absolutely hated wearing a tie at his age to school, when I look at him in his get-out, I thought he looked very cool indeed.  Apparently quite a number of kids at school were rather impressed as well.



Also, for the class photo he and his best friend were consigned to the front row of seats (neither of them are tall) but Cherub got to sit dead centre because of his tie.  I was speaking to a friend who elected to wear a tie to school photo day many years ago, and he said he got beaten up for it.  Tie-ms have changed.

Pardon?

We were sitting at the dinner table tonight and our conversation with the Climber was getting quite animated, when out of nowhere a small doleful voice announced no-one listens to me. And a small doleful Cherub-boy leant his face into his hand, and looked glumly at his plate. There was a moment when both Fixit and I sat frozen, just looking at our small son, while we replayed the conversation in our heads and realised he had been trying to interject without success. We then added insult to his injury by bursting into surprised laughter, but we reined ourselves in and asked him to tell us what he'd said.

The thing is, we're so used to him being our happy-go-lucky baby that we forget he's growing up, and getting more complicated. So sometimes he has to remind us. He's only got 5 (five!!) more days left at kinder, and he's just spent the last few weeks attending Transition programs at school. (School!!!) See the new school bag and school hat on that big boy there?



Sorry bubsy. I will try harder to listen to you.

Happy Harmony Day

Friendship is the only cure for hatred, the only guarantee of peace. (Buddha)

Harmony Day is really meant to be celebrated on March 21st, but this year there was a clash with Good Friday. We are celebrating our diverse culture, and promoting friendship and understanding. Partly by wearing orange clothing. But you know, mostly through education and attitude.

* * *

Do you like the topknot in Cherub's hair? We took him swimming last week and every time he showed us how he could put his head under the water in the deep end (big progress from his alleged dunce-hood) he would then immediately clamber out of the water to sit on the edge of the pool. The first nine times he did it, we just thought it was cute. Then Fixit thought to ask why. It was so he could get his hair out of his eyes. Can you just hear his grandmothers chorusing that I should at least cut the poor kid a fringe?