Thursday, September 01, 2011

Cinco de boyo...

I'm doing some hocus pocus and dating this to the start of the month and I'm doing this because that's when my son turned 5 and, should he ever read this damn blog, it would seem harsh to have missed it.

5 is quite a momentous birthday - it means school, more independence- reading and writing... or in our case, it means that clearly, Charlie is old enough to be in charge of everything and do what he wants, because, apparently, he is all grown up.  So 5, it turns out, also means quite a lot of arguing about things in general.

5 year old boys, it seems, like Doctor Who a lot.  Universally the kids have moved from playing Octonauts to playing at Doctor Who.  'The Monster' is now always a Dalek (I relish the story of one of his girl-friends, who, inspired by Charlie's enthusiasm, taught her best friend to play Doctor Who at her house.  They marched up to their parents shouting 'We are the Garlics' to universal hilarity)

5 year old boys not only ride their bikes, they race them all about everywhere and don't much care if they fall off.  Wounds which a few scant months ago would have had our boy lying prone on the sofa, daintily holding his stricken limbs in the air, now only appear at bathtime when his clothes come off -skinned elbows, grazed knees, massive bruises around the shins - who knows where they come from?  'I fell down' he says, or 'someone pushed me but I'm OK'.

5 year old boys - ohhhh, this is so lovely - 5 year old boys make their parents breakfast in bed!!!  Oh yes.  Alright so we're talking cereal with no / too much milk in it and apple juice with a few sloshes around the edges but you know, it's a huge start on what I hope to be a future in-house catering project.

5 year old boys are also not so grown up that they don't want a lot of cuddles, thankfully.  They climb into bed and put their arms around you and kiss you on the nose and tell you that you're their favourite and can they have your iPad?

5 year old boys want dance parties and Spiderman cakes and invite everyone they know and make you play the Kaiser Chiefs and the Ramones over and over and over while they do robot dancing and get all sweaty.

5 year old boys are unbelievable pedants.  'Have a fish finger Charlie' 'No, Mummy, you mean, have ANOTHER fish finger'.  'Let's go'  'Mummy, you mean let's go TO THE PARK'.

5 year old boys are pretty amazing.  I've got one, I ought to know.