Aidan's 11th birthday

It is hard to believe but Aidan celebrated his eleventh birthday yesterday. He keeps getting older and we keep getting...well, more and more proud of him.

This is how he looked when he arrived home from school:

One of the teachers uses bright lipstick to apply kisses on the faces of the birthday boys and girls. As you can see, Aidan liked it.

The opening of presents was eagerly anticipated. He received a check here:

 

And some cash there:

 

He also received some gift cards and a game for his Nintendo 3DS. His main gift was a tablet from James and me, although Aidan paid for half of it with money saved from Christmas, Valentine's Day and birthday gifts, plus some allowance money. We thought it was important that he contribute part of the cost so he would feel more responsibility, and he did a great job of saving for it.

As expected, he was very excited to receive the eagerly anticipated tablet:

He managed to put the tablet down long enough to have birthday cake, which I got from The Gingersnap Bakery. It was, of course, delicious, and it was crowded with all the candles:

Aidan has decided to have his birthday party in early May at an outdoor laser tag facility, so he gets to celebrate all over again in about six weeks!

Time to go already

“No guest should be admitted without the date of the departure settled.”
- Dowager Countess, Downton Abbey

Winter does have an official date of departure but it isn't abiding by it. Spring supposedly arrived three days ago, but like a tenant that refuses to leave a rental, winter is lounging on the sofa, watching television and littering the floor with junk food wrappers.

Last year was the winter that wasn't but this year is the winter that won't go away. It has not been a particularly harsh winter; according to goldensnowball.com, Syracuse has received 100.8 inches of snow, about sixteen inches below the average to date amount. That may sound like a lot of snow, particularly to my friends down south, but it doesn't feel like we have received that much since it has come in small amounts spread out over the entire season.

We have enjoyed the snow this year, sledding and snowshoeing several times. But now it is time for winter to get off the sofa and leave. I have shoveled out the driveway three times this week, which is more frequent that I have shoveled all winter. Ironically, the ground was completely clear of snow just two weeks ago and we enjoyed sitting on the patio with a cheerful fire in the chimnea. Winter is not only taking its time, but it wants to make a grand exit.

If only seasons started/ended exactly on time.

A cub no more

Aidan is no longer a Cub Scout. On Tuesday evening, he participated in a "moving up" ceremony where he walked across a rope bridge to join his new Boy Scout troop. (Every time I say or think about moving up, the theme song from "The Jeffersons" runs through my head.)

He took a tentative step onto the bridge:

Then paused for a photo from the mamarazzi:

Once across the bridge, he was welcomed by the members of his new troop, who placed a Boy Scout neckerchief around his neck:

Aidan was all smiles, happy and proud to now be a Boy Scout:

 

James and I are proud of our new Boy Scout, and pleased to be done with the local Cub Scout pack. We are careful to teach our children how to fight back against bullies and yet they can see examples of bullying by adults towards other adults in this local Cub Scout pack. And while Aidan had a great experience in both Georgia and New York Cub Scout packs, my already marginal opinion of Scouts in general has not improved. 

As you can probably guess, I am opposed to the Boy Scouts of America's prejudicial policy prohibiting homosexual leaders and members. That policy was the main reason I was hesitant to allow Aidan to join Cub Scouts, but James convinced me that the merits of Scouting outweighed the negatives. We also knew that what we teach at home will always trump the discriminatory policies of any organization. Despite what we teach with our words and our example, I still hope that the Boy Scouts of America will change their policy. And truly change it, not just push the decision to the local chapters.

I don't know that Aidan has really learned much from being a Scout, but he has certainly had fun and I hope he has even more fun with his new troop.

Lessons learned at the mall

I went to a shopping mall on Sunday. That may not seem all that momentous until you learn that I loathe going to a mall. Loathe with a capital "L". Shopping at a mall, for me, is an occasional necessity: it is not sport, nor hobby, nor entertainment. There is nothing wrong with shopping being any of those things for other people but they just aren't for me. I don't care to window shop, I don't like the crowds, and since yarn stores and liquor stores are rarely located in malls, there just isn't much of interest to me. If I need to buy something at the mall, I park near the store I need to visit, and get in/out as quickly as possible.

Just to show how little I like going to malls: the last time I wandered around a mall just to wander around was the summer of 2011 when my mother visited, it was 95 degrees in the shade and we needed a cool place to spend the day. It was still a relief to leave.

Aidan and a friend wanted to see a movie* and the best theaters in our area are located in malls, so off we went. We arrived around 12:45 and it was already packed. On a Sunday. On a beautiful Sunday. James just chuckled at me as I pondered why anyone would want to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon at a mall.

The people watching was, of course, astounding, and the following maxims were made abundantly clear:

• There should be a weight limit on spandex leggings or, at the very least, should have a "contents under pressure" warning label. I can say this as an above ideal weight person who never wears yoga pants outside my house.

• Teens and tweens travel in packs, much like birds and/or wild animals. Unlike birds and wild animals, however, they do not move in concert or instinctive precision, but mill about and bump into one another and total strangers.

• Couples should never, EVER dress alike. This truth crosses all gender, racial and age lines.

• A little animal print goes a long way. I adore me some animal print, but as Julia Child said, "Everything in moderation." Animal print as an accent is perfectly fine but head-to-toe animal print is wrong on many levels. (The actual quote is "Everything in moderation, including moderation" but the last two words didn't really fit with the point I am trying to make so I left them out. It's my blog, so I can.)

There is some good that comes out of a trip to a mall: my self-esteem gets a real boost. By wearing age appropriate clothing that is clean and fits my body, washing my face and combing my hair, I am already ahead of the pack. The pack wearing matching too tight leopard leggings with a zebra big shirt.

*Speaking of movies, I am not really much of a movie fan; I almost always prefer to read a book. But we weren't going to let two ten year olds sit in a movie theater without us and they wanted to see "Oz the Great and Powerful", so that is how James and I ended up watching a movie in which we had no interest. I look at it as two hours and ten minutes of my life that I will never get back.

Dear Tooth Fairy

Just after going to bed on Sunday night, Aidan had another tooth come out. In our rush to get his mouth rinsed out, the tooth cleaned and the boy back to bed, we did not take the time to find the official tooth container and Aidan put the tooth in a zip bag instead.

When we went in later to swap the tooth for the dollar that the Tooth Fairy leaves at our house, we couldn't find the bag under his pillow, in the covers, anywhere. Rather than risk waking him by continuing to search, we simply left the dollar under his pillow.

The next morning, Aidan was very puzzled to find both the dollar and the tooth in his bed. He was also a bit disappointed. During the night, he woke up and wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy, which he then placed in the bag with the tooth*:

 

Had we found the bag and read the note, we would have complied with his desire for additional money. Aidan decided right after Christmas that he wanted a tablet for his birthday and we told him that he would have to put up about half of the money, so he would feel more ownership and responsibility. He has been diligently saving ever since, setting aside Christmas money from Grandma Williams, Valentine's Day money from Grandma, Aunt Tammie and Uncle Mike, and weekly allowance money. We have been impressed with his efforts and he will, indeed, be getting a tablet later this month.

I mumbled some silly comment about the time change messing everyone up or maybe the Tooth Fairy just couldn't find the tooth in the tangle of bed covers, but Aidan was still a little letdown...and at a loss as to what to do with the tooth. I told him I would take care of it, and after Aidan threw away the note, I retrieved it from the trash to show James. 

Sometimes when I despair that my little boy isn't so little anymore, he says or does something that reminds me that he still has a foot firmly planted in innocent childhood, like belief in the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. Whew.

*I removed the tooth before scanning the bag/note. You're welcome.